FOR BIBLICAL PURPOSES THIS CONVERSATION IS BEING RECORDED Temple Guards

The conversation was over in a minute with the Temple Guards (John 18). Yet the implications will be reverberating for quite a few more millennia. Help your group embrace the practicalities (a potentially, grossly un-mystical word) of the Christ's divinity, and his presence in our lives and thinking. While it may be interesting to continue to dig around only in the concept of the divinity of Christ for a discussion, his promise to be with us in the mysterious, ongoing whisper into our being, has far more daily significance. Dig there.

Thaw

• What do you notice going on inside yourself this Spring?
• What do you wish people knew about you? (yeah, so. we're starting heavy....relax....)

• What has most stuck with you from Sunday?

Read

• John 1:1-5
• John 1:14

Leader note: The phrase rendered "dwell among us" is actually "tabernacled with us", or set up his tent with us. The Greek is σκηνόω ("skēnoō")

• Thoughts?
• What are the implications of this passage on your next 24 hours? Take your time to think this through.

Read

• Zephaniah 3:14-17 ESV

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;

he has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;

you shall never again fear evil.

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:

"Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.

The LORD your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

• Thoughts?

Leader note: Help the group note that the encouragement seems to come from the repeated promise of God being in His people's midst, not just being "for" them. Discuss the difference.

Read

• Matt 28:16-20
• Revelation 21:1-4

Leader note: Revelation 21:3 actually reads this way in the Greek;

"...And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the tabernacle (σκηνή skēnē ) of God is with men, and he will tabernacle (σκηνόω skēnoō) with them.'"

• Thoughts?

Discuss

• Do you operate with the understanding that God is present, or that God is watching? Is there a difference, and if so, what is it?
• How might we explain that God is currently present in Christ, while his "pitching a tent" with us in full is still a yet-to-be-fully-realized experience?
• When is a time that you have experienced God's presence?
• When is a time that you felt like God was nowhere to be found?
• How does God's presence motivate us to be at our best?

Leader note: It's worth noting that some of us, in our immaturity, need to know God is present to keep us from "acting up". Ultimately, like any good father, God does't seek to police us, but to guide and lead us into life. (i.e.John 10:10)

Reflective Reading

• The Book of Hebrews is a complex book. Actually, it's not a book...it was a sermon meant to be read aloud to the early Jewish followers of Jesus gathered in a particular region in the mid-first century. Choose someone from the group to read The Message translation of Hebrews 9 & 10, while the rest of the group listens, takes notes and allows the rich imagery to fill their imaginations. You can find the text here.

Discuss & Apply

• First thoughts?
• Does this passage motivate you, or offend something in you? Why do you think you are responding the way you are?
• How does submission to this affect your life immediately?
• What changes of thought are necessary for this to take hold?

Prayer

• Access is both a blessing and a confrontation. Pray as a group that it comforts and challenges each person and their family as they step into tabernacling with Christ, the Logic of God made flesh.

Additional texts

• Heb 1:1-3
• John 14:1-9
• Exodus 3:1-16

FOR BIBLICAL PURPOSES, THIS CONVERSATION IS BEING RECORDED [Nicodemus]

There are sweeping, monumental sermons and conversations recorded in the Bible. Epic interactions between kings and prophets and characters easily depicted by Charlton Heston.
And then, there are brief interactions that you wonder why anyone would write them down at all. Simple banter, really, where the participants couldn't have known anyone would ever remember. But we did.
For the next several weeks we're going to focus on seemingly insignificant exchanges that people had with Christ which, in some cases, were over in half a minute. And yet, millennia later, they still shape how we think about our lives and God. As LifeGroups, lets learn more to be people who notice significance where others may not, and let's see all the wisdom and insight Jesus packs into every chat.

Thaw

• What's one of the first conversations you can remember?
• Why do you think this conversation stuck with you, and what does it tell you about yourself?
• What stuck with you the most from Sunday?

Read

• John 3:1-9
• Thoughts?
• What are some of the layers of the metaphor "Born From Above"? Describe ways that this imagery carries meaning?
• Why does Jesus use nonliteral, illustrative language with a religious teacher? Why doesn't Jesus just lay out his theology?

Discuss

• If Jesus spelled things out plainly, there'd be little risk of us misinterpreting it. But, as it is, Jesus uses metaphor (as does much of the Bible) to teach deep truths about God and life. What does this tell us about the broadness of reality, versus the limits of doctrinal statements?
• What's at stake for Nicodemus in this conversation with Jesus?

Leader note: Help the group bear in mind that, as a religious leader, Nicodemus's status in his society is rooted in being solid and certain about faith and life. He's a go-to. Jesus inviting him to behave along the unpredictable patterns of "wind" would be like asking a Mayor to begin "winging" a budget or a judge to start flipping a coin. It renders Nicodemus powerless to begin following Jesus and being born of the Spirit. This is applicable to us, who want to be spiritual and strong, not vulnerable or appear wishy washy.

• What is the value of ambiguity?
• What are the difficulties with ambiguity?
• How does living "in the middle", where real people and real life happen, take faith, courage and wisdom?

Read

• Romans 12:1-2
• Thoughts?

Discuss

• Why is transformed thinking the ultimate goal? Why not a new list of rules, or even transformed behaviors?
• Transformed thinking means constant work for us. Discuss rule keeping versus mind-work; simply following and upholding precepts, or having to apply God's heart to every situation.
• What are the base values upon which we make decisions if Jesus wants us stepping out of a mere black-and-white to living?

Apply

• How do we live in the middle as a group and a church?
• Are there absolutes to cling to?

Leader note: There are fewer than we think. Respectfully, if it seems to be where the conversation is going, wrestle a bit with what we think are absolutes, and what is at stake with the idea remaining absolute. Keep in mind that there may be disagreement, but disagreement doesn't need to be war, but should look more like a dance. It is also helpful to understand that if sever there were an absolute, it would be the Great I Am, Yahweh. Everything else in is orbit around God.

• How do we help each other as a group navigate the difficulties of living in a non-binary world?
• Would anyone say that they feel like they had little experience with this idea?
• Would anyone say that they had some experience with this idea?
• How can these two help balance each other?

Prayer

• Close with prayer to the Great, Unpredictable Spirit that cannot be contained, explained, predicted or simplified into something we "figure out". Ask God to continue to make us, a people "born of Spirit" "from above", to live in tandem with such a God.

The Land Between, Jeff Manion

Your group lives between. Humanity has been described as existing in the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Israel lived this firsthand. Our sense of meaning and purpose, just where "everything" is headed...it's all in stasis for most of us. Many of us would even say we feel stuck there. While some of us are learning all we can there so we'll be prepared for the day we're no longer between, others of us fail to recognize "between's" value and we live our whole lives unhappily trying to escape.

As a group, go through these generic discussion makers and see what you can learn about where each of you, and we, collectively, are in the story.

What most stuck out for you about Sunday morning?

What were the key points for you in the message?

What was the "one thing" you took away that seems applicable in your own, personal life?

What did you learn:

*About God?

*About yourself?

*About others?

What changes of thought and style of relating are necessary in light of what you learned?

What are the hindrances, and what do we do about those?

What role can this group play to help you take steps this week and beyond?

Above Ground 9 Self-Control

"I am indeed a king because I know how to rule myself."

-Pietro Aretino

"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power"

-Seneca

The last word Paul uses to describe the evidence of the presence of God's Spirit is, once again, also a way of describing how we bless others and ultimately ourselves. Self-control is a character trait sought after for millennia. All you have to do is pay attention to the lives of those who seem to have no control over their own words and actions and impulses, and you suddenly value it more than any other thing. As a group, discuss what stands in the way between us and actually having mastery of ourselves, and see what you can discover about how we hand control to other people and things without really knowing it.

Thaw

• What does Easter mean to you this year, and how is that different than last year?
• This being Holy Week, what thoughts do you have about Christ and his death, burial and resurrection?

• What is foremost on your mind from this Sunday?
• What people (real life or even in a favorite story) do you think of when you think of someone totally in control of themselves?

Read

• Proverbs 25:28
• Thoughts?
• What is the significant of referring a city's defensive structure?
• Why did the writer of the proverb metaphorically use a "city", which is packed with people and complicated layers of social strata, rather than a person or some kind of animal?

Read

• Genesis 3:1-13
• Thoughts?
• How does the scenario in Genesis 3 painted for us to dwell on reflect our own dealings with temptation, impulse and blame?
• Can you give examples?

Leader note: Help the members of your group to think of times when they have been confronted with a lack of self-control, and in response they blame other factors. Cheating at work or school could elicit a "it's the systems fault; they set us up to fail, I had no choice if I wanted to succeed", or our attitudes when we fall below a health goal or through avoidable circumstances are late somewhere. Help the group to see that the story of Adam and Eve isn't just a theological historical story, but an ongoing narrative about what still traps us. We love to disobey the still, small voice. And we love, subsequently, to blame everything but ourselves!

• How might the story have been different if Eve and Adam would have discussed their weaknesses with God and each other?

Leader note: You may want to point out in here somewhere that self-control doesn't mean "doesn't need anyone's help". It means "knowing exactly what kind of help you need".

Discuss

• What role does blame have for the spiritually mature?
• Discuss the role blame has for someone tuned into self-mastery.
• Discuss the importance of knowing yourself (your triggers, your inner habits. knowing how you actually feel beneath how you think you ought to feel, etc.) for self-control.

Read

• Galatians 5:22-23
• What role does self-mastery play in each of these nine words?

Discuss

• At what times, or in what specific ways are you notoriously lacking in self-control?
• How has our culture told you it is ok, cute, or futile to reverse?
• How often do you carry regret for not controlling yourself (words, actions, thoughts, reactions, etc)?
• How often do you find yourself defending an action or trying to explain a circumstance away, hoping subtly to retain respect?
• Going to work on self-control can make your lack of it worse, because it becomes an effort to stop embarrassing yourself, or an effort to make your life more manageable. Trying to control yourself in such a case is more like trying to shut up an annoying friend. Self-control, however, is different. It is the transformation of mind (Romans 12:1-2). How can this group help you grow in self-awareness?

Leader note: Embrace as a group that if all you ever do is discuss sermons/curricula academically, then you'll miss out on really knowing each other and, more significantly, yourselves. It will always be "about" life, but never really diving into yours! Group should be a place where people speak into our lives, and where we're slowly, beautifully, excruciatingly, invited to see clearly the person we seek to offer to God. Challenge the group gently to think about what it would mean to allow others to ask and speak into our blind spots, and regardless of our agreement or disagreement; its a safe place to say and hear all of that, because the goal is real transformation, not just information!

Additional reading options

• James 3:3-12
• 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
• 2 Peter 1:5-7
• 2 Timothy 1:7