Written in Heaven

LIFEGROUP Questions

2/21/10

***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.

Til Death Week 3: Partnership

1. What’s the attribute (not physical) of your spouse that you love and admire the most that you don’t have?

2. This week we talked about marriage in terms of partnership (being about ‘we’ and not ‘me’). What are areas that you as a couple are really successful at ‘partnering’ in (i.e. household chores, parenting, working, social life, spiritual capacity, etc.)? What are areas that you and your spouse struggle to ‘partner’ in?

3. Part of partnership is mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21). What does that mean? What does that look like in your marriage?

4. In Ephesians 5, Jesus compares himself as a groom, and the church as His bride. He instructs us to treat one another the same way as He treats us. How would we treat our spouse differently if we operated like Jesus does towards His church all the time?

5. Being a partner means more than simply partnership, but that you and your spouse are completely welded together. What areas of your marriage do you not see eye to eye in that you can work on to become even more closely welded together?

6. This week’s assignments were to deal with past relationships as a couple, and to develop 4-7 values you are going to have in your marriage. Does anyone have their values developed that they would like to share with the group? Let’s pray that God would continue to help us develop these values and focus on developing these partnerships.

***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.

As a leader I have some propensities to always be looking forward in planning and even looking forward to what God is going to do. While this isn’t a bad thing, God is showing me to appreciate the moments I’m in more than I have been, rather than looking forward all the time.

Just recently I had a meeting scheduled with a couple from BridgeWay. It was a pretty light meeting to touch base on some stuff; nothing urgent. A couple hours beforehand, we talked on the phone debating whether or not to meet, and ultimately, decided to. They arrived and we talked business for about 15 minutes and were really ready to wrap up. Then out of nowhere, we started talking about life and they began to share about things that God was doing in them and what He had been teaching them. It was incredible! We shared laughs, tears, smiles, and prayers. It was a wonderful night! I left the meeting thinking, “Wow, I’m so glad we didn’t cancel that meeting!”

I’m learning that every encounter with folks can move in that way if we take the time to listen for it. When it comes to leading LIFEGROUPS especially, sometimes we can get so wrapped up in group size or who’s here or who’s not, that we lose focus of the people that God has brought together for that evening for His purposes. Never, EVER take for granted who is present at your meetings and why they might be there. SAVOR THE MOMENT! Let God do what He needs to do. The trick is, that YOU as a leader have to be spiritually prepared for what HE wants to do.

Be prepared, be excited, and be expecting!

LIFEGROUP Questions

2/14/10

***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.

Til Death Week 2: Pursuit

1. Ladies, what’s the best romantic/pursuit moment you remember from when you and your husband were dating? Guys, what was the most romantic moment you pulled off while you were dating your wife?

2. Since you’ve been married, have you had the same level of ‘pursuit’ for one another that you had when you were dating? Why or why not?

3. 2 Samuel 14:14 says that “God does not take away life; instead He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.” When you look at your life, how have you seen God ‘devising ways’ to get your attention and bring you closer to Him?

4. Ephesians 5:25-29 gives us a good picture of what it means to pursue our spouses: sacrifice, serving, and supplying their needs. When it comes to your spouse, what sacrifices might you need to make personally to show your commitment to pursue your spouse?

5. How can we serve our spouses to show our pursuit of them? What needs of our spouse have we been neglecting that we need to focus on more?

6. Each person in here commit to one of the ways we can pursue our spouse this week. Next week, the spouse will bring back a report of how you did at your duty. Let’s pray that God will help us all pursue our spouses like He pursues us.

***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

2/14/10

***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.

Til Death Week 2: Pursuit

1. What’s something that you pursued more than anything else, and finally got it? Why did you want it so much? What did it mean to you when you got it? After awhile, did it have the same excitement as it did before?

2. Has anyone ever pursued a relationship with you before (dating, parenting, brother/sister, grandparent, aunt/uncle, etc.)? What did they do to get your attention? Were their efforts effective?

3. 2 Samuel 14:14 says that “God does not take away life; instead He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.” When you look at your life, how have you seen God ‘devising ways’ to get your attention and bring you closer to Him?

4. Ephesians 5:25-29 gives us a good picture of what it means to pursue God: sacrifice, serving, and supplying their needs. When it comes to God, what sacrifices might you need to make personally to show your commitment to pursue Him?

5. How can we serve God to show our pursuit of Him? How does our relationship with God now as single folks impact our futures with our spouses?

6. Each person in here commit to one of the ways we can pursue God this week. Let’s check in with each other next week to see how we’ve been doing and how God has impacted us through our pursuit of Him. Let’s pray for each other now that we would be faithful to this challenge.

***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.

Every year during this time, a special event is taking place – the NFL playoffs (something NCAA division one football could learn from, but I digress). During this time, the cream of the NFL rises to the top, while everyone else, to quote Mike Tyson, “fades into bolivian.” What amazes me about this time even more than the competition, are the fans. These fans are insane! They are crazed, they pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket, they arrive hours early and tailgate in below freezing weather, they wear expensive authentic jerseys of their favorite stars, they paint their faces, they scream until their ears bleed, and they yell at others for not screaming enough on 3^rd down situations. They are on fire for their team.

Inevitably, only one of these team’s fan bases gets to celebrate the fact that their team won the ultimate prize, while the rest will always ponder, ‘if I just would have screamed louder on third down…’

What I’ve noticed about these fans is that it’s hard to be around them without getting equally as excited in the game. For me, if I like the team they do, I gain more interest in the game and root even harder for that team. If I dislike the team they’re rooting for, I inevitably root even harder for their competition. Human nature I guess.

I’ve found this to be the case with all sorts of stuff, especially Jesus. When I first arrived at BridgeWay, I had a fire in my heart that I thought was burning hot – then I met the worship band. After a couple weeks rubbing elbows with those guys, it was like someone threw gasoline on the fire of my heart.

When we lead people, they inevitably become passionate about the things we are leading them in, or not, depending on how we lead them. If we’re not on fire for that thing ourselves, no one else will be either. But as we get more and more on fire, in this case for Jesus, it’s inevitable that that fire will rub off on those around us.

In Dale’s blog recently, he posted the question: if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? The same applies here. Do people know what the passion of your heart is? Are people more on fire, passionate, or curious about Jesus after you’ve spent time with them? Let’s make the answer to those questions a resounding “YES!”

When my wife and I lived in our first home, we had a good sized backyard that butted up right against a corn field. There was no fence around the yard, so our grass went right up to the edge of the field. At the back of the yard, there was a ditch that dropped off about 2 feet from our yard into the cornfield. I hated this ditch. Every time I mowed, I would have an internal debate about whether or not I should mow this ditch or not. After all, I was literally the only one who ever saw it, let alone even gave it a second thought. However, the good Matt always won out and the ditch was always mowed.

In my life, I have a few ‘ditches’ if you will. These are areas that no other human sees but me, and it can be really tempting to let them grow over and be unkempt. Everyone has these areas to some degree, and it’s a decision of discipline more than anything else to decide that you indeed will ‘mow these ditches.’

I just got back from a week away with my family and God did a couple of really special things in my life during that time. First of all he gave me some significant rest that I was in need of, spiritually and physically. Secondly, he really fired me up to get out the mower and get to mowing. There are areas that I had not necessarily been avoiding, but not nearly paying enough attention to in my life that He really challenged me to get back into.

There were days when it was 95 degrees outside and muggy and it seemed really appealing to leave that ditch to grow. However, every time I mowed it, I had a feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment. The same is true for us spiritually.

What ditch is God challenging you to mow?

LIFEGROUP Questions

12/13/09

***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 3: Spend Less

1. Who is the most frugal/cheapest person you’ve ever met? Can you tell a story that describes their cheapness?

2. On a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being ultra frugal and 10 being an over-spender, where would you land on the scale? Has that changed over time, or has it always been like that? If it has changed, why?

3. At Christmas, in which area do you feel the most pressure/stress: finances, relationships, or time? Why?

4. We’ve been discussing in this series how to focus on Christ and not on consumerism. What does ‘focus on Christ’ mean? Is that really possible? How do we go about changing traditional spending or giving habits to focus more on Christ during this season?

5. How can we live more generously as individuals without spending more money? How does focusing on Jesus lead to more generous living in all areas of our lives?

6. What way can we as a group impact our world for Christ this Christmas season? (Leader note: have some ideas ready, or talk to your Get Off the Couch Week Coordinator about having some ideas ready to go that your group can run with)

(Leader’s note): Our LIFEGROUP semester is coming to an end in the next couple of week. Discuss your final week together, and encourage your group members to sign up for a group in January.

***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.