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
This week’s Spotlight focuses on authority — what it is, how it’s used, why God’s authority is so good for us. And of course, we’ll leave with clear ways to serve others with the authority we each possess.
Watch & Get Started: Welcome
Begin by watching (and singing along with) this song about why God has authority.
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.)
Answer: defining authority
Click this link to submit three words that you think best define authority. (All our answers will be compiled into a word cloud, which you’ll see later on, and it will be very cool.)
Worship
Watch: wanting authority
Interact & Read: Wasting authority
Click or tap on the numbers (below) to begin working through the slides.
Watch: what authority is for
Watch: Children’s Message
Children, ages 3 to 12, watch the brief Children’s Message below.
Listen & Pray: ruling with boundless love
Learn
listen: jesus & His kind of authority
Interact & Read: authority figures
Click or tap the small arrow on the right side of the image to proceed through the slides.
Review: Defining Authority
Look over the results (below) from the words you submitted to define authority at the beginning of this Spotlight.
Answer: Redefining Authority
Let’s make a new definition, now that we’ve taken a look at how God uses authority. To do so, click this link and submit three NEW words—words that you think God would use to define authority. They’ll then appear in the NEW word cloud below.
Finally, find a post-it note or a small piece of paper. Write the words you find most interesting from the new word cloud (above) on it. Then put the piece of paper up somewhere in your home that you’ll see later this week.
Watch: what do you do with the authority christ gives you?
Serve
Watch & DO: What Breaks your heart?
There is a less-than-triumphant moment from Palm Sunday, after the people have praised him, that shows us Jesus’ heart.
Luke 19:41-44 | As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
They had just shouted for him, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord,” and yet he weeps for them. He is a truly remarkable King.
Your mission, if you’re willing to accept it:
What breaks your heart? As you look at the world around you, what pain has pulled at you lately? Write it down.
If possible, brainstorm with others to find one concrete step you can take to use what you’ve been given to help the situation that breaks your heart.
Commit to taking that step, and help those in your group figure out theirs!
Farewell
Pray: 3 Prayers
Pray through the prayer requests you/your group submitted earlier.
Pray for all who are seeking God through different media and methods this week. Pray they would be reminded that he is here with them.
Pray 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.
Consider Giving:
God is good to provide ways for the church to keep doing its work even when things seem upside down. In fact, the uniqueness of this moment means that people who are worried or overwhelmed or frustrated are especially in need of the truth that God loves them and holds them in his arms.
When you support Illumine, you support our part in God’s effort to show himself to the world - in fact, you are God’s effort to show himself. Thank you for considering a gift to this ministry.
Listen & MEDITATe: Go Light Your WOrld
