First Church Williamsport

Life Application: What is one way that God is calling me to “turn” and to change my behavior so that my passion for Jesus will be reignited?

Life Application: How can you draw near to, be open to, and take in Jesus? How can you share the living water with those around you this week? Action Point: Every time you take a drink, offer a toast and a prayer: Here's to living water. Jesus, give me Your Voice.

Life Application: What needs to happen in my own life in order for the joy of the Lord to erupt? How can our church experience revival in Jesus? How will you practice “singing” in the abundant, attractive life of Jesus this week?

Pray: Outreaching, barrier-breaking, expansive Holy Spirit of the living, Resurrected God… In the model of the book of Acts today, shake us up and move us out from the cozy confines of this congregation so that we might fully enjoy being part of your gospel movement. And remind us, nothing holds you back—nothing—because ALL people, anywhere in this city and on this globe, are welcomed in your lovi...

No matter what is going on in your life, God will always find a way to lead us through it. Life Application: Where in life do we need the courage to be first? How can I journey with someone going through a difficult time right now? What has God provided me to use for His glory?

If we could realize, live into, and share who we really are as children of God, what would happen? What are you waiting for? Mark 1 (CSB) Dr. Ben Conrad June 17, 2019

Life Application: How are you experiencing the reality of the Holy Spirit in your life? Where are you seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling the touch of the presence of Jesus in your life? Who will you commit to nudging in Jesus Christ? What needs to happen in, at, and through First Church in order to see the Lord add daily among us those who are being saved in the love of Jesus? Pray: “...

Life Application: Pay attention to your next meal. Where is Jesus in that meal? How can I taste and see Jesus when I share in communion? Who is someone that is not currently connected with a church that I would be willing to invite to a meal at my house in the next month?  Just to get to know better and nudge in the love of Jesus? Write down that name and begin praying for them.  Would I be willin...

Life Application: Who is someone this week you can see with double vision? Write that name down.  Pray for them. How can you nudge them this week? Do we see others as Jesus sees them? Do others see Jesus in us? Action Point: Make it a prayer this week every day to pray: Lord, today help me to see what you see.

Life Application:  Give God thanks Say “Thank you” to God every day. Write down 3 things for which we are thankful every day. Ask someone to be your accountability partner and help you practice thanksgiving more and complaining and criticizing less. Ask someone you respect and who knows you well When do I smell like Jesus? When do you see me making a ‘sacrifice of thanksgiving’ that you believe is...

Life Application: How you listening to Jesus? In what ways are you seeking to pay attention? Are you and Jesus on the same frequency? Are you giving ear to God’s call in your life? How much are you and the Holy Spirit resonating with one another? In what ways this week can you get: Tuned up to God? Tuned in to Jesus? And tuned to be sent out in the Holy Spirit?  Who will you nudge this week with t...

Life Application: Who is someone significant in your life that has touched your life? Who is it right now you would most like to embrace in a big hug? How has Jesus touched my life? What would it look like to invite His healing touch in my life? Have I experienced the embrace of Christ in my life? How can I offer the touch of Christ to others?  Who can I nudge this week by offering the touch of Ch...

Life Application: How can I learn to pay attention to what God is up to? How can I better read the context I am in? How can I learn to see where God is moving and join God in the Resurrection story with Jesus? Who in my life can I begin to Nudge? Begin praying this week about who you can join with God in nudging to experience the love and joy of the Resurrected Jesus—then pay attention for opportu...

Life Application: When was the last time Jesus made me truly wonder? Have I ever truly wondered in the presence of Jesus? What would it take for me to realize that Jesus is alive and still calls by name? What would help me understand that the Resurrection is not “the end?”? What story is God writing in my life? How can I join with Jesus to experience the wonder of a life filled with the living Chr...

Life Application: What is my understanding of Jesus? What is my understanding of the Kingdom of Jesus? What is most challenging to me about the Kingdom of Jesus compared to the powers of this world?  How willing am I to live into the Kingdom of Jesus instead of the Kingdom of this world? Action Points: 1) Celebrate Holy Thursday at a host location 2) Share in the Good Friday service at 7 PM on Fri...

Life Application: In all my wandering in life, how often do I stop to sit in the presence of God almighty?  How often do I reflect on the overlap of divinity and humanity in Jesus? Am I willing to sit in that tension? How often do I reflect on Jesus as both Divine and human? As King and Priest?  What does it mean that Jesus both demands justice but also—Himself—provides the offering for that justi...

Life Application: What marvelous things have I seen God do?  What sin in my life has Lenten self-examination revealed?  Have I repented of that sin and asked forgiveness?  Will I give God praise in my brokenness?

Life Application and Scripture Reflection: This week find ways to rest in God by placing yourself under the shadow of God’s wings. Use the following scriptures to reflect: "I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130:5-6 "He says, Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 "The Lord wil...

Life Application: When was the last time you really had a deep thirst?  What did that feel like? What do we find our souls thirsting for? Where in life are we downcast or disoriented? Am I willing to talk to my soul rather than just listen to it? Am I willing to name when I am downcast? Am I willing to directly drink in the life and Spirit of Jesus?  Am I willing to reject and repent of false sour...

Life Application: Where do I feel like my life is in the wilderness? Where are the voices loudest that would tear me down?  Where is the roar of doubt, negativity, worry, fear, unworthiness, lack or purpose, etc. the greatest? How can I best seek God’s voice in the midst of the roar of life so that I can hear God? What is the beast in my life I most need to name and confess to God? Take time today...

Life Application: This week make an intentional effort to begin preparing for a time of journeying in the wilderness. Commit to practices we do not often engage in so that we might most fully experience the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter. In particular: 1) Practice confessing to God every day. Experience the liberation and forgiveness that comes with a willingness to own our confessions...

For the last 15 years, Phil and Linda Byler have witnessed the power of Jesus as they have served as missionaries in South Sudan among the Laarim people group.  As they enter into retirement, they graciously offered to share with us one more time so we can hear some of the ways that they have been eye-witnesses to the amazing power of Jesus to take that which is dead in sin and make it alive in Ch...

Life Application When is the last time Jesus blew your mind? Tell someone this story. What circumstance do you believe is hopeless and in need of resurrection? Pray that God would be glorified through this circumstance What person in your life needs to know the hope of the resurrection and how will you share it?

Life Application: Is the imagery of Jesus as the vine that we abide in helpful to me or foreign to me?  How much time do I spend in a personal way connecting with God on a regular basis? Do I seek to develop my relationship with God as much as I do with loved ones in my life?  Why or why not? When it comes to connecting with God, do I need to give God more time?  Be more transparent?  Or submit to...