UGA Freshley

For the final Freshley, we sat down with 4 Freshley small group leaders to hear about their own transition from their freshman year into the greater body of Wesley. Jake, Sam, Olivia, and Haven each shared their perspectives on leadership, community, and pursuing your personal relationship with God. 

This week we wrap up our series called Rooted by talking about the parable of the sower in Mark 4. Jesus shows us that the only thing we can control about our fruitfulness is the condition of our hearts. We want to be a people who give God the best of our attention and affection, because when we do, we can reap a harvest “30, 60, even a hundred times what was sown.”

In this week's message, Bob talked about how transparent discipleship is one of our best tools to deepen our roots and mature our relationships with Christ. 

Prayer is how we enter into and experience relationship with the Lord. It brings us to Him, and Him to us. How do we pray? What are those key ingredients? Why do we pray? Abiding in Jesus is the foundation of a fruitful life. Prayer is more than head knowledge; it's heart and soul knowledge. 

As followers of Jesus, our ultimate goal is to become more and more like Jesus, full of the fruit of the spirit in every season as we place our hope in him. However, much of our hope, peace, and joy is based on our circumstances. This week we look at how we can be rooted in Jesus as our source of hope, and how Scripture can help us get there.

The night before Jesus went to the cross, He had a moment of excitement. He communicates that Him leaving was actually a good thing because it meant that the Spirit was coming. The problem is: we don't buy that. The Spirit wants to move through us to see “even greater things,” and He moves best when we are available, aware, and willing to act!

People often say, “God told me this…” or “I heard God say…,” but what do they actually mean? This week, we talk through some practical steps for beginning to hear the voice of God in our lives through the Scripture and the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.

The Holy Spirit is the person of God dwelling inside of us. His presence offers us the ability to have an abiding relationship with God, interacting with His voice and power in everything we do. We cultivate this relationship by living with our attentions and affections set towards Him. 

The Holy Spirit is the way we can know God here and now. This week, we answer the question “Who is the Holy Spirit?” so that as we explore life with the Spirit, we can have a foundation of what it means to interact with the Spirit of God.

Another facet of our identity in Christ is that we are called disciples. This week we break down what the bible means when it says that followers of Jesus are his disciples: we are meant to be with him, become like him, and do as he did.

What does it mean when believers are addressed as saints in Scripture? This week, we dig into the forgiveness made possible by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and how he changes our identity from sinners to saints.

In Christ, God is our Father, which makes us sons and daughters who can live secure in His love. 

Trying to follow Jesus and become like Him by giving Him a couple hours on Mondays is like trying to have a healthy and deeply connected relationship with someone by only spending a couple hours a week with them. The math just doesn't add up. But, there are things we can do daily in our normal routines to experience His Presence on a consistent basis in our lives.  

We can feel a lot of pressure to make our lives everything we hope for, and we can think we need to be someone else to make that happen. By looking at the story of God calling Moses to lead the Israelites in Exodus, we see that when we feel pressure, the Lord says we are enough.

In seasons of change, there can be a lot of unknowns. While we don't always know the specifics of what the future holds, we can live with the assurance that God has good purposes for us and is a waymaker in the wilderness. 

Starting college involves a lot of changes in our lives and sometimes can feel like navigating the wilderness, where we don't feel settled and at home just yet. By looking at the story of the Exodus, we can see how God leads us through the wilderness with purpose.

In college we can be surrounded by people all the time, but still wonder if anyone really knows us. Loneliness is a reality we experience, but it isn't something we were made for, and community is the answer! Community is meant to help us know others, be known by them, and navigate following Jesus together. Life is too hard to do it alone.

We belong to a God who is able to do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine. While it can be easy to get focused on all the questions we can't answer yet about how freshman year is going to go, we want to start the year by believing God for big things–that he has more for us when it comes to our relationships with Him, with our community, and with healing and transformation. 

In light of recent events at UGA, Daniel gave us a powerful message on grief, fear, and hope.