Thursday Thoughts for Parents | "Going Deeper"

This post is based on Mack Stiles' sermon, Going Deeper, given on June 18, 2017.

 

When reading the gospel narratives, it is natural to wonder what it must have been like to be one of the first disciples Jesus called to follow Him. When Jesus walked along a shoreline and boarded a certain boat, we can be confident that Peter had no idea how different his life would be after the events that followed. In the passage from this past Sunday, we were reminded that the God-man, Jesus Christ, mercifully gets into our boat, reveals our sinfulness, and overwhelms us with both the understanding of our need for Him, as well as the joy of following Him in mission. Regardless of where our mission field is, we can know with certainty that Jesus is worth giving up everything this world has to offer to obediently follow Him.

 Read Luke 5:1-11

Consider verses 1-5, and think about this statement from the sermon: “One of the greatest signs that God is at work in a person is reflected in their hunger and thirst for His Word.”

  • How do you seek to develop a hunger for God’s Word in your own life? And what is the correlation between hungering for God’s Word and acting on it?

In verses 6-9, Peter sees himself for who he really is in the presence of Jesus Christ. He is a sinner. The Christian life is filled with daily opportunities for confession leading to repentance.

  • What can Peter’s example of humility teach us about our need for confession?
  • How does your family seek to express the grace of confessing sin to one another?

Reflect on verses 10-11. We were encouraged this week to receive the comfort that only comes through living for the purpose of prizing Christ more than anything else we could treasure.

  • What comes to mind when you think of distractions that keep you from treasuring Christ?
  • Pray and ask God for His forgiveness as the One we have truly sinned against by giving priority to other things. Also, ask that, as He comforts you, you would prize Him and His Word more.

 

[post written by Tyson Ziegler]