Thinking Rightly In a Broken World – Wisdom: God’s Son

COMMUNITY GUIDE

The Community Guide below is based on Sunday’s teaching for our new series: Thinking Rightly in a Broken World. As your whole Community gathers (online or in-person), use the Community Guide below to give shape to your time together.

Begin by Practicing the Lord’s Supper Together (5 minutes)

Begin your time by partaking of the bread and the cup together. Have each person bring their own Communion elements or provide elements for the group. To facilitate your time, you can either ask a member of your Community to come ready with a short prayer, scripture reading or read the prayer we’ve provided below. After reading (aloud), spend a few moments in silence, take the elements and then close in prayer:

Here is bread
Good News for the world
with a headline that says:
let all who are hungry for justice
come and eat 

Here is wine
Good News for all who long
with a headline that says:
let all who thirst for righteousness
come and drink

Here is the table
Good News for all who are lost
with a headline that says:
all who are weary
come and gather here

Here is community
Good News for all whom the world ignores
with a headline that says:
behold I make all things new
come and be renewed 

Here is Jesus
Good News for all who wait
with a headline that says:
I have come that all may have life
come and live life fully

CHECK-IN (10 MINUTES)

As we focus on this series, we want to continue to create space for checking in on each other but doing so in a shorter amount of time. Take a few minutes to do a whole person check-in (emotional, spiritual, physical) with your Community, creating space for each person to answer the question below:

• What are two things you were thankful for this last week? What are you trusting the Lord for in this week to come?

If the need arises, spend a few minutes praying for one another, asking God to meet needs and help each person carry what feels heavy right now.

Sermon OVERVIEW:

Christian concluded our series by helping us look to Jesus: the “Word” who was with God and was God from the beginning, and who became flesh to make God known to us (John 1:1-18). But Jesus came in a surprising way that was easy to miss and even easier to misunderstand. He came as the Light to the world, but “people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). For our minds to be renewed, something more is needed than words from God–more than even the Word made flesh in Jesus. We need God to reveal these truths to us by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 11:25-27; 1 Cor. 2:9-14).

As we’ve seen throughout this series, the Spirit reveals the truth of the gospel to us gradually as we learn to walk with him in a relationship of trust. So Jesus calls us to come to him and learn from him (Matt. 11:28-30). He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him (Matt 16:21-24). As we embrace our call to be “living sacrifices” by serving those around us like Jesus has served us, we experience ongoing transformation by the renewal of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2). We begin to see with increasing clarity that the way of Jesus is the way to true rest (Matt. 11:28-30), true life (Matt. 16:25), and true glory forevermore (Phil. 2:1-11).

QUESTIONS (20 Minutes)

1. What is one thing that stuck out to you in today’s sermon?

2. Two of the main themes of Christian’s message were (1) our need to depend upon God to reveal truth to us and (2) the call to trust God even when he calls us to walk with him through hardship or discomfort. How do we see both of those themes in the story of Jesus’ birth? How do we see those themes continue throughout Jesus’ life and ministry? How do you see those themes in your life? 

3. Though Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and take up our cross, he also promises that we will find true rest, life, and glory as we follow him. These are “already/not yet” promises: The fullness will come at his glorious return, but he gives us real, substantial tastes of them now. In what ways have you tasted of Jesus’ rest, life, and glory over this past year? How has the past year increased your longing for Jesus’ return?

Missionary Practice For The Week Ahead: BLESS (10 Minutes)

If you do at least one of these practices every day, you will not only become more like Jesus, but you will help others find Jesus too! In your time together as a community, ask the questions, “Who did you BLESS this week? This time of sharing will keep the Great Commission at the forefront of who we are called to be as followers of Jesus. It will also provide the opportunity to celebrate and encourage one another on the journey.

ᐅ B.L.E.S.S.

• (B)egin with Prayer:

  • Pray for the people in your life and the places that you’re in.

    • People: Who do you live, work and play with that is far from God? Pray that God would create spiritual curiosity in them, and then spend time with them.

    • Places:

      • Where does pain exist here?  Pray for healing.

      • Who makes the decisions here? Pray for integrity.

      • Who throws parties here? Pray for community.

      • Where are the pennies spent here? Pray for provision.

• (L)isten:

  • Listen to and discover the needs of others and for the places where God is at work.

    • Before you can help others find Jesus, you need to listen to them first - their hopes, pains, challenges and dreams.  In your interactions with others today, take the posture of a learner.  Lay down assumptions and practice being present in conversations. 

• (E)at:

  • Share meals, drink coffee, and spend time with people in your life that don’t yet know Jesus.

    • Who can you eat with (or have coffee with) that is far from God? A co-worker over lunch? A neighbor during the day? A friend or family member over the weekend?

    • Is there a place that you regularly visit (coffee shop, gym, etc.)? Ask God to grant you opportunities to eat with people.

• (S)erve:

  • Who can you serve this week? Who do you know that has a practical need? Ask them how you can help.

    • Before jumping into serving, have you taken the time to pray for, listen to and eat with these people? Doing these things first helps you discover the way that you really need to serve them.

• (S)tory:

  • Share the story of Jesus and what He is doing in your life with others.

    • Start by sharing how God has blessed you and made a difference in your life.

    • Share your story in such a way that demonstrates that Jesus is also at work in their life. 

    • Don’t feel like you have to tell your life story at once.  Think “bite-size” stories. 
      
      
      

Prayer (10 Minutes)

Spend a few minutes praying for God’s grace over each other, that we might become a people who make Jesus our Lord, and that there might be a sweeping renewal of the Holy Spirit in our city. Ask that God would stir up within us a desire to be with him in prayer and to serve him, one another, and our neighbor in love.