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The GT Weekend! ~ Sketched IX Week 3

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The GT Weekend!

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to
reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ.
Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer,
rest your soul in reflective journaling,
and spend time worshiping the Creator who
longs for intimacy with each of us!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) In Monday’s Journey, Paula led us to consider what it must have been like for Peter to reflect on his faith journey with Jesus and look ahead to leading the young church into a new season. Jesus did not act as Peter had expected the Promised Messiah to act, and yet… Christ was undeniably the One. Peter understood how unqualified he was to lead this young church, considering his repeated doubt and disloyalty to Jesus. And yet… Jesus had commanded Peter to feed the sheep. Sometimes God’s call on our lives looks different than we expect. Sometimes we feel unqualified for what He asks us to do. Reflect today on how you understand God’s call on your life. How has your understanding of His call for you changed? (For example, when I was younger, I thought God would call me to overseas mission work, but now I am a full-time mom of little children and actively discipling local teenagers to know God better.) Ask God for guidance and direction as you live out His current call on your life, trusting that, by faithfully following His leading, He will produce good fruit in your life.

2) When we hear stories of faithful men and women who have surrendered their lives for Jesus, we can easily believe we would do the same in their situation. We find ourselves saying we would die for Jesus, without considering what it looks like to live for Jesus. The Savior clearly said in Luke 14:25-27 that His followers must be willing to lay down their lives and take up their cross to follow Him. This means we also, as His modern-day followers, must be willing to lay aside our plans and our own will, choosing to trust His leading. While we may want to perform a grand gesture for the Lord, He often calls us to small, consistent acts of obedience. Peter and the other apostles risked death and imprisonment to share the Good News of Jesus. Are you willing to risk an awkward conversation to share the Gospel with a friend? Peter sat in a dark and stinky prison, and still chose to worship God. Are you dedicated to worship God consistently in your own home? What is one small step of obedience you can practice this week? Write down this step and share it with a friend or family member, asking them to pray for you as you trust in the Holy Spirit to empower you to obey.

3) In yesterday’s Journey Study we imagined together Peter’s thoughts as he prepared for the end of his life. As he faced down death, he considered how disciples of Jesus ought to live in this present age. He acknowledged that suffering leads to our purification, and that our hardship draws us to rely on God for strength only He can provide. Peter reflected on the importance of steadfastness and trusting God to do all He has promised. Before he died, Peter sought to strongly encourage other believers by reminding them of God’s character. As you reflect on the course of your life, what message would you want to pass on to other believers? What are the greatest lessons the Lord has taught you thus far? Write a brief letter to a fellow believer (real or imagined) outlining what God has done for you and how you have seen His great faithfulness. What are the key lessons your story has taught you about following and serving Jesus Christ, our Lord? How does your story fit in with the “sweeping drama” of God’s big story? Be sure to use Scripture to emphasize the truths you identify in your life.

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from 2 Peter 3:15-18 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

 …but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do this with gentleness and reverence, keeping a clear conscience, so that when you are accused, those who disparage your good conduct in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

Prayer Journal
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your great mercy and love for us. Thank You for sending Your son, the long awaited, yet unexpected Messiah. Thank You for His great work on our behalf. I confess, oh Lord, that I often want to live my own way, promising myself that one day I will do something great for You, but unwilling to take small steps right now. We know that You work in unexpected and surprising ways. You tell us in Your word “the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16) and those who suffer will be blessed. I ask You to come near me today. For those who are suffering, I ask for comfort and steadfastness. For those who feel weak, I ask for Your strength to become evident in their life. For those who want to do great and mighty works for you, I ask for confidence in their small works of obedience in this moment. Let us not grow weary in following You, instead may we always look to You for our hope and assurance.

Worship Through Community

Can we pray for you? Reach Out! We’d love to pray for and with you!
Send us an email at prayer@gracefullytruthful.com

Build community, be transparent, and encourage others:
Share how God spoke to you today!
Comment Here or in our Facebook Community Group!

Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Pause 3 Day 6 Most Excellent Way

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Pause 3, Day 6

All the rules. Over 600 of them.
All the punishment that must be enacted because of infractions on those rules.
All the bloodshed required for forgiveness of sin.

But all pointed forward.

In the Old Testament, God set up a covenant with Israel to clearly mark out what holiness looked like, and what failing that holiness also looked like.
Spoiler alert: everyone failed.

So, sacrifices were required and bloodshed was required in order to pay for the crime against a holy God.
Sin had a price, that price was death.

In order to spare Israel so they all didn’t end up dying for their sin within days, God allowed animals to be sacrificed in place of people. For hundreds of years, the system continued.
Sin, and sacrifice for that sin, was the rhythm for all Jewish people.

The fact that they were indeed sinners in need of a blood sacrifice to atone for their sin was a blatantly known fact.
Every Jew was keenly aware of three things:
1) they were in a covenant relationship with God
2) they constantly failed to keep their end of the covenant
3) God was rich in mercy to allow another’s blood to cover their own payment

And this is where we often misstep in our culture today.
We like to forget we are sinners.

It’s just a white lie.
She will never know I was talking about her behind her back.
Who doesn’t think he’s hot, so what if I think about him when I’m with my husband?
Girl, I had every right to be rude!
Sisters, we are experts at justifying our sin.

No matter how long we’ve walked with Jesus or if we’ve never actually crossed the line of faith, we are still experts at covering up our sin, categorizing it as anything else but sin.

So, here we are stuck in sin, just like ancient Israel.

The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.

A new covenant, where one sacrifice would atone for all sin, across all time.
Sin still has a price, and it’s still death.

But Christ Jesus, God the Son, took that punishment Himself.
No more animal sacrifice were needed because He, being fully God and fully man, which meant He lived our life for us in all the righteousness of God, took our rightly deserved punishment as He poured out His innocent blood.

This is the blood of the new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sin.

The old way of forgiveness swallowed up by the most excellent covenant where sin is atoned for by perfect righteousness.

Sisters, this covenant is for our everyday living!
When we surrender to Jesus, we enter into this covenant, paid for by Christ!
Walk forward in forgiveness!

Today's Invitation

1) Read Hebrews 7:26-8:13 and answer these 3 questions in your journal:
a) What do these verses tell me about God and His character?
b) What do these verses tell me about others and the world around me?
c) What do these verses tell me about me and my heart?

2) Close your time by praying for these truths to take root in your heart and for the Holy Spirit to remind you and teach you more about these things today.

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
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Hebrews 7:26-8:13

For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all time when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.

8:1 Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. 6 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. 8 But finding fault with his people, he says:
See, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah—
9 not like the covenant
that I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
I showed no concern for them, says the Lord,
because they did not continue in my covenant.
10 For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen,
and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will forgive their wrongdoing,
and I will never again remember their sins.

13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.

How Does “Pause” Work?
1.Each day, Monday through Friday, for 2 weeks, we will provide you with an invitation to get away with the Savior. Each one is designed for you to engage with the Almighty in a deeper way and perhaps in a new way than you have been recently.

2. Having a journal is a must! You’ll want to take notes as you walk this special Journey of Pause.

3. Each week focuses on one or two passage of Scripture and we walk with you as you study and flesh these out for yourself. As you write your thoughts, read His Word, and pray, questions might come up. That’s Perfect! Ask a trusted fellow believer, a pastor, or send us an email as you work through them!

4. Jumping in at the middle? No problem! Here is the entire Journey Theme.

5. Connect with others on Facebook by visiting our GT Community Group!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Pause 3 Week Two!
Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies
in Pause 3!