Things I keep.....My Mind

This week, as much as a discussion about anything else, is a discussion about the lies we have settled for. underneath the "paint" of our out presentation is all the junk that God wants to redeem, restore and completely renew. But he does not force his way in.
As a group, this week may serve as a huge step forward in communal trust and transparency. But you must also remain aware that each member has a different level of maturity and cannot face everything "rotten" beneath the paint at once. Our goal as leaders is to help people take steps regarding the areas they are mature enough to recognize.
You may also notice through this week and the series that offline conversations will be necessary and more effective at giving people an opportunity to be real. If the group time doesn't seem to be drawing out what you sense to be the deeper realities, continue the challenging conversations, but also follow up (and encourage the members to do the same) in other ways and places.

Thaw

• Have you ever lied or exaggerated in an interview? DO TELL!
• What is the difference between the person who answered the preceding question with "no", and the person who said something like "of course, everybody does a little in interviews, it's understood..."?

• What was most impactful from the message Sunday?
• What do you sense is one of the main things God is working on in you?
• What do you sense God is working on in our church?

Read

• James 1:1-8
• Thoughts?
• James, the brother of Jesus, begins with acknowledging their hardships. The followers are scattered, against their will, throughout the whole region and away from their homes.Why do you think he does that?
• Why is perseverance, steadfastness or endurance so important?
• Why is James talking about them asking God for wisdom?

• Leader note: help the group understand that James is helping his readers face their real problems, and not to segment their lives. Asking God for wisdom in light of their very difficult circumstances is important. "God, how do I actually deal with all thats really going on around me and how I feel about it?"

• James talks about coming to God in faith, and without doubting, and that coming with a double mind shouldn't make you expect much. Why?

Leader note: the word for double mind is "di-psychos". This isn't about doubts about God in our modern sense. James is presenting to his readers a way of going to God in ritual, ceremony and in doing and saying what we're supposed to. In doing this, we're tossed by waves, or pushed around by the perceptions of others and the obligations we perceive. Rather than going to God and trying to guess what he cares about, James says go in faith, and bring to him the very real stuff going on within you. Go in faith, not doubting God's level of concern or involvement in what you have determined isn't spiritual, but is just life stuff...don't expect anything from God when you pray about things you don't care about because you think you're supposed to care about it. WHy would you want him to respond to prayers you don't mean? Pray about what's real!

• What does being double minded mean?

Read

• Romans 12:1-2
• Thoughts?

• In light of the word renewal being the same root word as John vision of a "new heaven and a new earth", how would you describe what God is trying to do in our minds?
• What is the difference between "be transformed" and "transform".

Leader note: the idea is the passive tense that Paul uses, where we make ourselves available for something God leads in, and then us doing it all ourselves, such as our culture teaches through self-help and will power.

Discuss

• When is it appropriate to focus on behaviors?
• Why do people prefer to focus on behaviors, their own and others'?
• What do people choose instead of allowing God to deal with them internally?
• What changes when we realize that God loves us with full awareness of our inner worlds, our pasts, and everything that we hide beneath the paint?
• Why is realizing God's love not enough to get us to be real? WHy is the approval and disapproval of human beings so important?

Leader note: You may find people looking for an opportunity to share that they believe more in the impressions of people than of God, that being why even though the truth "God loves me" is a beautiful idea, people are what's most real. You may want to even suggest that the group get real about this and admit, safely, that the reason we would go on hiding our insides and our brokenness after finding our the truth of Romans 5:6-8 is that people won't still love us if we stop performing.

Apply

• What is off limits to this group?
• Are there people in this group that you sense haven't been real with the group in some way?
• What are you fears when you contemplate discussing this with this person?
• Are there ways in which you haven't been real with the group?
• What steps can this group of followers of the Way of Jesus take right now?
• If spouses, friends, family, co-workers got real and it created difficulty and even pain, could you walk all the way through that difficulty, counting it joy, as James said in James chapter 1?

Prayer

• Have members pray, using specific words about what they have concealed from God and others. If they lie, they should refer to themselves as liars, and so on. Not in a fakey, self-condemning way. This is merely an exercise in reality.

Next series

Hey leaders
I just wanted to let you know that throughout August, we will be doing a series entitled Things I Keep.
The idea is that there are certain things i have to take responsibility for. If you choose to follow along with the Sunday morning messages for your group discussion time, you might be interested to know that we will begin with our minds. We have to take responsibility for availing ourselves to the transformation God wants to do in us...but we have gotten used to masking our thoughts and feelings. Should be toe-stompingly fun. Then we will discuss our responsibility to each other. We are responsible for each other, how that is distinct from in control of others, or somehow subject to the consequences they may pull down on their own head. Week three, Andy Stanley will wake us though some important thoughts on who we surround ourselves with. He has a track record for being kinda helpful, so count on that. We will then discuss envy and wanting to have other people's responsibilities and how that's toxic for our contentment and gratitude and wholeness in life. Then, we will close with money, and all of what the word resources means. Should be a fun series, and should catalyze good discussion.
As always, share with us the stories, no matter how big or small, about how God is at work through these discussion, your serving, and your all out desire to live kingdom lives as a group of travelers toward Christ.

Peace,
Steve
.

Church Stuff, week 7

This week is about stories.

But not just any stories. Stories that continue to point to the other dimension for reality that most of us are a lot less sensitive to. But despite our lack of sensitivity, the other half of reality is no less there.

we so often deal with the chiefly intellectual parts of our faith that we forget it's largely comprised of mystical happenings. SO, as a group, discuss even the smallest clues in your life that perhaps there is more going on in our day than what can be easily apprehended with the 5 senses. Help the group not merely share coincidences, but all also don't invalidate any story shared. The common theme should be God drawing people into Jesus like living, and evil trying to dismantle his Kingdom.

Enjoy!

Thaw

• What most impacted you from the message Sunday?
• How has it affected how you see and experience your life?
• Are you someone who seems to easily perceive the supernatural, or is it difficult? When did you first discover this?
• Are you open or skeptical? Why?

Read

• 2 Kings 6:8-23
• Thoughts?

Read

• 1 Kings 19:9-12
• Thoughts?

Read

• Colossians 1:13-20
• Thoughts?

Leader note: The idea here is that Paul was very comfortable talking about Jesus' role has having to do with an unseen, intangible realm. In fact, His role seems to have just as much to do with that one as ours. Not only did Jesus create the invisible dimensions of reality, but His cross actually redeems it. Things in heaven and on earth may be an elegant way for Paul to be saying "Jesus didn't just die for human sins, but for all of reality and every facet of brokenness."

Discuss

• Tell a story about when you sensed that God might be at work in your life, if even in the smallest details.
• Share a story about when you sensed that something dark was trying to invade your life.

Leader note: This kind of thing is new territory for some people, so you may want to invite them to share stories they've heard, rather than just experienced firsthand. As you finish with your time, be sure and send the group prayerfully aware, with their eyes open such such is in 2 Kings, into their week looking for burning bushes all around them.

Church Stuff, week 6

And....We're back.

We hope that you have had a great summer thus far with your group, embracing that things are always different through the summer with group dynamics, but God is still at work and people are still hungry for challenge and meaning in their busy lives.

____________________________________________

This week, as we continue some church basics in Church Stuff, we tackle...or are tackled by, the Holy Spirit of God.

As a leader, you must from the very outset decide if you are going to discuss the Holy Spirit as a topic, or as the One first and most present in the room you're meeting. The former will make for some great chatting and perhaps some learning. The latter is a lifechanging environment where people leave a little differently, seeing the world and their lives a little differently, than when they arrived. DOn't worry about what you do not know. COme as a group to the feet of God and seek to learn and know him together. He wants to grow and guide your group more than you do. Your job is to create an environment where He can do what He does.

Here is the song performed at the close of service.

Thaw

• What are some things that have really stuck with you in this series?
• What are some things that you have really been hung up on?
• What are some things that you feel like God is asking you to take action on and you haven't?
• What most impacted you from the message this week?

Read

• Isaiah 11:1-2
• Thoughts?
• One was said to be coming that would be genealogically connected to the Jewish line, and yet would also have God's Spirit. This was to be Jesus. What comes to mind when you see how His Spirit is described, with wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge and deep respect or fear of the Lord?

Leader note: it may be worth noting, in connection with the above passage, Matthew 3:16. Try and help the group see that the Spirit of the Lord working in and through Jesus equals the inner things they want in each of their own lives, not just relative strangeness and faith-proving tricks. Help them see that these are things we all strive for, though the words we use might be slightly different. According to God, in this passage and in other places, it is only through the Spirit of the Root of Jesse, the Messiah, that these things can be had.

Read

• Acts chapter 2 (The Message translation)
• Thoughts?
• This passage has represented, for a long time, something referred to as the Birth of the Church. What would it be without the Holy Spirit doing what He did?
• Feeling free to use your imagination, what would change in your life, whether it be you faith, how you see your family or vocation, your past, your future, your satisfaction with your present, if God's Spirit were invited to come and breathe Life into all of it?

Leader note: If you have Christians in the room that non or new Christians might benefit from, reverse this question and ask, What would change in your life, whether it be you faith, how you see your family or vocation, your past, your future, your satisfaction with your present, if God's Spirit were taken out of all of it?

Discuss

• Why is it uncomfortable for us, intellectually, behaviorally, emotionally, to embrace that God's Spirit is present with us right now, as well as every single moment after this?
• What are your difficulties with taking on the role, with others, as a living temple of God?
• How do you think God sees these difficulties, since he is the one that came up with the idea to inhabit our messy lives?

Apply

• Vulnerability time: God's Holy Spirit is quietly prompting and hovering over the chaos of your life. Share with the group, no matter how unsure you feel about it, what He might be stirring, challenging, convicting and speaking in you.
• How can the group be helpful as you discern what God's Spirit might be up to.
• Does anyone feel on the outside of the church, even though they come to church and are part of this group? How can the rest of the group help you feel incorporated into the Holy Spirit-connected church of God?