LAUNCH weekend! August 24th, 2014

At Impact Service... 

Tony introduced to a new song that really encapsulates our call as followers of Jesus. 

Check it out here!

Then, Bryan challenged us with the question: Why do we stand around?

We looked at Acts 1:6-11, refresh your memory here!

"Then they gathered around him [Jesus] and asked him, 

“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”     

He said to them:  “It is not for you to know
the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, 
and to the ends of the earth.”       

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes,
and a cloud hid him from their sight.    
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going,
when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? 
This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Yup, believe it or not, the power of the Holy Spirit resides in you. In light of this truth, what might you have the confidence to do? It might be asking someone in your class, on your sports team or in your club to join us at Impact on Sunday!

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
because of  his Spirit who lives in you." Romans 8:11

Want to learn more about living with this power? Check out this stellar follower of Christ and her ministry! Living With Power Ministries

At House Group... 

We played a fun memory game to get to know some awesome people in our Jacobs South family.
We also talked a little bit about our vision for this year.

But first, let's ask the question: what in the world is a vision anyway?

Our senior pastor Bill Hybels defines vision as "a picture of the future that produces passion." 

What's our vision?

To be a House Group that is
Fully Known & Fully Loved

First, we are hoping that as individuals, ours hearts would become more secure that we are fully known & fully loved by God. Then, we are freed to be fully known & fully loved by each other, in our small groups, and in our House Groups as a whole. This means we can show up to House Group every Sunday with nothing to hide and no one else to pretend to be.

And finally, as we are fully known and fully loved by God and one another, we are energized and motivated to tell others that don't know God that they are invited into a community, a family, where they can be fully known & fully loved.

To better understand our vision during House Group time, we read some scripture! I love this part :) Here are the verses we read!

"In Christ, he chose us before the world was made.

He chose us in love to be his holy people—people who could stand before him without any fault.

And before the world was made, God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ.

This was what God wanted, and it pleased him to do it.

And this brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. 

God gave that grace to us freely. He gave us that grace in Christ, the one he loves.  

God gave us that grace fully and freely."

Ephesians 1:4-6, 8

"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;  you perceive my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;  you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue  you,  Lord , know it completely.

For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well."

Psalm 139:1-4, 13-14

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power

through his Spirit in your inner being,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power,

together with all the Lord’s holy people,

to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:16-19

You guys are amazing!

Fully Known & Fully Loved,

Cass