Written in Heaven

LIFEGROUP Questions

11/29/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Simple Christmas Week 1: Open Invitation

1. What is your favorite part about Christmastime and why? What is your least favorite part about Christmastime and why?

2. If there was one thing you have to do at Christmas that you wish you never had to do again, what would it be?

3. How significant of a role does the story of Jesus birth play in your Christmas celebrations? Is it the focus, an afterthought, or non-existent?

4. Read Matthew 22:1-10. Have you ever had a party where you invited a bunch of people and no one showed up? Even if you haven’t, how would you feel if that did happen?

5. We all know people that rebel and want to do their own thing. Have you had a time in your life when you were rebelling? Why were you rebelling? What made you stop?

6. Some of you have received this invitation from Jesus to follow Him and have joined with him. How can we use the Christmas season to invite others to experience Jesus?

7. If you were there Sunday and feel comfortable sharing, how did you respond to the message on Sunday? How can we pray for one another to see Jesus work through that response?

(Leader’s note): Keep praying for those who you have been, that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

This week has been a cool week, in that two passages of scripture with which God has been working me over came together in an amazing way. The first one comes out of 2 Samuel 14:14b, which says, “But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.” This in itself is one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible to me. God never stops trying to get our attention. In fact, He is inventing new ways of reaching out to us continually. That is so amazing!

Then this week I ran across 1 Corinthians 12:31b which sets up what is commonly known as the “Love Chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13. But this verse right before it says, “And now, I will show you the most excellent way.” Then Paul proceeds to talk about love.

What I love about this (no pun intended) is that I can see Paul tossing in a ‘grasshopper’ here (in fact I think he does in the Greek). As if he were saying, “And now, Grasshopper, I will show you the most excellent way.” It’s as though, up to this point, there were many ways in which Paul was teaching and ways that he was showing, but there is no way like the way of love.

As leaders, sometimes it can be tempting to operate out of many ways that are far from the way of love. It can be tempting to treat people with less than love. In fact, it can even be tempting to treat them with disdain or contempt. Leadership requires broad shoulders and the ability to take a hit. At the same time we have to keep dishing out the love as we are sometimes under duress. That can be tough.

However, what helps us is the fact that we know there is no better way. None. There is nothing better or more effective than loving people.

That’s pretty encouraging that love is God’s most excellent way as well. I know there are times when I certainly deserve less than love, but God keeps the love coming. I pray I’m able to do the same as a leader.

LIFEGROUP Questions

11/22/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Greater Things Week 3: How to See Jesus Do Greater Things

1. What is one of your biggest accomplishments ever? What made it so significant?

2. When you get to the end of your life and look back on it, what will have had to happen in order for you to feel like your life was a success or fulfilled?

3. It is promised that God can do more than we can ask or imagine. When was a time when you saw this promise fulfilled?

4. Read Matthew 14:13-20. Do you feel like you identify more with the boy (trusting Jesus with everything) or the disciples (having trouble trusting)? Why?

5. Jesus could have fed those people with anything that He had. He could have even created something on the spot to feed them. Why do you think He chooses to partner with humans in those situations rather than simply doing it by himself?

6. What work is God doing in your home, in your workplace, in your church, in the world right now that He’s calling you to be a part of?

7. Part of that work that God is doing is using us to influence our friends who don’t know Jesus for Him. Let’s pray for those people again tonight. Let’s also promise to invite them to BridgeWay during the “Simple Christmas” series (if they live in town), and pray that they would be receptive to that invitation.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

If you missed today's Greater Things Gathering, you REALLY missed out! It was an incredible time of celebration, as well as a time of looking forward to what BridgeWay is going to be a part of this year.

LIFEGROUP Questions

11/15/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Greater Things Week 2: Greater Love

1. What is your favorite love story? If you’re married or engaged, would you tell the story of your relationship?

2. When you think about love, what comes to your mind? How do you show love to those around you?

3. How does God shape our idea of what love is? God showed us His love for us by sending His son to die for our sins (see John 3:16-17). How do we show God that we love Him?

4. What is more valuable to you: money or time? How do we show God we love him through the way we manage our finances? How do we show God we love Him through the way we manage our time?

5. What next step do you need to take in the way that you are managing your finances?

• · Give an offering for the first time (you’ve never given any money, but want to start)
• · Become a regular giver (giving on a more consistent basis)
• · Begin tithing (giving the first 10% of every paycheck to God)
• · Become an extravagant giver (giving more than a tithe on a regular basis)

6. What fears do you have in taking this next step? Someone in your group has taken the step you’re going to take. If that’s you, could you share how God has blessed you as you’ve taken this next step that your friend is about to take?

7. Last week, we took time to pray for those in our lives who do not know Jesus. How could our obedience to God in our finances and our time have an impact on those who do not know Jesus? Let’s close with a time of prayer not only for our obedience to God in these areas, but again for our friends and family who do not know Jesus.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

LIFEGROUP Questions

11/8/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Greater Things Week 1: Greater Things

1. Aside from the biggies (having kids, getting married, etc.), what is a great moment in your life that you think of fondly?

2. When you look at your life, what would be the ‘greatest thing’ that could happen to you given your current situation?

3. For many of us, a great moment (maybe even the greatest) in our lives came when we decided to follow Jesus. If you’ve made that decision, share with the group your story of how you decided to make that choice.

4. In the Bible, Jesus commands His disciples to ‘follow Him.’ The implication here is that when you follow Jesus, you follow Him with everything. What is an area (or areas) in our lives that is a struggle to let Jesus control?

5. An area that we follow Jesus with is with our inviting of others to come and see Jesus as well. Who is someone who you have been praying for that they would decide to follow Jesus?

6. As a group, let’s pray for those who we are praying for individually that they would come to follow Jesus in their lives. Let’s pray daily for these individuals as we expect God to do ‘Greater Things’ in our lives in coming days.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

Awhile ago, I was sharing a meal with a mentor of mine. He has been extremely successful and I have learned so much from him about life and ministry both. As we were eating, I realized something, I was doing all the talking. I scheduled a meeting with this guy in order for him to enlighten me as to life and various other ‘grasshopper’ moments. However, there we sat. He was listening; I was talking.

The questions he was asking me were very perplexing to me later. He was asking me about church systems we were utilizing, how I stay fresh spiritually, what books I’ve been reading, etc. I initially thought he was doing this as a courtesy, but I recognized that he was doing it so he could learn something. After the conversation had ended, I thought to myself, ‘Why was he trying to learn something from me? I’m the one who needs to learn from him!”

What I recognized was key to this issue pride. This guy recognized that there is no point in life at which you ‘make it’ or ‘arrive.’ Even more than that, he recognized that there is always something you can learn from those around you, even if they aren’t as experienced or even as intelligent. What an example of humility!

I heard Rick Warren say once (paraphrasing) that all sin is rooted in pride. Because, sin is essentially us saying to God, “my way’s better than yours.” That phrase rocked me hard and still does. I recognize there are areas of my life in which I have a tendency to do things my own way rather than God’s.

What’s scary about this is that God shows over and over in the Bible that He can’t use a prideful heart. He never uses anyone who has pride in their heart and if they somehow develop that pride, He takes care of it swiftly.

I learned a lot from my mentor that day, even though I ended up doing most of the talking.

I wanted to take a moment to update you about our location search for the Pekin Campus. Many of you have been praying with us as we’ve been looking for a new place to meet in Pekin. We really appreciate your prayers as we have gone on this journey together as a church.

We have been searching diligently and unfortunately we’ve been unable to locate a facility that both meets our needs and has been available to us. While the movie theater in Pekin has been a great facility for us, to continue there is not financially sustainable, neither is it financially prudent. We are committed to wise management of the financial resources God has entrusted to us. The weekly cost for operations in Pekin is three times the weekly operating cost of our Morton Campus. We recognize that to continue in this pattern of spending would be detrimental to the church long term.

So beginning this Sunday November 8, our Pekin Campus will begin worshiping with our Morton Campus. This will be until we locate an appropriate facility and have developed a giving base that will support our continued operations in the city of Pekin.

This moment is not one to lament, but one to celebrate. God has done amazing things in such a short time in Pekin! We have seen 31 people give their lives to Jesus in the 2 months we’ve been there! We know that our work there is not done. God isn’t saying “no” to us, but “not now.” We will be ready to return when the doors open for us to do so.

The Morton Campus of BridgeWay meets in the Morton Cinemas in the Field Shopping Center off of South Main Street. The Morton Campus service times are 9:30 & 11:00. Both services are identical. Along with that, the same high quality Children’s Activities and BridgeCafe are available during both as well. You will experience the same BridgeWay experience that you have in Pekin every week.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact me at the BridgeWay office 291-0320 or by email at pastormarobinson@yahoo.com.

See you Sunday in Morton!

Another great day, here are some thoughts:

• First off, if you missed today's service in Pekin, you missed a big announcement. Today was our last day at the Pekin Movie Theater. Starting next Sunday we will be meeting at the Morton Cinemas in Morton with the Morton Campus.
• Thank you so much to those of you who have been praying and fasting with us as we've made this decision. Your prayers made a difference!
• This move was made because we couldn't find an adequate/functional location in Pekin - and we looked at more than 30 locations!
• We also realize that we can't sustain financially in the movie theater in Pekin, seeing as it costs three times as much per week to rent as our facility in Morton.
• So we are making this move, believing that God is not saying, "no" to Pekin, but "not now."
• We really do see this as a pause button to the work in Pekin, and we'll be ready to go back when everything pans out for us to be able to.
• I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive about the move. That's pretty much anyone I've talked to!
• If you are a Pekinite and need a way to get to Morton, let me know! We'll get you a ride for Sunday. Seriously, it's NO PROBLEM!
• As far as today goes, our teams were stellar as always and the band was really cookin today.
• We were majorly thrashed attendance wise because of all of the illness going around.
• But we had a great service anyway!
• It was a lot of fun to 'race' Jake to Morton and back. Thanks to Jake for taking time out of his week to help us out.
• The message today was great and really timely not only for the move of the campus, but for where we all live today.
• It was exciting to think about how Jesus will be our 'resolution' to the story, as He promises to turn our grief to joy. What a promise!
• So remember, next week we're in Morton!
• Service times are 9:30 & 11:00 with Children's Activities during both; both services are identical.
• Any questions? Shoot me an email at pastormarobinson@yahoo.com or call me at 291-0320.

Have a great week! See you in Morton!