Bluffton Community

Primary Scripture: John 15:1-17BIG IDEA: “Bearing fruit” is character change that leads to life change… and it brings glory to God. Message Focus: In these seventeen verses, Jesus talked about fruit and producing fruit nine times. Clearly, this is important. Bearing fruit is so critical that branches that produce none are cut off. Bearing fruit glorifies God. The only way to bear fruit is to remai...

Primary Scripture: John 15:1-17BIG IDEA: Remaining in Christ is a close, ongoing relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Message Focus: Jesus said that He is the vine and His disciples are branches. The branches rely on the vine for everything. Followers of Jesus are absolutely dependent on Him for everything, too: life, forgiveness, spiritual life, direction, and more. This message...

Primary Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 BIG IDEA: Generosity with resources is the norm for Christians. Message Focus: Paul invited the Corinthian Christians to participate in giving financially to support the work of sharing the gospel. “I am not commanding you…” (v8). This is generosity that is motivated by God’s generosity to us through Jesus. This is an opportunity to contrast legalistic givin...

Primary Scripture: Luke 11:28 BIG IDEA: God intends the truth of Scripture to change the way we think and live. Message Focus: Jesus said that those who hear the word of God and put it into practice are happy and have God’s favor upon them. “Hear and obey” is a consistent message throughout the Bible. Whether it’s the good news of Jesus or the new way of living that stems from a life that’s been m...

Primary Scripture: Matthew 4:4 (or Deuteronomy 8:3) BIG IDEA: Reading the Bible has the power to change a person’s life. Message Focus: Jesus placed reading and understanding the Bible on the same level as eating food to live and thrive. Reading the Bible is critical and, yet, too many people spend very little time reading the Bible. This message is a great moment to teach people how to read the B...

Primary Scripture: Acts 8:32-35 BIG IDEA: When a person rightly interprets Scripture, they enjoy walking with God Message Focus: The account of the Ethiopian and Philip may be a great case study on the experiences most people have when they read the Bible. It doesn’t have to be that way. This message can help people learn how to understand and interpret what they are reading in the Bible. Promptin...

Primary Scripture: Hebrews 4:12 (in context) BIG IDEA: The Bible is God’s message revealing how to have a friendship with Him. Message Focus: The Bible has the ability to discern the thoughts and intentions of a person. How can a document do that? The Bible is living, active, and full of power. This is an opportunity to expose the supernatural nature of the Bible, how we got it, and why we need it...

Primary Scripture: Exodus 33:12-23 BIG IDEA: God is glorious – overwhelming by His nature and character. Message Focus: More than anything, it seems the Moses simply wanted to be with God. in Exodus 33 was: “Show me Your glory.” God promised to have His goodness and His glory pass by. Moses would be allowed to look at God’s “back” but not His face. God’s glory is central. In fact, all of time and...

Primary Scripture: Exodus 33:7-11 BIG IDEA: God is approachable Message Focus: Exodus 33 described a tent outside the camp where God met with Moses. God spoke with Moses, “as one speaks to a friend.” What a powerful description of Moses’ relationship with God. What was unique for Moses is now common for every genuinely born-again believer. Not only does God speak to His people, but through the Hol...

Primary Scripture: Exodus 33:1-6 BIG IDEA: God is holy – set apart from everything and without sin. Message Focus: God told Moses that the nation of Israel could enter the Promised Land, but He would not go with them. Why? Because of Israel’s stubborn sinfulness. God warned Moses that if He were to go with them, He might destroy them. * An interesting moment: Moses would rather have God and no Pro...

Primary Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 BIG IDEA: Jesus promised to build His Church using believers like Peter. Message Focus: Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus said the He would be the one to build the Church and Satan would not be able to overcome it. This message is an opportunity to expose the values and strategies Bluffton Community uses to share the good news about salvation in C...

Primary Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 BIG IDEA: Christians know Jesus to be God’s Son and Messiah. Message Focus: Jesus asked the disciples. “Who do people say that I am?” Then He asked them, “What about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter’s reply: You are God. Notice, Jesus did not correct Peter or walk him back from that statement. This confession is the foundation of faith and new life in Christ. Li...

Primary Scripture: Psalm 98 BIG IDEA: Jesus is the Lord worthy of worship and praise. Message Focus: God reigns. The nation of Israel understood that. Creation understands that. One day, all the peoples of the world will see it as well. Psalm 98 celebrates God’s salvation, righteousness, and judgment. This message may expose why Jesus is worthy of worship as well as teaching people ways to worship...

Primary Scripture: Psalm 45 BIG IDEA: Jesus entered this world to rescue His true love. Message Focus: Psalm 45 is a “love song” celebrating the wedding of a king. It declares the excellence and strength of the king while expressing the beauty and honor of the bride. Hebrews attributes verse 6-7 to Jesus. The one familiar with the NT will quickly make the connection to the Church and Jesus, the Br...

Primary Scripture: Psalm 22 BIG IDEA: Looking ahead with hope, Jesus suffered in our place for our sin. Message Focus: David lamented the abuse he received from his enemies. Jesus quoted the opening words of Psalm 22 while He was hanging on the cross. Psalm 22 includes details that are also recorded in the Gospels: hurling insults, people saying, “let the Lord rescue him”, casting lots for garment...

Primary Scripture: Psalm 110 BIG IDEA: Jesus is the King and Priest God promised to send. Message Focus: David prophesied about a coming King-Priest who would rule and judge in the power of God. Jesus used this psalm in Matthew 22 as did Peter in Acts 2 and the author of Hebrews. Jesus came into His creation to lead us out of sin/darkness and into friendship with God because of the forgiveness He...

Primary Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 BIG IDEA: Christians are official messengers of God’s good news. Message Focus: God offers to restore our relationship to Him through Christ. This is the greatest news any human being could receive. God’s primary vehicle for delivering and sharing this news? Every genuinely born again believer. He has given us this “ministry of reconciliation.” Prompting Qu...

Primary Scripture: Romans 8:14-17 BIG IDEA: In Christ, believers are adopted into God’s family, co-heirs with Christ. Focus: The word “adoption” reminds us that our God is a relational God actively working to bring His family back together. The Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. He does not merely save us from our sin and send us on our way, He welcomes us into His family, nurtures...

Primary Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17 BIG IDEA: In Christ, believers are reborn, made new, and empowered to live like Jesus. Message Focus: The consequences of sin left us with an existence separated from God and marked by self-centeredness, emptiness, guilt and shame. Salvation through faith in Jesus offers us reconciliation with God and a regenerated life of purpose, forgiveness and freedom. We...

Primary Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:21 BIG IDEA: In Christ, believers have a healthy relationship with God. Focus: God’s perfection is the standard for righteousness and only He is truly righteous. Righteousness is one of God’s divine attributes, closely associated to His justice. Jesus is the only sinless one, the only righteous one and it is His righteousness that covers us at salvation. This is...

Primary Scripture: Mark 10:13-16 BIG IDEA: Jesus welcomes children into the kingdom. Focus: The disciples tried to keep parents from bothering Jesus with their children, but Jesus corrected them. Children are welcome in the kingdom of God. In fact, there is much we can learn about genuine faith from kids. This tugs on a thread: how we shepherd and care for kids in our church and community matters....

Primary Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 BIG IDEA: Jesus empowers us to be neighbors toward everyone, especially our enemies. Focus: There seems to be two layers to this parable. The first is obvious: followers of Jesus should serve and help others who are in need. The second is seen in the light of the gospel: Jesus is the Samaritan, the outcast, who helps those who are “half dead”, us. It was the Jewish...

October 13th | Week 2 Primary Scripture: Luke 19:1-10 BIG IDEA: We go with Jesus looking for people who are spiritually lost. Focus: This genuine account seems to point to the truth Jesus had just made in Luke 18:24-27. It appears that Zacchaeus was pursuing Jesus, but that Jesus was pursuing Zacchaeus as well. Here was a wealthy man, who was also an outcast in his community, climbing trees to get...

Primary Scripture: Romans 5:6-8 BIG IDEA: God welcomes us home through faith in Christ. Message Focus: Paul wrote that we were powerless to come home to God. So God, in His great love, sent Jesus to die for us in our place. Now, because of what Jesus has done, we can come home. It’s important to note that God moved first, knowing that we couldn’t. Perhaps this is a key component of ministry in gen...

September 29 | Baptism Primary Scripture: Romans 6:1-4 NIV BIG IDEA: Baptism is a reminder that we have died and been raised to new life with Christ. Message Focus: Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples and part of the making is the step of baptism. Baptism is both an outward sign of what the Holy Spirit has done inside of a believer, but it's also a reminder that our old lives are gone...