Filtering the Future

In one paragraph

The Sunday after Easter, Brian preached a message he called "Filtering the Future," using the next day's solar eclipse as a live example. The question on the table was how Christians should think about big, potentially significant world events without either dismissing them or losing their heads. Brian opened by setting two goals for the message. He wanted to pull anyone who rolls their eyes at...

Read together

1. 2 Timothy 1:7 Lee quotes it: God has not given a spirit of fear or timidity but of love, power, and a sound mind
2. Revelation 3:20 Lissa quotes it: behold I stand at the door and knock, anyone who opens it
3. Daniel 12:1-4 Brian reads it as a parallel vision of end times alongside Matthew 24
4. 1 Chronicles 12:32 Brian reads it about the sons of Issachar understanding the signs of the times
5. Matthew 24:32-36 Brian has it read aloud as the primary passage on signs of the end and no one knowing the day or hour
6. Proverbs 119:105 Brian quotes: your word is a light to my path and a lamp unto my feet
7. Philippians 4:6-7 Brian quotes: don't worry about anything but pray about everything and God's peace will guard your heart
8. Romans 8:16 Brian references the Spirit speaking to our hearts that we belong to God
9. Genesis 1 Brian references God placing lights in the sky to mark signs and seasons
10. Luke 23 Ella reads it: darkness fell across the whole land from noon to three during the crucifixion and the temple curtain tore

What was said

• Before you scroll through your news feed about the eclipse or any other unfolding event this week, spend a few minutes in God's word and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about what you are reading.
• When something in the world feels either alarming or easy to dismiss, practice saying 'maybe' and hold it in tension rather than landing hard on one end of the spectrum.
• Identify one situation in your life right now where you have been trying to solve a problem when it might actually be a tension to manage, and ask God for discernment about which approach fits.
• If fear or anxiety is sitting on you this week, don't pray alone a thirteenth time in isolation, reach out to someone in the Tribe fam and ask them to stand with you in prayer.
• Find a few minutes this week to step into God's 'open office hours,' as Brian put it, and simply tell him what is actually weighing on your heart, eclipse or otherwise.

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about the difference between a 'problem to solve' and a 'tension to manage,' and used his experience with Dick at the Tulsa church as an example. Where in your own life have you mistaken a tension to manage for a problem to solve, or the other way around? What happened?
2. Brian suggested three filters for walking in wisdom when looking at events around us: God's word, the Holy Spirit, and a sound mind. Which of those three do you lean on most naturally, and which do you tend to skip? Why do you think that is?
3. During the discussion, someone pointed out that in Luke 23 darkness fell across the land during the crucifixion. Brian said God placed the lights in the sky to mark signs and seasons from the very beginning in Genesis. Does knowing that change how you pay attention to things happening in the world around you? How so?
4. Brian raised the idea that something the Holy Spirit speaks to one person personally should not necessarily be forced onto everyone else. Have you ever received something that felt very significant to you but did not land the same way for others, or had someone else's personal word not quite fit you? How did you handle that?
5. Brian closed by saying spend a little less time on TikTok and YouTube and a little more time in God's throne room as the best preparation for the days ahead. What honestly competes most for that time in your own life, and what is one practical thing you could change this week?