This Week # 2-11

This week in OFF ROAD was another great week. We had about 90 students between the two services and I want to continue to encourage those regular attenders to try and make it to the Saturday night service as the 11:00 service is still very full.

This Week we started a 2 part series titled “The SG factor.” SG stands for small group and in the lesson I talked about what it is that Small Groups exist to do. The heart of what small groups are all about can be summed up in the parable that Jesus tells about the 4 soils. We looked at each of the 4 soils and what in the world Jesus was talking about when he said that, “some seed fell on the path… some on the rocky soil… some on the soil surrounded by thorns … and some in the good soil.” (Paraphrased Matt 13) After we read this parable I asked the students what it meant, and while some students got somewhat close, most students were confused (As were the disciples). We are lucky the disciples didn’t get it either because they asked Jesus what this parable meant. Jesus explains it like this, “The paths are those people who hear the word of God but never understand and don’t accept… The rocky soil represents those who hear the word, quickly accept it, but when their faith is challenged they don’t have deep roots and fall away… The thorns represent the people that hear the word, accept it, but then get entangled in the worries of this life and wealth and that overtakes them… But the good soil is those who hear the word, accept it live it out and produce a crop of 30, 60 or even 100 times that which was planted.”

Each area where the seed landed are really a distraction of this world. The distraction of the path is pride and lack of knowledge. The distraction with the rocky soil is testing of the faith and the distractions of the thorns are the worries of this life and wealth. All of these distractions happen because there is not good soil to root in, there is not the nutrients, soil and water that the plants need, that we need. Small groups exist to help student’s roots be planted firmly in Jesus by surrounding them with the relationships that build them up, encouragement that keeps them focused on God and a group of people that will hold them accountable to what God has called them to be so that they can produce a crop of 30, 60 or even 90 times more.

Parents:

Please talk over the importance of small groups with your child. Ask them where their biggest distraction is: pride and lack of knowledge, testing of faith, worries and wealth. Ask them how you can help them in each of those areas. Then I urge you to make sure that your child is signed up for a small group and that he or she comes every time so they can secure their roots in Christ.