Color, Finale

Though this 10 week series closes, it's no cliche to assert that the thrust of Jesus' message has only just begun. Now it's time to follow Jesus down the mountain side and watch, in concentric circles, the world change as his words become our actions.

During summer months, it's often difficult to have the same momentum that you may have in, say, early spring. So you may want to be creative in how you wrap up this discussion with your group to ensure that it doesn't fall flat. Specific emails to key people in the group, a group meal with communion, mailing out letters of appreciation and encouragement; the bottom line is this- don't let this great opportunity to take the impact of Jesus' words as far as they can go get away for any person you're doing life with.

If you have any brief stories about how this last 10 weeks has be impactful for one or more of your members, for your group dynamics, etc... please share. We'd love to hear what God has been up to in the context of your weekly gatherings and discussion.

Thaw

• What are some decisions you made in the past that you would say directly affect your present?
• What are some decisions you made in the past that you would say directly affect someone else's present?
• What are some decisions you, for some reason, didn't make in the past that you would say directly affects your present?

• What stuck with you from Sunday?
• What would you say has been the weightiest thing you have taken away from the Color series? Why?
• What feels most unresolved as the series closes?

Read

• Matthew 8:1-13
• Thoughts?

Leader note: Verse 12 typically gets seen as a depiction of some people's destiny in a fiery hell. But the phrase, literally rendered "But the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" is a picture of those who seemed to be destined by heritage (Israel) to get a seat at the table, being uninvited because trust was found in who they thought they were better than. Weeping and gnashing of teeth is hyperbole for extreme frustration and anger over the state of things. Jesus was making an evocative statement regarding a Roman centurion exhibiting the kind of Kingdom faith that God was looking for, in vain, in his chosen people.

• Why does Jesus get so excited about this kind of faith?
• Israel knows a lot about God, knows the scriptures as well as the customs. Why doesn't Jesus get as excited about that?
• Judging by how you see yourself relationally and how you stand in this culture, are you more alike a leper coming to God, a centurion coming to God, or an Israelite already having come to God? Why?

Read

• Hebrews 12:2-3
• Thoughts?

• Fixing our attention on Jesus assumes that the earliest recipients of Hebrews needed a reminder to stop fixing their attention on something else. What are some things that take our focus off of Christ?
• What does it mean to focus ourselves on Christ, and what are we up against?
• How does this focus equate to great faith, and how is it counterfeited?

Leader note: The thrust of the last question is to help the group identify ways that we fix our eyes on a conversation about Jesus, or on church, or on our skepticism, or on a particular way of doing church so that we don't look too churchy, etc. All of this can, over time, fool you into thinking you are fixated on the person and way of Jesus, but it's counterfeit in that it's aimed at stuff, not him.

Discuss

• How many in this group feel as though they don't know what they should know about scripture, or enough about Jesus?
• How many of those who raised there hand feel like somehow that fact disqualifies them in the faith, or makes them rank lower than others that do know much?
• How would you describe the cause of Jesus' astonishment about the leper and the centurion's faith to someone?

Leader note: see if you can get 1 or 2 people to describe the scene, and pay attention to the fact that Jesus will likely be described as highlighting not so much what they "know", but their confidence in God Himself. These guys didn't have Bibles with them, but they submitted their plans and hopes to Jesus.

• What are you sensing you are created to do, but you keep refusing to step into it because of fear?
• What might happen if you lived in confidence of God and risked for him, even though there is much you don't know or understand?

• In one year, where might you and your world be if you acted on the hunch that God has given you about what He wants you to do, despite your unanswered questions?

• What can the group pray over for you that you have decided God can't help with (whether it's medically, financially, or a general sense that there's a hole in your life)?

• Are there any members of the group that wish to invite the others to help them take step into fixing their eyes on Jesus? Explain what this means.

Leader note: Encourage them to be specific. It may be baptism, or surrender to Christ in some way. Ask follow up questions and offer words if you sense the person is speaking in generalities because they don't know how to articulate what's going on inside them.

Prayer.

Your Important Role

Here’s a copy of a message that Stephen Claybrook wrote today that we thought we’d pass on to you--wanted to make sure you knew that everybody understands your important role in what God is up to…

hey, everyone.
we're all celebrating today because yesterday was a great moment in our church. 32 people decided to trust and follow Jesus for the first time! plus there are more who will also be baptized this coming sunday in our big outdoor baptism party after 3rd service. in all there are over 60 people who made some sort of decision. i wanted to share this news with you all right away, because you serve such a key role in helping our sunday morning environments be conducive to God's work in people's hearts.

obviously, it's not just a sunday morning thing. He's always working - using every interaction, conversation, every crosspointe environment from children's ministry, to life groups, to sunday mornings, serving opportunities, etc. thank you so much for investing your time and gifts to the worship and production ministries.

you play a vital role in what God's up to each week. praise God!
stephen

Color, scene nine

As we begin to draw the Color series to a close, and come to the last few verses of his Sermon on the Hillside, Jesus' words and imagery about surrender to him couldn't be clearer. This isn't a speech that's meant to bring applause, and then all the listeners simply go home. He wants people completely reorienting their existence behind him. As the gospel of Matthew continues, we find that that's exactly what happened.

This week, as LifeGroup leaders, we have a few responsibilities to the members of our group:

1. Let's help our group members realize the value in the daily devotional guide provided along side the messages each week. This is the last week for them, but the concept is easy to replicate; a daily discipline of Bible reading, note taking and associated prayer. See Friday of the guide this week for more thoughts on how to help your group begin or continue this simple discipline, remembering that of the "5 P's", Private Devotions ranks as a know way God catalyzes life-change.

2. June 28th is a Baptism Celebration. Those being baptized are being asked to take the step and tell us ahead of time. But we can't give them a personal level challenge like their group and group leaders can. This is where you come in. Many of us cringe at this, because it feels like we are slipping into the column of spiritually pushy. We think, "When they're ready, they'll get dunked on their own". While there is some truth in that, and where we must all have a quiet humility about other's relationship with their God, do not underestimate your role. Again with the "5 P's", Providential Relationships ranks #1 or #2 in terms of what's typical in someone's story about ways God prodded them along. We have found that most people simply need nudged. Not pushed, or dragged, or forced. It may sound something like this coming out of your mouth:

"Hey Dave, I can't help but think of you when I think of this Baptism Celebration thing"

"Yeah, I know"

"So what you feel like God is telling you?"

"I don't know, I might...but I think I better wait until stuffs calms down and I get some things figured out"

"Hey, I totally understand that. But i can tell you pretty confidently that if we all waited until stuff calmed down and we got it figured out, the first baptism in history would still not have happened yet. So, as your brother/sister, and as a fellow traveler in a group that's agreed to be committed to taking this journey together and challenging each other every step of the way- tell me how I can help you take this step Sunday"

"......I don't know."

"Dave, I really see God at work in you, and in us...so I want to make sure I do for you what someone did for me. Why don't you email the church office and put yourself on the list to give yourself to God this way. Either way, I'm still your biggest fan- but I think you and I both know that this step is pivotal, and I want to love you enough to help you take it."

"I'll think about it"

"Great, let me know what you decide- and I'm with you"

3. Pray for your group. Summer is a crazy time, people are scattered, people are still trying to manage personal or familial joblessness, all the while trying to figure out how to be more trusting of Christ and his way. Shepherd them this way.

______________________________________________________

This week's study has to do with what we decide about Christ, and how it looks. Spend time going through the verse by verse study, asking questions about the text, and its application as you go.

Thaw

• How have you seen God working in your life in the past week?
• How has the Color series affected your interactions and faith?

• Have you ever chosen an unpopular route or plan to do something because you were so determined to get somewhere or obtain something? Share.
• Have you ever knowingly chosen ease over difficulty, and lost a thing or an opportunity in the process? Share.
• What impacted you most from the message on Sunday?

Read

Leader note: Have members read all of the following texts to themselves, and then begin group discussion.

• Matthew 7:13-29
• Luke 6:43-49
• Thoughts?

Leader note: Go back through the following verse segments (below) from the Matthew portion, one-at-a-time, and ask what Jesus is actually saying to the crowd, and to us. When group members give a response (and expect it to take more time as they quietly wrestle with the text and work up the words to express their thoughts...don't be surprised or afraid that this way of study can produce more silent spots in a group setting!) ask them how they came to that conclusion. Ask others if they "agree or disagree with his/her take on the text", as a way of generating healthy interaction and discussion. Feel free to, ahead of time, draw some of your own conclusions and substantiate them with other texts or personal stories that you feel give you the background for your own response. This will help others think through Bible text by watching you do it. Don't be too worried about "knowing everything" about the scripture. Just be able to speak from the experience of having been thoughtful and dependent on God's Spirit to guide you.

• Verses 13-14
• Verses 15-20
• Verses 21-23
• Verses 24-27

Apply

• How can this text be misunderstood?
• Understood rightly, what is to be done about how Jesus closes his sermon on the mount?
• Who in this group feels like they need to take some significant steps toward Christ, and how can this group help and encourage them to do it?
• What are the hang-ups for people at this point with Jesus?

Leader note: the idea behind this question is that Jesus is clearly not asking for mental ascent or mere appreciation. He is Lord, and as Lord, we are invited to submit to him, versus every other person and thing we submit to. When Jesus is considered as more than good teacher, things intensify!

• As Jesus finishes his sermon, the crowds were amazed. What's our response?
• What changes for us as individuals and as a group (and even as a church community at Crosspointe)?

Prayer

Leader note: Have members spend a few moments in a prayer of thanks and confession to God, acknowledging that in Christ, a new way of life is possible. Ask God to challenge the group to embrace this way, narrow as the gate is, and difficult as the path is. The Lord's prayer is appropriate, as it reflects the nature of Kingdom Prayer and an invitation for God's way to come here, through our lives, as it is in effect in heaven.

Looking for a Date Night or a Double Date?

The August Student Haiti Team of Crosspointe Church is having a fundraiser event for their missions trip to Haiti. On June 26, 2009 from 5:30-9:30pm, the team will host a Parents' Night Out event at Crosspointe Church. There will be movies, games, and snacks for your children while you enjoy an evening out.

The fee per family is $25. Additional donations are gladly accepted. This group of seven area high school students are headed to Haiti in August to assist the Haitian Children's Home with a Vacation Bible School in the Jacmel community. Take a break, possibly grab another couple from your group and support a good cause.

Color, scene eight

Judgment day. It's every day for many of us. it's how we go about relating to others and interacting with the other humans on the planet. We make determinations about what they are and are not...and we do it quickly and often unfairly.

And Jesus illuminates for us yet one more way that we withhold love from our brothers and sisters in that he shows us how we act as judge toward every perceived deficit we find.

In this section of Matthew, we find key phrases that we have heard before, like "judge not, lest ye be judged", "the plank in your own eye", "Ask, seek and knock" and of course, the Golden Rule. But for many of us, we've never taken the time to do the hard work of figuring out what the application looks like in our life. This week, the goal is to take a step as an individual, as well as a group, into more of what it means to love people the Kingdom way.

Be sure and point to the daily devotional guide if you haven't.

Thaw

• What was Humpty Dumpty?

Leader note: The answer will be "egg", of course. Ask whoever answers how they determined Humpty Dumpty was an egg. The nursery rhyme never mentions an egg. It does appear that this rhyme is a centuries old riddle whose answer was an egg (not an egg-man), but it's interesting how many people have an egg-man in their heads from a an associated drawing, not the rhyme itself. This can be a fun way of asking questions like "what else do we hold in our minds as facts, but in reality it's something opinion-based that someone once attached to it? " This next question might also be fun to stir the pot in your group: "Why do we hate dandelions and love tulips?" Both yellow, but dandelions are free and plenty? Is it conditioning? Why have we determined that one is to be purchased and displayed, and the other is to be poisoned and removed? Why do we believe this, and where else do we believe things like this? People?

• Describe a time when you had made up your mind about someone, and then you got to know them and realized you were wrong.
• Has there ever been a time where someone had their mind made up about you, and you couldn't seem to change their perception? Share.
• What really stuck in your mind from the message Sunday?
• What other thoughts did it generate that weren't covered in the message itself?

Read

• Matthew 7:1-12
• Thoughts?

Leader note: Just a reminder, let people have time to process the etxt and let things bubble to the surface. This can take up to a whole minute, with any group reading. Let them have the time they need to be thoughtful about the text.

• How do these thoughts connect with what's been said in Jesus' sermon up to this point?
• What is the difference between what Jesus is saying and proper discernment about people?

Leader note: You may want to reference 1 Corinthians 15:33 as an example of using proper discernment about others. Even then, maturity must be taken into account. A solid Christian may be able to hang with people that an unsteady, easily influenced Christian cannot.

• How would you guess that the culture of Jesus' day worked against this teaching?
• How does our culture work against this part of the teaching?

Read

• Romans 12:1-3
• Thoughts
• Consider Paul's history...why is the grace that he has been given so key?
• Why does he use the word "sober"?

Leader note: you may want to point out that when you're not sober, you think you are prettier, funnier and a better singer than you really are.

• What's going on when we see people by their deficits?
• Is there any group of people that are not to be loved because that would just enable their bad choices and circumstances? How would Christ Himself agree or disagree with the answer(s) given?

Discuss

• Who are the people in our society that seem to be easy targets of judgment?
• Thinking through the elements of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 7:1-12, how could followers of Jesus improve their attitudes and approach toward this group?

Leader note: The group may need help determining a group because everyone's too scared to say. Once you have done one group, bring up another or even a kind of person that you think we might go to school or work with. It doesn't have to be a nation or class, nor should it only be a personality trait or people who dress funny. Lead your group to consider the whole scope of those judged by others, and as such, go unloved by those of us commanded to love them better than anyone.

• Why does Jesus put the "Golden Rule" here of all places? Why not next to the anger part, or the beatitudes?
• When does it not apply?

Apply

• In living out he kingdom way, we have to start living and interacting with new assumptions about people. We must assume context and assume worth? What are ways that we can begin to assume context?

Leader note: from the message, it's the art of "pause". If we pause- refusing to let our minds (or our mouths) come to a judgmental conclusion, we find that it's easier to adjust for the context, or the whole story, that's generated the choices and circumstances we are seeing in others.

• How does pausing, refusing to let our minds (or our mouths) come to a judgmental conclusions, equal love?
• What are ways that we can train ourselves to assume worth?

Prayer

Lead the group to pray for a few minutes. Ask them to hold in their mind someone that they have judged. Ask them to, as they pray, imagine Christ in their life. Perhaps they need to imagine that this particular person or people group is a story in the Bible. Imagine Jesus interacting with them and the hypocritical religious leaders standing near them. Imagine Jesus assuming context, or the entire fabric of their story that led them to be living the choices and circumstances everyone else is so coldly judging. Imagine Jesus assuming worth, touching them, smiling over them, and expressing his love for them, despite their feeling of being unloved by others. Invite the group to continue this mental prayer exercise with every group, belief system or view that they can think of for 5 minutes. You may want to tell them to write down which groups they have the hardest time imagining that this mental image could be so, and to continue asking God to reveal the power of his love. (It's so often easy to image Jesus smiling over and loving those we're okay with, and of course him smiling over and loving us is how it should be too!). Make sure that the time of prayer includes a time of forgiveness and a request for God's grace and forgiveness for our judgmental attitudes and our immediate calculations about the context and worth of other human souls.

Additional texts for further study

• Colossians 3
• Romans 2:1-3
• Romans 12
• James 4:11-12
• Galatians 5:22-6:1
• John 8:1-11

Color, scene seven

Jesus just keeps on swinging. This sermon of his, short as it was on that Galilean hillside, must have had 3 or 4 intermissions just so people could catch their a breath.

This week the relevance continues as Jesus dives into how our hearts worry. When we talk about "trust in Jesus", this is largely what we mean. Many of us have relegated trust and faith to merely an intellectual embrace of what may be true after we die, if we get our doctrine sorted out. But Faith in Christ is in real time, and salvation is something that starts every morning when we refuse again that day to act like timid little sinners locked outside of the Garden. We're saved from self-determined worry.

For your group time this week, you may want to step into the discussion time with more boldness than normal. This, because, fear and worry and anxiety are the basis of every sin. What we worry about is our master, and that plays itself out in dark ways too numerous to count. So, if you can't have a rich discussion about all the things we live anxiously over, you're just not talking!

You will note in the "Thaw" section a moment created early on to entrust something worrisome to God. This will be a moment (and subsequent season) of trusting each other that you'll want to be prepared for, and even tweak as you see fit as the leader to make it work for your group.

You may also want to look at this list of phobias to see just how paralyzed humanity has become. You may also want to make a matching game out of it just for a fun icebreaker... unless you have a fear of matching games.

Thaw

• Who has a phobia they would like to share?
• Who has a superstitious ritual that they used to (or currently) follow)?

• What is a way that fear and worry has cost you an opportunity?
• A relationship?
• What's something that really stuck with you from the message Sunday?

Leader note: At this point, pass out index cards or small pieces of paper, and invite your group to write out one big thing they are stressed/worried/anxious/fearful about. As they do it, remind them that this group is in place to deepen faith and friendships, and to create an environment that challenges as it comforts. Tell the men and women to exchange their concerns with someone else in the group once they have finished writing. You may pre-determine who trades with who (pre-existing prayer-partners; each man to the man closest to his right, each woman same; name drawing, etc). Once the cards are given to another, the idea is that the other person has handed over their worry to a friend to be prayed for, as well as received a concern to pray for another. This is an exercise on trust, release, peace and actualized love and prayer for someone else in place of reserving that anxious energy for self.

Read

• Matthew 6:19-21
• Thoughts?
• If you truly treasure something, you give your heart to it. Which means you concern your deepest self with it. What are unhealthy ways of treasuring things?
• What does it mean to lay treasures up in heaven, and how do we do that?

Leader note: Don't let the group turn this phrase of Jesus into a total denial of all material things so as to get some sort of riches "up in heaven". This is about valuing things the way God does, and not letting life become an effort to horde "stuff". Remember, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17 ESV). Stuff isn't the issue. It's how it is sought after. Jesus says seek after things that have an eternal quality to them.

Read

• Matthew 6:22-24
• Thoughts

Leader note:Remember, in the first century Jewish world, a bad eye simply meant greed. And, so, remember that in this context especially, greed is the product of fear, and is condemned as something deadly to people, and foreign to the Kingdom of God. Additionally, "money is the word "mammon", a pretend god of avarice or acquisition. There is no real god named this in history, but it was a way of saying "selfish interests".

Read

• Matthew 6:25-34
• Thoughts?
• Worry makes us more self-preoccupied, less loving toward others, makes temptation more attractive, erodes our ability to be grateful, increases irritability, poisons relationships within community because the focus is on "me" more than loving you... so explain what "seek first Kingdom of God, and his righteousness" means.
• How does uncertainty about life or circumstances become harmful?

• Read verse 25 again. Then, read James 1:27. What lives should we be concerned about?

Leader note: Jesus says, "Therefore (based on all that I have said to this point), do not worry about your life". If you emphasize the the word "your", you can hear him say something that he says often; don't make you the concern. Give your emotional energies away. Take responsibility for the needs of others, and let the Kingdom play itself out for you. This is certainly a difficult idea, but let the group explore the beauty of what fighting for others needs and comforts and preferences would look like, while quietly and peacefully trusting that God's Kingdom will be a place that "adds to us" what we need in the process.

• Jesus doesn't say to not seek the things that cause anxieties. He says seek the way of the Kingdom first. How do we switch priorities in reality, when it turns out to include our homes, jobs, health, appearance, vacations and day-to-day reality?
• Respond as a group to the phrase:

  Do what you can do today. After you’ve done all you can do today, trust God with tomorrow.

Apply

• What works against us being the kind of people that lets tomorrow worry about itself?
• What's a way to end a day in such a way that acknowledges your responsibilities, but doesn't hang on to worry?
• Who do you know that seems to have struck the balance of responsibility and peace? What do they do that you could learn from (especially if they are in this group!)
• What are practical ways that this group, and each individual, can be reminded of God's faithful and the trustworthiness of the Kingdom way?

Prayer

Spend some time in prayer at the close of your time. Perhaps each person could pray over the concerns on the card they have been handed. Perhaps one or two people could pray for a new level and depth of understanding into what it means to trust Jesus, and to deny the mind the pleasure of worrying over things it cannot control. Pray that the group would be, more than ever, a place where fears can be shared, prayed over, and crushed as it moves toward the courageous, confident Kingdom way of Jesus Christ.