What It Feels Like To Be God (part 3): When You're Saved

TO START

Plan a holiday celebration/get together/outing as a group. Go see Christmas lights. Ice skate on the top of Whole Foods in Austin. Make Christmas cookies. Go caroling. Do something, anything fun.

Too, be sure to remind your group about the Christmas missions benefit dinner on December 11th. This year we’re looking for teams for our holiday lip sync battle. Each team will lip sync one Christmas song. If your small group’s up for it, contact Robin Marrs at rmarrs@rrcoc.org.

Finally, decide how often you’ll meet during the month of December (and whether you’ll meet the first week of January). Try to meet as often as you can.

 

DISCUSSION

The goal of this series has been, in part, to be empathetic toward God. Do you feel like thinking about how God “feels” has changed the way you see or act? Has it changed your relationship with God at all?  Have you had any epiphanies during this series? As you think about how it feels to be God do you have questions? If so, what are they?

Justin said on Sunday, “Redemption is the single-minded, dogged, immovable mission of God.” Is that true?

  • If it is true, what does that mean for you personally? How can you best partner with God to fulfill His mission?
  • Consider the Bible as a whole. What’s it about? Sometimes the best way to understand the theme of a book is to look at  the end and see what conflict is resolved. What does your understanding of the book of Revelation reveal about the theme of the Bible?

How does God feel when we come home?

  • Have you ever welcomed someone home who’d been gone for a long time (maybe a soldier, a missionary, or a runaway)? How’d you feel? Tell the group about it.
  • What story in the best Bible best illustrates for you God’s joy when we come home? How so?

We said on Sunday that God feels joy when we come home. We said He’s NOT thinking: “Oh fine. I guess I won’t smite you. Man, I really wanted to smite you.”

  • Have you ever felt like God wanted to smite you? How did that understanding of God shape your behavior? Would you have acted differently if you knew He’d be happy to welcome you--no matter what?

We say a lot that God loves you. What does it mean to you that God loves you? How does God’s love for you shape the way you live? How does it shape the way you see and understand God? If you’re not sure, say so.

 

SCRIPTURE

Read Hebrews 12:1-3.

According to this passage, why did Jesus endure the cross?

What is “the joy set before Him”?

In what ways could we follow Christ into joy? Suggest some ways you might sacrifice for others for the sake of their salvation.

 

PRAYER

Would you pray for the new Christians in our body? We’ve been so blessed to be used by God as a place where people can come home. In the last year we’ve had several men, women, teens and kids commit their lives to Christ. Tonight, pray for them. First, make a list of things new Christians need from God and from their church family. Then pray.

 

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