THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH PART V

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

LOVE!!!

It's just that huge for God. God...Who IS Love.

For your group time, lead primarily out of this reality- that beyond any kind of conceptual, theoretical, romantic notion- God, Who is Love, places love above faith. Beyond any idea or tradition, Jesus sums the Bible up with two of its commands; love God with everything you have, and love others the way you are inclined to love yourself.

Let the selfless, sacrificial, Agape love of Christ transform your group.

Thaw

• How many popular saying can you think of that include the word "love" (see leader note below)
• How do you think most people define love?
• How do you define it?
• What's something from the message Sunday that really struck you?

• What is the difference between the romantic kind of love that we normally think of, and the selfless love of the scriptures?

Leader note: Help the group, from the first moments, draw a distinction between that which we say we love, but are really only feeling positively about, and Biblical love; the giving of the self sacrificially, on the merits of God and His nature- rather than on the merits of the sinner.

You may also, depending on the group and how well they are grabbing ahold of this, take time to see how our view of love has been cheapened in that the english language only has the one word. We "love our Schnauzers", we "love our spouse" and we "love cheeseburgers". The word has lost its punch. So it's wise to take some time and see that when we say love, we mean much more than a mood affected by whether or not the cook held the onions!

Read

• Romans 5:8
  
• First thoughts?

Discuss

• How is this description of God's own love different from our modern notions about love?
  
• If we, the sinners, were loved by God before we made good prospects for love, then what does this say about whom we give ourselves to in our own circles?
  

Leader note: The idea here is to uncover the love hierarchy we consciously/subconsciously create with those around us. Some people we love and behave more selflessly around, because we have somehow deemed them "worth it". Others annoy us or owe us somehow, in that they have made enough deposits for us to continue loving them,  or that they just don't make life easy. This is not love for others. This is self-love. It is not similar to God.

Read

• John 15:9-17
  
• Thoughts?
  
• What is the relationship between love and obeying Christ's commands?

Leader note: Be mindful that some people carry some baggage with "obedience". As Jesus speaks of being in His love and being His friend only insomuch as we obey His commands, some people will only be able to hear conditional love. But if you follow His thinking all the way through, you find that His command is love. So not obeying His command (loving as He loves) brings you outside of his love. This is not a verdict He made up- He pointing to the reality that if you don't love, you're not plugged into Christ. It's almost an observation more than it is a rule: If you haven't loved, you have disobeyed and our out of sync with the central rule of the Universe!

• Why would Jesus command love and not holiness or purity?
  
• In light of verse 17, how would you define sin to someone who knows nothing of Christian faith?

Discuss

• Why do people believe God doesn't love them?

Leader note: The conversation may steer itself toward natural disasters as proof of their NOT being a loving God. Though that is a valid discussion, try and center it on the sense of guilt and shame people carry. They think that, since the love of broken people is performance-based, then there is no way an all-knowing God could love them. Table the "how could a loving God allow suffering?" issue for later, if possible.

• Why do people believe you don't love them? What evidence might they have?

Read

• Acts 2:41-47
  
• This is the account of the first believers- the birth of the church. Note that they found the favor of all the people. Why?

Leader note: Though miraculous signs are mentioned, overall this new community seems to have been identified by their dedication to Christ ( who commands love and gave Himself!), their togetherness, and their genuine sense of selflessness. They weren't being marked merely by what they abstained from or by their belief code- They were remarkable to onlookers for the same reason Jesus dying for sinners is remarkable; It's simply not what we typically see in people. Real love is just that attractive.

Apply

• Who are the persons or types of people that you withhold love from? How can you remedy this?
  
• How does loving the "unlovable" and those who have earned or disgust more than our favor equal spiritual growth?
  
• What's blocking you from loving a specific person or people group?
  
• How can this group behave, as a group, in love:

Toward the each member?
Toward others on the community?
Towards others locally/globally?

• How can this group help individuals members with an ongoing sin of resentment, revenge and/or withheld love toward someone else?

Closing text:

• Read aloud 1 John 4:7-21.

Additional texts for further study:

• Acts 10:1-36
  
• 1 Corinthians 13

THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH PART IV

This week: Hope

•  What were the key points of the message for you?
  
• What was the "one thing" you took away?
  
• What surprised you?
  
• What bothered you? Why?

Read

• Hebrews 11:1-2
  
• Thoughts?
  
• John 11:1-44
  
• Thoughts?
• 1 Corinthians 11:12-22
  
• Thoughts?
  

Discuss

•  Explaining it in its simplest form, what would you say followers of Jesus have as the roots of thir belief system, and how does it affect reality?
  
• What is/was already part of your thinking on this subject?
  
• What did I learn that was new?
  
• About God?
  
• About yourself?
  
• About others?
  
• What changes of thought are necessary in light of what you learned?
  
• What changes of action are needed?
  
• How would life be different if you/we applied this teaching fully?
  
• What are the hindrances, and what do we do about those?.
  

 

KidSpace: A Great Group Service Project

A great opportunity to serve families in our community is on its way--

KidSpace is coming! September 14th

There are lots of ways that you and your group can help make this event the best it can be. Volunteers are needed in the following areas --all while having a blast!

Set up
Work the outside event (3:30-5:00)
Tear down
Provide lunch for the teams

To sign up or for more information, contact Bonnie at bkovacik@crosspointe.org .

Living in fiction

You may have heard that, recently, a couple men found a Bigfoot corpse by a stream and froze the body in a chest freezer for later authentication. You may have also seen the press conference where they fielded questions from reporters from around the country about how they found it, what there plans were, the size of the beast itself, etc.  And, if you managed to suspend disbelief long enough to follow the story from last week to today, you know that the body was finally examined and the thawed carcass turned out to be (gasp)... a rubber costume.

I confess it makes me laugh a little. But more than that, it makes me wonder where I would have to be mentally to push a lie that far. I can see telling a campfire story and inflating it a little to help it along. You know, for effect. But to take it farther than a funny idea known to be a silly invention, all the way into meticulously creating false evidence, an entire account of its impact on my life- and then...inviting the media/world into the lie to scrutinize my story and inevitably find it to be what it is; untrue.

The only reason I can find for this kind of behavior, beyond an overdose of foolishness and a childish desire for attention, is willful boredom. Think about what's going on in the world right now. Think about all the beauty available to humanity. Google "US waterfalls" or "Monarch Butterfly migratory patterns". Get up on your roof and stare westward at about 8:30pm. The opportunities for creativity, beauty, art and a general celebration of life and its sacredness are endless. And the flip side; You know the stats on hunger, AIDS, poverty, war, injustice. You know that in every city in America tonight, the local evening news covered stories of fires, robberies, neglect, pain and instances of withheld love and exercised evil. 

Yet some people willfully block all of this out, choosing instead to live in the bubble of comfort, ease and predictability. They live in fiction, and measure the quality of their life by how much comfort they can maintain and how much reality they can avoid. But, how long can a person live as though God's reality has nothing to offer, no call to action, before they lose their minds? How long can a person pretend there's no world outside their safe and insulated routine before he or she has to freeze a Bigfoot costume to disrupt the boredom they've created?

I am reminded of a quote from Cornelius Plantinga's book "Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin"

“Making of career of nothing — wandering through malls, killing time, making small talk, watching television programs until we know their characters better than we know our own children — [not only] robs the community of our gifts and energies [but] shapes life into a yawn at the God and Savior of the world. The person who will not bestir [himself], the person who hands herself over to nothing, in effect says to God: you have made nothing of interest and redeemed no one of consequence, including me.” [pg. 188]

How does this shape our view of what it means to lead a Group? What should our Groups be and do? Is it one more spoke in a slow moving, wheel of boredom for people? Is it one more safe, predictable thing to put a check-mark next to and go to bed, wishing life carried more weight? Or is the group you lead someone's best shot at breaking out of their sedate bubbles of comfort, and into a world that needs people who embrace Christ and reality with both arms? How can we lead our people to recognize that the longing in their hearts for meaning and awe and adventure and challenge and things that demand faith and courage was put their by God's Spirit? If we can't go after that in LifeGroups, then where can we go after it?

We can do better than Bigfoot. There's something more than the fiction we settle for. We are invited to stir ourselves from our yawning and do the Kingdom of Heaven. Let's grab a few friends and live THAT story.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly"

-Jesus

THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH PART III

Grace!

This week is huge. If you don't get grace, then you don't get Jesus or the life He offers. It's just that big.

“Grace is a favor done without expectation of return.”

 

Author and philosopher Spiro Zodhiates defines it this way; “Grace is the absolutely free expression of the Love of God finding it’s only motive in the bounty and benevolence of God.”

As you head into this discussion, think through your members and pray. You know the ones that live by a cheap grace- letting it exist beautifully in the realm of idea, but allowing it to have no impact in their real life of pursued love and holiness. There's no gratitude. No worship. No humility. Similarly, there are those that know it's a wonderful concept, yet the evidence of their life proves that they live by rules, and so they live in constant fear of failing and condemnation. They hold others to the same. God is not someone to relate to- He's the rule giver, and we have broken those rules. Period. Now it's just a matter of getting Him off our backs with 51% goodness.

The difference between that and the real Jesus Christ are death and life!

Thaw

• Tell of a time where someone, seemingly at random, did something for you that you couldn't repay?
  
• have you ever done something for someone, and they didn't notice or make your efforts payoff? What went on inside your heart?

• What were the key points for you from Sunday?

• Have you ever heard or come across a similar teaching or idea? Have you ever been taught something that was contradictory?
  

Read

• 1 Peter 5:5-6
  
• Thoughts?

Leader note: It says young men because that was his specific audience- but lades are not off the hook!

• What does grace and humility have to do with each other?
  
• How does humility affect our view of God? other people?

Read

• “Grace is a favor done without expectation of return.” 
  
• “Grace is the absolutely free expression of the Love of God finding it’s only motive in the bounty and benevolence of God.”

• Respond to these definitions.

• How does this definition affect how we view God? How we think God views us?
  
• How does it affect how we view others?
  
• Who do we not extend grace to, whether it's certain kinds of people, or individuals in our lives? Why?

Read

• Philippians 2:1-8
  
• Thoughts?

Application

• How does this change things for you? For the group? For your immediate family?
  
• What blocks this humble acceptance of grace from God, from others and toward others?
  
• How can the members of your group help you with humility?

Leader note: If your group "goes there" with this last question, be aware that certain less-than-humble members may be singled out. Balance that. That may be a good thing, but don't let it become about them only.

Additional texts

• Galatians 2:20-21
  
• Ephesians 4:1-3
• Genesis 2:4-7
  

Baptism Bash by Jeff & Christy Wing

“Because I love God and I want everyone to know” is the reason our 7 year old gave when we asked her why she wanted to be baptized during the Crosspointe Baptism Celebration. At first we were cautious as to whether she was “ready” to be baptized at 7 years old. But with an answer like that, it was pretty clear, she knew exactly what she was doing and why.

So did the other 9 members of our Life Group! What an exciting day! Ten Baptisms from one group in one day – it was quite overwhelming.

As we gathered one night in our group, one member mentioned that she was getting baptized during the upcoming event. Over the next week hearts were stirred, conversations were started and decisions were made to publicly proclaim their faith! Interestingly, everyone had made their decision separately, but once everyone knew they were going for it, there was no separating them! Everyone wanted to be together in this mission.

Those in our group who weren’t getting baptized were there in the crowd supporting and cheering. It was such a special day, one that none of us will ever forget.

It’s such a joy to be part of the “life change” we are sharing with a small group of friends.

Food Pantry at the DRM

Most of the time when we talk about hunger we are often referring to our projects in Kenya and Haiti, but did you know that people and children go hungry every day in our own neighborhoods?

Did you know that sometimes hunger drives people to Theft. Begging. Or digging left over thrown out food from dumpsters in order to fill that void in their stomach? It is a harsh reality in our community, that many are unaware of. Countless people rely upon the local food pantries and food programs in order to have their nutritional needs met. And sadly, most of the food pantries in our community are suffering at this time of year. Although donations decrease, the need does not, and I am told that the need is ever increasing.

But, we can be a part of the solution.

There are many ways your group or family can make a difference in this need. September happens to be Hunger Awareness Month, and this is a great time to knock out hunger and fill those empty pantry shelves. Perhaps you can approach the principle of your child’s school and have a food drive? Or their teacher? Perhaps your group would be willing to collect food, or you can motivate the collection of food in your workplace. We all know there is plenty of food out there, we just need to get it into the hands of those who can get it in the hands of those who are hungry. Just another way to come alongside those who are hungry.

The Durham Rescue Mission has a Food Pantry at the main campus at 1201 E Main Street. For more information, you can call 688-9641.

Thank you,
Pam McKerring
Pastor of Mobilization
pmckerring@crosspointe.org

Durham Rescue Mission Opportunities

Hey Group Leaders!
Do you feel flooded with opportunities to serve yet? If so, I guess I am doing my job! I am so excited about what is going on in our city.

You heard some this morning, but I wanted to give your groups a heads up on ways to be serving together.

First, the Durham Rescue Mission is still needing volunteers for their Annual Back to School Party on August 19th. The best way to sign your group up would be to call the Durham Rescue Mission at 688-9641 ext 5025 and ask for Rodney. Let Rodney know you are a group from Crosspointe and sign up. If you are interested, the Crosspointe Staff will be serving that morning, and you are welcome to join us, but make sure you sign up with Rodney so he can have your name tags, etc all ready.

Second, it hardly seems possible...but Thanksgiving is on the horizon! Where has the year gone! It seems odd to highlight the holidays when we are melting in the North Carolina heat and humidity, but the truth of the matter is, Durham Rescue Mission depends on volunteers for these events. They typically have more than enough volunteers for their Thanksgiving dinner, so I wanted to let you know, that if your group was wanting to serve that day, you need to contact them now.

We also have plenty of dates left for the Thursday night meals this fall. The dates for October were snagged quickly (AWESOME!) but November and December are bare bones. The dates that are still available are November 6, 13, 20 and December 4, 11, 18, 25. Please contact me at 469-9111, ext 245 to get your group signed up!

It’s a joy serving with you guys,
Pam McKerring
Pastor Of Mobilization
pmckerring@crosspointe.org
919-469-9111, Ext. 245

THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH PART II

This week: Faith.

Most of us would say that we had faith. But press us on what we mean, and suddenly it becomes a rather vague and theoretical concept for many of us. "I believe in God" would be the entirety of it for some. For others, it's simply how they go about their day; "you just gotta have faith...". With a little digging, many of us find that our faith is merely a background wish for things to work out, and that wish is rooted in a loose thought that there may be a higher power that honors these wishes. This faith may always be in the background and have some biblical vocabulary involved, but what bothers us abut it is that it's not real.

If we are following Jesus, what is the reality of our faith?

Thaw

• What's the biggest risk you have ever taken?
  
• What's the biggest risk you've never taken?
  
• 
  
• What really stuck with you from the message Sunday?
  
• What other thoughts did it create for you?

Read

Gen 12:1-3

Hebrews 11:1-13

• Thoughts?

Leader note: Gen 12:1-3 cannot be understated; this is the initiation of the Hebrew people, Israel, to bring about redemption for the whole planet. This is the promise that God has made ( count the "I will's!) and that he will fulfill in Christ. If we don't grasp the importance of this passage and this promise playing itself out through God's people, then Christian faith won't make sense.

Hebrews 11:1 in The King James Version (KJV) reads, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." It helps us see that the thrust of this passage is about faith being the thing that's tangible, even in light of the object of this faith isn't. People "see God" by their ability to see our faith. Our faith is the substance when God doesn't seem to have any.

You may also see that verse 6 appears to say that all God wants is for us to believe he exists and He doles out rewards. This isn't much different than a Genie, if you think about it. But, the actual, literal phrasing in Greek reads that we must "believe that He is". This may harken back to the name of God, the great "I Am". This goes well beyond believing generally in God. This is putting our confidence in the I Am of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Additionally, seeking this God brings reward, but those rewards will be in keeping with the I Am, the abundant life as Jesus speaks of in John 10:10. Not just a granter of wishes, seeking the I Am gives you the life He intended for you from the beginning.

• What does verse 13 mean?
  
• How do you still have faith when what was promised came to be in your lifetime?
  
• Why would someone be willing to live their life according to God's promise, so much so that it makes them unlike any one else (aliens and strangers), even though future generations will be the first to benefit? Why would someone not be willing?
  
• What does it mean to have a faith that is contingent on results?
  
• How is this faith unlike biblical faith?

Leader note: Go back to Hebrews 11 and read verse 39 and 40, the last verses. It may be worth noting that their life of faith and orienting their whole existence around obeying and trusting God and His way didn't "pay off" in the sense of the promise being fulfilled. But, their faith is "commendable" because of what it provides the author of Hebrews, and us as well. Faith, like everything else for our God, is an exercise in providing something real for others, and THEN ourselves in the process.

Read

• Psalm 100
  
• Thoughts?
  
• In Psalm 100, as in dozens of other passages, God's faithfulness is what's highlighted and celebrated. What is God being faithful to?

Leader note: Reference Gen 12 again if needed!

• Is it possible to have little or nothing go as you wanted in your life, having hoped and prayed that it would, and still be assured that God is faithful? Explain.
  
• What are the implications of faith that produces what God is after, more than what would make our own circumstances better?
  
• When it comes to telling others about our faith, what is the difference between biblical faith and faith in a higher power that may or may not do what we want?

Apply

• How does your life change when you go from merely believing that it's true that there is a God, to entrusting that He is moving His story and promise forward through you?
  
• How will this affect prayer? Career choices? How you see your marriage, or who you choose to marry? How you see your singleness?
• How does God being faithful to His promise to the world affect what your LifeGroup is planning, as individuals and as a body?

Additional reading

• Habakkuk 3:17-18
  
• Heb 12:1-3
• Romans 3:21-26

Serving at Merge on September 7th

Hi leaders,
We are still in need of people to help us create a great environment at Merge. We need groups to lead and care for the children attending that evening. As many of you know first hand, parents need to know their children are in good hands for them to relax, enjoy and connect with others at Merge.

Will your group considering this very important area of service?

We need 4 adults to serve in the nursery, 4 adults in toddlers, 4 in 3-5 year olds, and 4 in 1st through 5th grade. We’ll provide the activities--all you have to do is show up at 5:45pm and plan to have fun with the kids and your group members!

If you’d like to sign up for a particular age group, then please contact me asap!
Thanks again!
Jenny
jrogers@crosspointe.org

THE TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH PART I

"My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. In his case, quite frankly, presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance."  Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy 

For the next 5 Sunday mornings, we will be enjoying an exercise in simplicity. Jesus, Faith, Grace, Hope & Love- five familiar words that have become either so ignored they don't hold any weight, or they have become so buried beneath superficial ideas that they bring on an eye-roll as soon as they're mentioned. What's interesting though, is that the vast majority of people don't look at these words and speak of them as though they are untrue. In fact, much the opposite; Jesus was a good man and even the Son of God. Grace is beautiful. Human beings must have hope. Love makes the world go 'round and George Michael reminds us that you gotta have faith. Those things are true, sure. The problem is that for many (most?), they have no place in real life. They get overshadowed as ideas as our real lives are being lived. It's all true, just not real.

Jesus spent much time trying to proclaim to people that the gospel wasn't just a static list of ideas and concepts to orbit around, but the present and immediate reality of the Kingdom of God, into which we can dive and live and be transformed. Anyone could say it, or merely teach it- even convincingly. But Jesus astonished people in that "He taught with authority". In other words, they had heard Rabbis and Sages preach before- but this Man from Nazareth and His message were real. You could see it unfolding. And then He offers Himself and this amazing life to us.

Week one will present this overall paradigm shift, as well as give an opportunity for us to see Christ differently. It may at times seem redundant and even too heady to do anything with- yet it really is one of the core problems with people and their view of God's life. It's how it has been relegated to intermittent church attendance being thought of as God's goal for humanity. In your group, you may want to be prayerful and aware about the fact that many people have had life-long access to Christian ideas. So much so that they have what Dallas Willard refers to as "presumed familiarity" about Christ, but actually don't know Him and His way beyond a philosophical position somebody agrees with. Though there are many things people don't know about Christ; His Jewishness, His humanity, His divinity, His culture, language, teaching style, views, etc...The simplicity of this series is based on this: your group members may need to move their faith in a Christ that's merely "true" to "real", and watch the Kingdom explode.

Thaw

• Where did you see God at work in your life this week? In the lives of others?
  
• What is something you saw or read or heard that you cannot stop thinking about?
  
• How are these things going to shape your life?
  
• 
  
• What's something from the message on Sunday that stuck with you?
  
• Did God turn any lights on for you during or since Sunday morning?

Read

• John 11:17-27
  
• Thoughts and Epiphanies?

Leader note: You may want to note that Martha believes in the concept of the resurrection on the last day. It's something she and her fellow Jews knew as a central truth. She asks Jesus for help, and responds in truisms when He says Lazarus will rise. So Jesus has to take her beyond the idea of resurrection. He has to drag it out from the background of her faith and show her that it's a reality, standing in front of her (v25). 

• What's the difference for us between a spiritual idea, such as the resurrection on the last day or a God that once created, and a Jesus that's actually present in our circumstances?
  
• How does this affect our daily life and faith?

Leader note: You may want to point out, depending on your group's ability to really wrestle with the difference between lofty spiritual ideas we all agree to and the actual presence of Christ, that Jesus asks if Martha "believes this". Jesus was trying to move her forward out of truisms, which has a profound impact on her life and those around her. That simple phrase, "do you believe this" is aimed at us as well, because it's not an invitation to agree with mere concepts, but to live as though it and He is real.

Read 

• Matthew 28:16-20
  
• Thoughts?
• What impact is intended for readers in the last sentence Matthew records in His gospel?

Read 

• John 15:5
  
• Thoughts?
• Most of us recognize the need for love and change and goodness in the world. Just look at all the programs and foundations run by everything from cola companies to faiths totally unaffiliated with Christianity. Additionally, we see the need for some kind of transformation within ourselves. Is Jesus saying none of this can happen without Him?

Leader note: After exploring this for a while as a group, see if you can come to understand together that we are part of the problem. We can often make the mistake of thinking that the problems and challenges are real, and so is our ingenuity and creativity to solve them, but Jesus and the gospel of the Kingdom are concepts. The former is real. The latter is only "true". But, Jesus is irreducible in our lives as followers, as is stated in John 15. You can do some good things and not know Him, but followers of Jesus recognize that WE need saving as well. WE need to step down and be Lorded by Him. WE need forgiven for our part in sin. Christians understand that our life is governed by the present Spirit of Christ, not just static historic truths used as a moral/behavioral compass. Apart from that present Spirit, we really can't do anything of actual Kingdom value.

Read

Leader's note: It may be good to assign these texts, one per reader. Then go through them together, listening to the words used to describe early Christ followers.

• Acts 9:1-2
  
• Acts 18:24-26
  
• Acts 19:8-9
  
• Acts 19:23
  
• Acts 22:3-4
  
• Acts 24:13-14
  
• Acts 24:22
  

Discuss

• Early followers were called people of The Way. The Greek word translated "way" is hodos, which literally means a travelled path or journey. Why is being known by the way you live better than being known for what things you believe?

Leader note: WHAT we believe is not unimportant or in any way a bad thing- but it should be noted that it was long after the period in which the New Testament was being lived out that Christians began to be known and understood by the ideas and truths they believed more than The Way they lived. You may want to read the following definitions from Miriam Webster:

"Chris·tian":ˈkris-chən, Function: noun: one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ

"Je·sus":ˈjē-zəs, Function: noun: the Jewish religious teacher whose life, death, and resurrection as reported by the Evangelists are the basis of the Christian message of salvation —called also Jesus Christ

Note that Christians are people who profess or say things, while Jesus is known for what He said AS WELL AS what He did.

Apply

• How can this group move itself past concepts, philosophies and ideas- merely what's "true", and into the reality of Christ and His life?
  
• Are there individuals that need to let the reality of Jesus affect their life somehow? Relationships? Their past? Finances? Their career? Plans?
  
• How does tomorrow look differently if Jesus is real, more than the story about him merely true?