Beyond the Weekend: GOD IS...
People have a lot of thoughts about God. Some say he is angry and vengeful. Some say he is a buddy or best friend. But what does Scripture tell us about God?
Understanding the character of God matters. It changes how we meet him in our everyday lives. It changes how we understand the world around us, and his work in it. And it changes our prayer life and how we talk and hear from him. Understanding the character of God leads us to living lives of obedience and worship.
Join Pastors Aaron Buer, Jeff Manion and Brad Holmes in our 10-week series GOD IS ..., a study on the identity and character of God, and learn how your faith can grow as you know God better.
Tired
Read: Luke 5:4-5 Listen: Luke 5
“Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Luke 5: 5
To say it was a long night on the Sea of Galilee would be a huge understatement for these professional fishermen. All night long, they cast their nets and pulled them in . . . empty. One hour slowly moved to the next. Finally, they said, “Enough,” and ended their night of hard, manual labor. They are exhausted but finish their work by cleaning the nets. It is then that Jesus steps into one of the boats so he can teach the crowd. After his teaching, Jesus tells these veteran fishermen, against all their wisdom and experience, to push out into the deep and drop down the nets they just cleaned. There is nothing about this instruction that makes any sense to these guys. But they do it and are overwhelmed with a miraculous catch of fish.
They followed the instruction because Peter sees something different about Jesus: “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” In his exhaustion, Peter learns that God is faithful and can be trusted. We can be obedient even when we might not feel like it, because God is faithful. When we’re exhausted and feel like our patience is gone, we can trust the Lord. In these moments, we can still choose to trust in his faithfulness and obey his Word.
TODAY: Watch Ada Bible’s worship team sing “Firm Foundation (He Won’t).” Use the lyrics, “Christ is my firm foundation, The Rock on which I stand,” to strengthen your faith in God when you are exhausted and feel like giving up.
JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:
Read Isaiah 29-31. Highlight anything that points to Jesus. Note how Jesus quoted Isaiah 13:13 (see Mark 7:6-7).
