TTCA Week 9 Wrap Up

In one paragraph

This was the final message in Tribe's long-running "Turn the Cat Around" series. Brian opened the floor for the congregation to share how the series had challenged or changed them before anchoring the conversation in 2 Timothy 4:1-5. The thread running through everything was a single statement Brian said the Holy Spirit had placed on his heart: the leadership of Jesus will be less complicated but...

Read together

1. Ezekiel 18:23 God says he does not want the wicked to die but to turn and live
2. Ezekiel 18:31 God tells Israel to put rebellion behind them, find a new heart and spirit, and turn back and live
3. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 main passage read aloud by a congregation member as the textual foundation for the sermon
4. 2 Timothy 4:7 congregation member quoted it as her grandparents' favorite verse, read at their funerals: I have fought the good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith

What was said

• Open your Bible this week and read 2 Timothy 4:1-5 on your own, noticing what words or phrases the Holy Spirit draws your attention to.
• Pick one area where you know the direction God is petting and you have been going against the grain, and take one concrete step this week to turn your cat around.
• Pay attention to what you are filling your mind with before you start your day, and swap one habit that pulls your attention away from the Lord for something that keeps your mind clear toward him.
• If there is something you have been holding back from confessing or repenting of, find one person in the Tribe family you trust and share it with them this week.
• Sign up for one of the open volunteer slots at Wind River VBS or Tuesday meals so you are practicing obedience while it is still easy.

Talk about it

1. Lissa shared a picture of a braid being undone, as an invitation for the Lord to remove things woven into our story that were not meant to be there. Is there anything in your own story that you sense needs to be unbraided before it can be rewritten?
2. Several people in the room shared publicly what the Lord had been convicting them of, and Brian noted that Colleen's act of obedience at the start of this series seemed to break something open for the whole community. What do you think holds people back from that kind of vulnerability, and what might it cost or free us to step into it?
3. Brian described a moment during COVID when Tribe chose not to apply for relief funding because the leadership of Jesus made the right path clear, even if it was not comfortable. Can you think of a time when following Jesus was less complicated than you expected but more costly than you wanted?
4. Joyce put it this way: the truth has not changed, but the bubble sizes have swapped, so that following biblical truth now puts you in the smaller group. How does that shift change what it feels like to live by God's standards day to day, and how are you preparing for that cost to grow?
5. Brian talked about the difference between kronos time and kairos time, and said the days described in 2 Timothy 4 are on God's calendar, not a surprise to him. How does knowing that God appointed this moment in history change the way you think about the pressures and compromises you are facing right now?