The Way
Grace in the Word – Spring 2023
Over the next six weeks, you are invited to take part in a journey called The Way – A Life Shaped by Jesus. We will learn the core beliefs and practices the gospel presents to Christ-followers. During this study, you will have three weeks of diving into the gospel beliefs: come as you are, you are forgiven, and you can change. Each of these beliefs leads us deeper in our journey of receiving and understanding the grace of Jesus.
In the final three weeks of this study, you are invited to practice the message and core beliefs of the gospel.
Specifically, we will focus on three gospel practices for our lives: receiving from God, repenting to God and others, and responding in obedience to Him. The hope is that by taking time daily to invest, read, and reflect through this study, you may find a greater understanding of how these gospel beliefs can influence your life every day, and then put those beliefs into practice each day in order to have a life shaped by Jesus.
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Week 6 – Grace in the Word – The Way
We are entering our final week of this study where we are challenged to take what we’ve learned and respond in obedience to the Lord. We look to be doers of the Word, not just hearers, to shine a light in a dark world and point others toward Jesus. We hope that this time daily in God’s Word has spurred you to continue to study His Word and internalize His Truth. Let’s be a church and a people that are practicing the Way of Jesus in order to become more like Him in our homes, in our community and in our world. Praying for you as you seek His face and spread His light to all you meet. This week, spend some time reflecting on our time together in His Word. Ask God to show you something tangible that you can do in response to what you have learned over the last six weeks.
-CC
Week 5 – Grace in the Word – The Way
This week we will wrestle with one of the most complex gospel practices. The challenge this practice brings is great, but one crucial to living a life shaped by the way of Jesus. Take time this week to study the practice of repenting to God and others. This practice is a lifelong pursuit, but it is one you can begin to really seek to understand and open your heart to this week. Over the next five days, you will be invited to reflect on hurts you’ve caused or maybe that have been done to you. As you reflect on these things, remember the grace and forgiveness we have as a gospel belief. Let that gospel belief encourage and motivate you as you work to incorporate this difficult but necessary gospel practice.
-VR
Week 4 – Grace in the Word – The Way
This week we move into the next part of our study together. The first 3 weeks we embraced what the gospel beliefs mean for us and now it’s time to put those beliefs into practice. The first practice we will study is how to receive from the Lord. We often believe we are self-sufficient and can go it alone, but when we do, we miss out on so much of what God wants to give us. This week we will process how to receive God into every part of our lives. We pray you can lean into opening up your heart humbly to receive His love, His joy, and His confidence. As we receive from Him, these characteristics of God will shine out of us to those we come in contact with each day. This week, take time to focus on how every part of your life can be shaped by Jesus if you open yourself up to receive from Him and lean on Him to guide your thoughts and actions.
-CC
Week 3 – Grace in the Word – The Way
This week we finish part one of our Grace in the Word study over gospel beliefs. Over the next five days, you’ll be invited to study and wrestle with the gospel belief that through Jesus, there is real hope for change in our lives. The concept of change isn’t complex for many of us to rally around. We are people that are constantly seeking self-help, life-change, circumstantial differences. This week you will be studying though where real life change happens and is possible through drawing near to Jesus. Jesus calls us to life change, but it’s not for our sole benefit but for our means of being made whole in Him. Open your heart and mind to studying this belief about change and how you might be able to begin to embrace it in your life.
-VR
week 2 – Grace in the Word – The Way
Last week, we focused on the gospel belief that we can come to Jesus, just as we are, with our tired, weary sinful hearts and we can approach Him like a child that is looking for guidance and direction daily. Once we grasp that belief, we can move on to this week’s gospel belief that we can be forgiven when we sin. The central message of the gospel is that we cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior to forgive our sins. This week we will dive deep into what this forgiveness means for us as we open up our hearts to acknowledge our sins, confess them and repent in order to live in light of this truth. As you process the forgiving power of our Savior may you see that you can truly be free from the slavery of sin. He came to bring us from death to life.
-CC
Week 1 – Grace in the Word – The Way
This week begins our Grace in the Word- The Way: A Life Shaped By Jesus study. The first part of this study dives into three gospel beliefs. This week we are looking at the gospel belief that you can come as you are to Jesus. Jesus welcomes us, our brokenness, doubts, lack of faith, neediness, and everything else we find unflattering about ourselves. He welcomes us, every part of us, to a relationship with Him. Take time this week to study this belief, wrestle with how this could be true, and begin to seek the help of Christ to believe and live in this truth daily.
-VR