If a grasshopper is caught and placed in a glass jar with the lid secured, it will jump only so many times before resigning to the fact that it cannot escape, assured that the barrier between it and where it wants to be is permanent and immovable. Once the grasshopper has made up its mind that it’s stuck, the lid can be removed and still the grasshopper will not try to escape. It’s been down that road and failed, so why would it succeed now? All too often, we resign ourselves to a life that may be less impactful than God wants for us simply because we’ve failed before and are convinced that a new attempt will result in a familiar outcome, even if the circumstances have changed (like the lid has been removed). When the Israelite scouts came upon the Promised Land that God had for them, they saw the giants who inhabited it and came back to report that they themselves “…seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33b) Over the next few weeks (or maybe months) Pastor Ronnie will lead us through the book of Numbers and challenge us to reach for what God has for us, even if we think that a lid is tightly secured over us. After all, He is bigger than any giant that might be blocking the path He has for us.

Just like doughnuts and soda won't help you with a physical goal of running a marathon, things of this world will not help us with our spiritual goal of attaining godliness. We'll dig into 1 Timothy 4:7-8 where we will learn about creating a spiritual vision and then disciplining ourselves for godliness.

There are times in all of our lives when God does something that is so far beyond what we can expect or imagine that we are left dumbfounded and amazed. Simply, we are left Speechless. In this 5-week study, we'll focus on Zechariah, a man who saw God perform incredible miracles in his life (and his son's life) that also left him speechless When has He left you speechless? What do you do when God is silent? What about when He speaks? What do you do when you see God work through your children? How do you retreat from the hustle and bustle of life to hear God? These are all topics that we will cover over the next few weeks.