Today’s Spotlight:
Leveraging families
(published 5.31.20)
Welcome
WelcomE: It’s good that you’re here.
If this is your first time with us, here’s our simple, five-part Spotlight framework so you know where we’re headed for the next 90 minutes:
Welcome > Worship > Learn > Serve > Farewell
If you weren’t able to join us for the first two weeks of this series, watch this video for an overview of what we are talking about.
01. Watch: A Useful Amount of Thread
Magician Dan Jaspersen introduces the thought that while an individual is important, we are more useful when we are able to work together.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 | Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.
02. Check In: Let us know you’re here
Please check in using the form below. (It’s the best way you can help us serve you well.)
TODAY YOU’LL NEED:
To do everything in today’s Spotlight, you’ll probably want at least 2 pieces of paper, writing utencils, and a Bible. You’ll get a lot out of this Spotlight without those supplies, but you’ll be able to be a more active participant with them.
Worship
03. interact: I is easy, we is difficult
Unity experienced with and among fellow believers is a special gift that Christ gives us, his Church.
The night before he died, Jesus prayed for us to know his love and experience the unity that he and his Father share. Jesus said, “I pray also for those who will believe in me ….that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.” (John 17:20 & 23)
Since we have a holy, perfectly-united-triune God who comes to us in worship, it is good for us to begin our worship by confessing our sinfulness – especially in the ways we live opposing and conflicting the unity we have received through faith in Christ!
As you listen to this song below, take this moment to pray and privately ask your heavenly Father for forgiveness. As you do, be sure to also meditate on these words from the song:
What patience would wait as we constantly roam?
What Father, so tender, is calling us home?
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor;
our sins they are many, his mercy is more.
God's mercy is more than any of our sins! Hear these comforting words of forgiveness from your Father's Word:
Ephesians 1:7-10 | In [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In Christ you have forgiveness, and grace on top of grace, Christ unites us and all who believe with himself!
Galatians 3:26-27 | So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
04. watch: Pizza & people (Kids’ Module)
05. Do: rupt
Since the gravity of sin pulls against units coming together, every unit that is brought together is a special, unlikely blessing, and blessings like these should be very carefully stewarded. God shows us this truth in a powerful way in the book & the ministry of Isaiah.
Click the small arrow to the right of the word “CORRUPTION” to walk through this module. You can do it in groups or as an individual, and this is when you’ll want paper and pencil and maybe also a Bible/Bible app.
07. Watch: who you are & what you do
1 Peter 2:9-12 | But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
08. listen (& sing along): i will serve Where My Savior Calls Me
As you sing along with this song about who you are and what you do, here’s a fun fact about leveraging the families you’re part of: Illumine’s Worship Coordinator, Drew Sonnenberg, reached out to all the other worship coordinators in our church body for help with the gang vocals at the end of this video. We’re grateful to them for their help, and glad it seems like they had fun with it!
Learn
09. interact: things only groups can do
Earth wasn't meant for just Adam. God meant it when he said "It is not good for the man to be alone." (Genesis 2:18)
God had plans for Adam that required more than just Adam to accomplish. As God established Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he gave them a several commands that spoke to both the development of units in cooperation and then to the purpose or goals of the cooperating units. Those plans were the following…
Finally, a note: This module doesn't need to make you feel like you need to have more kids. Humanity has done a good job of filling the earth and subduing it. It's neither mandatory nor sinful to have kids at this point in history.
10. Interact & discuss: tribes, clans & Callings
Twelve tribes of Israel and the Levites were the designated "ministry center workers."
Except the ministry center was the temple… except this was before the temple, so the ministry center was the tabernacle—a tent that was set up, taken down, and taken care of, wherever the Israelites went.
It was where God dwelled.
Once you press the play button to start the presentation, check out the different jobs God assigned to the different clans/units by clicking on the various circles below.
Brainstorm for 90 seconds: all the different jobs/tasks/things needed to make a Christian congregation go (someone volunteer to be the writer).
Brainstorm for another 90 seconds: as many different vocations as you can think of (Vocation = the calling into which God has placed a person. Almost anything goes here!).
Truth: God does not value "church work" as any greater or any less than any of the other vocations listed. He is not any more pleased by "church work" than by any other labor. Do you think as humans, we think of "church work" as a step above? If so, why?
11. Watch & do: your vocation web
First, click the “View the Commentary” button to check out the commentary from Acts 15 that was developed from the answers that Spotlight participants like you submitted! Your collective insight was fantastic to compile. Especially note the last page, which includes a vocation web for the Apostle Paul in Acts 15.
Next, watch this video on vocation webs. (This is where that other piece of paper will be handy.)
Serve
11. watch & do: LEVERAGING GLOBAL FAMILY
Watch these two videos, the first on the food crisis caused by the pandemic and the second on a remarkably simple way to help combat it.
The global food crisis caused by COVID-19 is much to big for any one of us, but when we leverage our groups and start contributing it’s easy to see how we can be helpful, and it is exactly the kind of worship God loves to see.
Isaiah 58:6–9 | “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
We’d like to encourage you to give a special offering toward a specific need this week. Support the WFO as they work against the global food shortage. If you have a multi-person household, we’re hoping your family will work together to decide what you want to give.
Farewell
12. Pray & Give
Pray. Prayer is simply talking to God.
There are no special words to say. There are not certain thoughts or words or phrases that cause God to hear you better.
Romans 8:26-27 says, "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God."
With all of that in mind, say a prayer to your God right now.
You could say it silently. You could say it out loud.
If you're with a group of people, we encourage you to take turns praying out loud.
Pray. Then join together in praying The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
Amen.
Give. You can support Illumine by clicking one of the buttons below, or you can also mail an offering to:
Illumine Church
1262 Riverchase Blvd.
Rock Hill, SC 29732Illumine Church
11051 Phinney Ave N
Seattle, WA 98133
THANK YOU!
