Week 6

GENESIS 8:13-18

13 By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. 17 Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

GENESIS 9:11-17

11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

SYNOPSIS

• Noah had been on the ark for many days
• After the earth is dry, God instructs Noah to step off the ark
• Noah is asked to bring out every creature on the ark in order to repopulate the earth
• God creates a covenant with Noah and all people that He will never again destroy the earth by flood
• The rainbow is a sign of this covenant 

TALKING POINTS

• Had never rained on the earth before
• What is is like first stepping off the boat?
• What does Noah do? What would you do?
• How do you feel about solitude?
• Flooding of the earth can be thought of as wiping the slate clean, new beginnings
• Are you in the rain or on dry land?
• You have to build your own boat for your rainy days
• How?
• Who's with you in the boat?
• What is your rainbow?
• What is your role when standing in the rain?
• What is your role when on dry land?
• CELEBRATE
• Serve as a light for those in the rain
• Stand with those in the rain, offer an umbrella
• God makes this promise to all people
• God keeps His promises
• Promised to those who don't even acknowledge him
• The rain will come but the rain will end

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

PINEAPPLE COCONUT BANANA

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped, drained, canned pineapple
• 2 bananas, mashed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare pan with paper muffin liners and grease. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together butter, sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Slowly stir butter mixture into flour. Fold in coconut, pineapple, and bananas. Using an ice cream scoop, fill muffin tin 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Week 5

1 KINGS 19:3-15

3 Elijah was afraid[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for theLord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

SYNOPSIS

• Elijah was afraid and ran for his life
• Elijah pleads with God to take his life
• Elijah lays down to sleep
• God wakes Elijah and instructs him to eat and drink
• Elijah falls asleep a second time and it again woken
• Elijah spends the night in a cave
• Elijah is scared and desperate
• God tells him to look for the Lord
• Lord presents Himself in a whisper

TALKING POINTS

• Scripture occurs just after Mount Carmel
• There is a time and place for comfort and crying
• Elijah hides in the cave
• God is patient the whole time
• Elijah displays feelings of loneliness and no longer wants to live
• God has the capacity to create something huge and disastrous (earthquakes), but recognizes the need to gently care for Elijah 

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

CINNAMON APPLE

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups apples, diced
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven 375F. Prepare muffin pan with paper liners and grease. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cream together butter and sugar in another bowl. Mix in egg and vanilla. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in apples. Using an ice cream scoop, fill until 3/4 full. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Mix together melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon. While muffins are still warm, dip the top of each muffin into the sugar mixture. Allow to cool. 

Week 4

1 SAMUEL 17:38-51

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lordsaves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

SYNOPSIS

• Commonly referred to as the story of David and Goliath
• Saul provided David with armor, but David was not used to it and removed it
• Goliath jeers at David
• David challenges Goliath
• David killed Goliath with a slingshot

TALKING POINTS

• Goliath has been challenging the Israelites every day for 40 days
• Israelites feared Goliath
• David has complete trust in the Lord despite his lack of strength and maturity
• David hadn't set out looking to battle a giant; he was delivering food
• David acts to defend God's glory
• What is your Goliath?
• For some, it is his or her past
• How do you become intimate with God?
• Learn how to amble
• Spend uninterrupted time with God
• Listen and be still
• Get off your butt and be reckless
• Life is full of battles, but God is always going to win the war

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CHIP

Ingredients

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare a muffin pan with paper liners and grease. Melt butter and half the chocolate in a double boiler. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients and melted chocolate into dry ingredient. Gently blend. Fold in remaining chocolate chips. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each tin 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Week 3

GENESIS 22:1-12

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

SYNOPSIS

• God tests Abraham
• God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac
• Angel of the Lord calls out to Abraham just before sacrificing Isaac
• God instructs Abraham not to kill his son

TALKING POINTS

• What have you sacrificed and is it worth it?
• Isaac is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham
• Scripture parallels Jesus' passion
• God already believed in Abraham but this grew Abraham's confidence in his love for the Lord
• You're either all in or all out
• The word withheld
• not what are we giving Him, but what are we holding back

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 qt strawberries, cleaned and diced
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat over to 400F. Prepare muffin pan with paper liners and grease. Combine first four ingredients and set aside. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a smaller bowl, mix together egg, oil, milk, and vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Stir until just mixed. In another bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugar until fluffy; add egg and vanilla. Fold in strawberries. Fill each muffin tin 1/2 full with batter. Spoon in cream cheese and strawberry mixture. Top with additional batter until 3/4 full. Sprinkle streusel mixture over top of each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Week 2

GENESIS 12:1-9

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”[b]

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abramand said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord,who had appeared to him.

8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

SYNOPSIS

• God instructs Abram to leave his country, people, and father's household
• God promises to make Abram the leader of nations
• God promises Abram and Sarai a child
• Abram leaves with Sarai and his nephew Lot

TALKING POINTS

• How does God talk to you? How do you hear Him?
• If God gave you a picture of your life, you would become complacent
• Why build an altar?
• bread crumb trail
• create memorials
• Why go?
• Perhaps Abram wanted to matter
• Why not?
• Live a life without regret
• What or how is not important

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

BANANA NUTELLA

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Nutella

Directions

Preheat over to 350F. Prepare muffin tin with paper liners and grease. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Whisk. In separate bowl, combine bananas, sugars, egg, oil, and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredient. Using an ice cream scoop, fill tins 3/4 full. Top each muffin with a teaspoon of Nutella. Swirl Nutella into better using a toothpick. Bake muffins for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Week 1

GENESIS 3:6-15

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
    and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
    and you will eat dust
    all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

SYNOPSIS

• Eve eats the fruit of the tree in the garden of Eden
• Adam eats the fruit given to him by Eve
• Adam and Eve realized they were naked
• Adam and Eve hide from the Lord
• The Lord comes looking for Adam and Eve
• Eve informs the Lord that the serpent has deceived her
• The Lord curses the serpent

TALKING POINTS

• Why is the tree in the garden to begin with?
• It is all about free will
• God wants us to choose Him; He does not want to force His love upon us
• Why hide from the Lord? 
• Do we hide our struggles?
• How do we keep others and ourselves from hiding?
• Be intentional
• Be honest
• What is the tone of God's voice?
• Frustration surrounded by love
• Heartbroken
• Gentle
• The roar in God's tone when addressing the serpent only further illustrates the gentleness in tone when addressing Adam and Eve
• God never asks "why" Adam and Eve ate the fruit
• Asking "why" would have only given Adam and Eve the opportunity to justify inappropriate actions
• God presents Adam and Eve several opportunities to come clean
• First round of the Blame Game
• God's perspective of us does not change; Adam changes the way he sees himself

MUFFIN OF THE WEEK

BLUEBERRY

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F. Line the muffin tin with paper liners and grease. Cream butter until smooth. Add 1 cup sugar and mix. Add eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt and mix. Beat in flour and milk alternately. Fold in blueberries. Stir together remaining sugar and cinnamon. Use an ice cream scoop to fill each muffin tin 3/4 full. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over each muffin. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.