Downtime: Practicing Silence & Solitude

4 Weeks

Big Idea of the Series

We live in a noisy world. Even when alone, apart from sound, we’re bombarded with texts, emails, and social media messages. The desire to seek solitude and silence isn’t only about finding a quiet place. It’s about discovering the gift of removing ourselves from the cacophony of messages to find our rest in the Word, Jesus. Drawing from the life of Jesus and the apostle Paul, this four-week series extends that invitation at four critical life junctures: a big decision, a big loss, a big job, and a big change. At each point, a time of silence and solitude in God’s presence can heal us of the past and prepare us for our futures.

What is the Series Guide?

Included in each guide is:

A sermon series outline that breaks up the teaching set into a specific number of weeks.
A "big idea" of the series.
A passage, "big idea" of the sermon, topic list, and a number of illustrations and talking point ideas are included in each weekly section. The "Sermon Ideas and Talking Points" area is filled with observations about the text, relevant applications, creative ideas, and illustrations.
A small group discussion (located in a separate document in this bundle).

What is the Series Guide Not?

This guide isn't a set of sermon manuscripts. While sermon manuscripts can be both useful and a powerful training tool, our sermon series guides are different. Rather than tell you what to say, our aim is for this material to spark your imagination, assist you in planning your sermon, and offer a boost to your study time.
This guide isn't ironclad. While we hope you use our material, the pieces of this document are designed to be moved, tweaked, and altered. As you study the suggested passages, and pray through your message, this guide will hopefully be a launching pad, rather than a landing net.

How Do I Use this Series Guide?

Plan ahead. Our guides are best utilized in advance versus the day or night before. Read over the ideas and illustrations provided, thinking through how you can possibly utilize them in your message. We've purposely kept our guides simple so as to give you the best opportunity to create your own, unique message.
While we give you a passage and "big idea" of the message, take time to study the text.
Utilize the media contained in this bundle to promote and communicate your series message.