It may be appropriate to grab some Matzas and Grape juice and celebrate the resurrection a week early. Enjoy your Savior as a group, and recognize going in that the people in your group may not actually get time to focus on Christ any other moment. Easter dresses, baskets of eggs, church, family gatherings, brunch; they'll blink twice and will have missed the center of our faith. Help them not.
Meditate
- As a group, get comfy and read the following passages for the next few moments, reflecting on each word. Feel free to jot down notes if you want. Ask God to illuminate the text and help you discover how it's applicable to your life today and for the days and weeks to come.
- Isaiah 12
- Colossians 3
Leader note: 1. Give your group 7-10 minutes to do this. This may seem long to them, but the idea is to build a discipline of camping out and wrestling with some text. They'll not only survive it...but many will really enjoy it. 2. Help your readers understand that these passages were written 750 years apart, and though have a much different feel to them, carry the a similar thrust of having been transformed by trust in our savior God and thankfully live a life of transformation. 3. You may want to point out that in the Isaiah passage, the word "salvation" in Hebrew is "Yeshua", Jesus' actual name. Certainly gives the text some depth, as well as helps us see the conversation between jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4 for more of its intended value!
Discuss
- What popped out at you about the passages you just spent time reading?
- Do you feel like God spoke to you through any particular part? What was it?
- What most resonated with you from the message on Sunday?
- What decisions do you feel like you needed to make?
Leader note: Some may have decisions that are embarrassing to discuss, as they may be vices and hang ups that he or she have been hung up on and distracted by for years. Push gently here- help the group to understand that their group context is likely the precise context God wants to use to help them all grow. That growth will come with a spirit of authenticity and fearlessly "knowing" each other.
- Respond as a group to this quote:
"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory
- Thoughts?
- How does Jesus coming here validate humanity?
- How does much of religion invalidate humanity?
- What changes for you with regard to the thought that Jesus came here to bring us salvation now, versus an escape plan to be saved and given life later?
- Respond as a group to this quote:
“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.”Cornelius Plantinga Jr. Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, A Breviary of Sin
- Thoughts?
- What does it means to rob the community of gifts and energies?
Read
- John 4:4-18
- Thoughts
- What are some examples of cisterns that we return to over and over?
- How do we get fooled into thinking that the shallow and non-life-giving decisions, behaviors and habits are the peak of human experience?
- How does our culture reinforce well-drinking?
Apply
- How does this concept play out in your life?
- How can this group come along side you and help you discover the "roaring Springs just beneath your feet"?
- What patterns and practices do you sense you may need to employ to begin retraining your life after the God, the source of life, rather than the tiny but cumulative rejects of His way?
Leader note: Things such as meeting with others for Bible study on Saturday morning, Sabbathing, having fixed hour prayer each day, having fixed time where he or she gets home to protect family time, getting professionals involved where eating, drinking or other additions are concerned, etc. are but a sample of the kinds of things people may need to begin to get them pointed back to the God of life.
Prayer/Communion
- Celebrate He who comes in the name, reputation and will of the Lord, who wants for us to have life, and have it to the full. Eat the bread and juice thankful for our forgiving God who wants us to discover His salvation here and now and forever.
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