Happy Birthday Tribe!

In one paragraph

This message, preached on Tribe's sixth birthday, used 1 Chronicles 17 to explore what it looks like for a church to stay seated before the Lord rather than running ahead of him. Brian drew the congregation back to the question of who is really doing the building, and invited everyone to recommit to Jesus as the senior pastor of Tribe. The reading was from 1 Chronicles 17, verses one through...

Read together

1. 1 Chronicles 17:1-16 main passage read aloud and discussed throughout the sermon
2. 2 Corinthians 9:6 read aloud during the offering portion about planting generously and giving cheerfully

What was said

• When you come through the doors on Sunday, treat every unfamiliar face the way you would treat a guest walking into your own home.
• Identify one area of your life where you have run out ahead of the Lord, and sit before him this week and hand it back.
• Find a moment this week to sit quietly before God, not with a plan or a request, but in the posture David ended up in, listening.
• If the Lord nudges you to give your time or your help to someone around you this week, act on that nudge instead of letting it pass.
• Read 1 Chronicles 17 on your own and notice where David starts the story and where he ends up, then ask yourself which posture describes you right now.

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about David getting a good idea, maybe even a God idea, but still getting out ahead of the Lord with it. Has there been a time in your own life when you ran after something with genuinely good intentions but realized later you had not waited on God's timing or direction?
2. Several people in the room offered thoughts on why God might tell David the temple was a good thing to accomplish but that David was not the one to do it. What do you think was going on in that moment, and what does it say about how God works with us even when our motives are sincere?
3. God responded to David's offer to build him a house by pointing back to everything he had already done for David and then promising to build a house, a dynasty, for David instead. What does that reversal tell you about how God sees our relationship with him?
4. Brian pointed out that David started the story seated and settled in his own palace and ended it seated before the Lord, and that the same Hebrew word is used both times. What is the difference between those two postures in your own experience, and what does it actually look like to be seated before the Lord in a practical, daily sense?
5. Brian shared that Tribe's stated commitment to Jesus being senior pastor is meant to function as a check, not just a phrase, so that the leadership and the congregation do not chase elk. What are some ways a community like Tribe can hold itself honestly to that kind of accountability, and what role do you play in that?