Hello, my Name is Dan Weinkauf. I’m in the West of Westside Home Group
led by Wade Stoller and Phil Lubensky. In April I will be celebrating 10
years of marriage to my beautiful wife Pam. I’ve been in the engineering
field for 37 years.

• Take a few minutes and read Matthew 10:1-42 (the entire chapter).

This chapter is quite the pep talk, right? Verses 28-31 really speak to
me. I’m an introvert and easily stumble with my words. Afraid to appear
stupid or too arrogant.

But I’ve learned you can be a good witness without speaking a word.
Start simple: hold a door open for someone, smile and be friendly to
people, help someone cross a parking lot or street. God will embolden
you to speak and give you the words when the time comes.

Consider the following question as you go about your week:

• What small gesture or act can you do to start on your path to be a good witness?

Hi, my name is Wade Stoller. I am one of the leaders of the West of
Westside home group. We meet on Thursday evenings as a very diverse
group that are learning to live life together while growing in our faith.

• Stop here and read Matthew 9:18-25

This reading brings together two uniquely different people who are
bound with a common need, the healing power of Jesus. At potential
damage to his reputation and employment, as a synagogue official, this
man personally comes to Jesus asking HIM to come raise his daughter
from death. During the journey to his home, a woman with a twelve-year illness secretly reaches for the hem of Jesus’ garment for her own
healing. The official works in the synagogue while the woman was not
allowed into the synagogue because her illness made her unclean. Both
of them know only Jesus can bring the healing they seek and come to
him in simple faith. The official comes publicly, knowing only Jesus can
bring his daughter back from the dead. The woman in secret because she
felt shame and was an outcast in their society. Jesus healed the woman
and acknowledged her faith, fully restoring her. Jesus also brought the
daughter back to life, restoring her to her family. I wonder if the woman
and the official ever met in the synagogue after these events.

Jesus does not respect one person over another, as this story reveals.
The healing both of them desired was possible by their faith in Jesus.
Experience had shown both of them there was no other way. Today we
are almost overwhelmed by disease, civil unrest, and confusion.

• As you search for answers I encourage you to mirror these two people. Come to Jesus in simple faith knowing HE can bring the healing we seek.

Hi, my name is Wade Stoller and I am part of the West of Westside
Home Group. With a bit of a push, I retired in August 2019. After working
for 50 years, I am trying to determine what I want to be when I grow
up. Through the confusion of this transition, God has been faithfully
directing my path.

• Please pause here and read Matthew 9:1-13

The story of the paralytic and the story of Matthew’s calling by Jesus
seem like an odd pairing. On the surface the paralytic needed physical
healing while Matthew needed social healing. What they had in common
is that both of them needed their sins forgiven. With the paralytic, Jesus
challenges him and the religious leaders present by telling him his sins
are forgiven. Then to silence the scoffers, HE tells the paralytic to rise up
and go home, which he joyfully does. After Matthew is called by Jesus,
he called together his colleagues and hosted a dinner party for Jesus.
When the religious leaders condemn Jesus for eating with sinners,
Jesus points out it is the sick that need a physician, not the healthy. The
sickness HE is referring to is sin. Both men are healed by responding in
obedience and faith to Jesus. Any other decision would have left them
in their former condition.

Just like Matthew and the paralytic, our greatest need is God’s
forgiveness of our sins. There may be sin in our life of which we are not
aware, or we may be actively ignoring God’s call to repent.

• As you meditate on the life and crucifixion of Jesus, ask the Holy Spirit to examine your life. Ask HIM to reveal any areas of sin that HE finds and then lead you into sincere confession and repentance before the Father’s throne of grace. You will find God’s grace is sufficient.

Hi, our names are Tom & Ramona Langhofer. We are in the West of
Westside Home Group led by Wade Stoller and Phil Lubensky. We have
been married for almost 11 years and we have 3 kids: Boston, Jacob and
Titus.

• Take a moment to stop and read Matthew 8:1-13

We love the leper’s faith, he recognized that Jesus was the only one able
to heal him and believed that He could! This man lost everything and
everyone dear to Him and it humbled him to recognize that only God
can heal him if that was His will!

Also, the centurion’s faith made Jesus marvel! The centurion probably
heard the story of the leper being healed and he believed that Jesus
had the power to command the servant to be healed from the distance.

Our faith pleases God and we must approach Him like the leper and
the centurion, believing Him and that He is a rewarder to those who
diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Every time we go to visit Romania, my faith (Ramona) grows stronger
because every problem and difficulty is an opportunity to draw closer
to Him, recognizing that only God can fix the problem if it is His will. He
draws nearer to us when we are brokenhearted and I have seen Him
work in amazing ways through hard times!

• May we always come to Him with the same faith as the leper’s and centurion’s and tell Him: “If it is Your will, You can do it!”

Good morning Sunday! Our predictable time to spend relaxing with the
Father.

We again remember that the shared rhythms of Advent, Christmas,
Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost root us in the redeeming story
of Christ, and live into the Biblical wisdom of the teacher that “there
is a time for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Built into these annual
rhythms are the wide spectrum of our life with Christ: anticipation and
fulfillment, proclamation and response, lament and joy.

• Today we are reflecting, in the spirit of remembering Christmas, on the gift of Jesus as you’ve been reading through His life. Spend some time thanking the Father for the ways that Jesus has been a gift to you or those around you.

Hi, my name is Malia Marshall. I am a member of the Near Northwest
Home Group through Riverside! I am a senior at the University of Notre
Dame, and I am originally from Portland, Oregon. I have been attending
Riverside since my freshman year at Notre Dame, and I am also a Young
Life leader at Jefferson Intermediate in South Bend.

• Take a moment to stop and read Matthew 7:15-28.

When I read this passage, I am struck by Jesus’s warnings against
following false prophets who “come to you in sheep’s clothing” but are
“ferocious wolves” on the inside. He goes on to say that we will recognize
whether someone is worthy of our trust by the fruit they produce. What
I think is interesting about this metaphor is that the false prophets (the
“wolves”) who mislead people and should not be trusted by followers of
Jesus, disguise themselves as harmless sheep who seem very nice and
very trustworthy. Jesus then says that to tell what someone is really like,
we should not pay attention to their appealing words, but instead, pay
attention to whether they live their lives in a way honoring to God.

This part of the passage stuck out to me because I am discouraged
when I see and read about Christian leaders who misuse Christianity
and their power in ways that harm people and that do not reflect the life
and teachings of Jesus. Some examples of this include Christian leaders
who use their influences in ways that demean groups of people, abuse
women, promote violence, or seek personal wealth/glory.

While we are all imperfect people deserving of grace, sometimes actions
of Christian leaders come to light that are so egregiously against the vision of Christ, and I find it difficult to understand in the aftermath how other Christians didn’t see the warning signs or chose to look the other way when they did. The end of the Sermon on the Mount reminds me that the actions of Christian leaders (their “fruit”) really do matter and should be evaluated. This doesn’t mean expecting perfection from people, but it does mean it is important to hold people, especially leaders, accountable for acting in a godly and loving way. I pray that while remembering to treat all with grace, I would also have the wisdom and discernment to know and not dismiss when a Christian leader produces bad fruit in their lives.

Consider the following questions as you reflect on today’s reading:

• What kind of fruit would a “false prophet” produce?
• What fruits do you believe are important for Christians to show in their lives? (See Galatians 5:22-23).

Hello! I am Sarah Enck, and I am a member of the Near Northwest Home
Group. I am a mom to twin boys, wife to Ryan for nine years, and a
School Counselor at Saint Joe High School. I am passionate about story
and the most fulfilling thing is to sit with someone while they share their
story with me.

• Today we continue to think of our own story as it relates to our relationship with others and with Christ. Let’s continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount with Matthew 7:1-14. Read this passage now – thoughtfully – thinking through each verse.

Judging others. I don’t know what first comes to mind when you read
the first six verses in this chapter, but I always feel defensive – I’m not
a judgmental person. As I’ve studied this idea further, I’ve had to really
evaluate what judgment means and what Christ is commanding of his
followers. Should I always give my friends unconditional approval or
just judge their actions? According to this passage, judgment should be
fair and not hypocritical. I cannot approach someone in love without
being open to them coming to me to talk through the areas in which
I fall short. In whatever those conversations look like, they should be
measured with justice, mercy, and love.

Ask. Seek. Knock. I have read these next verses so many times, and I
think this is the first time I have thoughtfully considered seek and knock
in relation to the rest of the passage. Typically, I stop at ask and settle
on the idea that if I ask God to grant my requests he will follow through.
Thankfully, I have grown in my view of God and no longer see God as just
a magic genie who grants my wishes. Instead, I see that asking requires
believers to come to God with a spirit of humility – acknowledging that
we cannot do anything apart from the help He provides. Beyond that, we are to seek him in our requests and prayers with care and application.
As we ask in humility and seek his presence, we continue to knock -approaching him with earnestness and perseverance. We need to
implement each of these steps in our relationship with the Lord because
we need help from him in order to live out what is he commanding us in
the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

Consider the following reflection today:

Think of a current situation that you can implement ASK, SEEK,
KNOCK this week. Pray about this and ask for his guidance. Seek Him as
you meditate on his Word and reflect on what He is telling you. Continue
to knock and wait on Him as he reveals His plan for you.