My Time Is Not Yet Here

In one paragraph

Pastor Matt was away the previous Sunday, and this week he returned to lead the congregation through a stretch of scripture where Jesus turns toward Jerusalem and begins preparing his disciples for what that journey will actually cost. The message traced several encounters along the way, each one pressing on the question of what it means to follow Jesus without looking back. Communion closed the...

Read together

1. 1 Samuel 2 quoted at the opening to lead worship: 'there is no one holy like the Lord'
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 read after singing: 'always be joyful, never stop praying and be thankful in all circumstances'
3. Lamentations 3:22-23 cited as inspiration for the song Morning by Morning: 'because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, his mercies never fail, they are new every morning'
4. John 7:1-10 Jesus stays in Galilee, his brothers mock him and urge him to go to Judea, Jesus says his time has not yet come
5. Luke 9:51-56 Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, sends messengers through Samaria, is rejected, rebukes James and John for wanting to call down fire
6. Matthew 18:19-20 quoted as the teaching James and John were drawing on when they asked to call down fire: 'if two of you agree on earth about anything that you may ask'
7. Luke 9:57-60 three would-be followers: the volunteer, the recruit told to let the dead bury their dead, and the one who wants to say goodbye
8. Matthew 8:19-22 parallel account of the scribe volunteering and the disciple asking to bury his father
9. 1 Kings 19:19-21 Elijah throws his mantle over Elisha, Elisha asks to kiss his parents goodbye before following
10. Hebrews 10:23-25 cited to call the congregation to hold firmly to their confession of hope, encourage one another in love and good deeds, and not forsake meeting together
11. John 13:34-35 closing song text: 'a new command I give to you, to love one another as I have loved you, by this everyone will know you are my disciples'

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about Jesus' brothers mocking him and said, 'Some of us have been brothers of Jesus for a long time, right? We have been in a family that claims to know Christ, and we're not really believing him.' What does it look like in practice to be close to Jesus without actually trusting him?
2. When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus, James and John wanted to call fire down from heaven on them. The pastor said this is not the age of judgment but the age of grace, and that Jesus rebuked that impulse. Where do you see that same impulse showing up in your own life or in the church today?
3. The pastor walked through three people who said they would follow Jesus but each had a reason to wait first. He said discipleship is costly and different from what people expect. What has following Jesus actually cost you that you did not anticipate when you started?
4. The pastor pointed to Israel looking back to Egypt and Lot's wife looking back to Sodom as examples of what Jesus warned against when he said no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. What does looking back actually look like for a follower of Jesus today?
5. From Hebrews 10, the pastor talked about holding firmly to our confession of hope without wavering and spurring one another on to love and good deeds rather than calling down fire on those who reject us. What would it look like for this group specifically to do that more intentionally?