If you ever give somebody directions when they are lost you know the first question you must ask is, “Where are you?” If you don’t know where somebody is coming from it’s almost impossible to help. This rule applies physically, spiritually, emotionally and in every way. Where you are coming from always matters!
A person from Bulgaria nods his head up and down to say, “No.” Just as confusing he would shake his head back and forth to say, “Yes.” The reason he would do this is because he is from Bulgaria and that’s how they do it there. If you don’t know where this person is coming from it’s very difficult to understand their behavior.
Some common words in England are cusswords in the U.S. Some common words in the U.S are cusswords in England. It all depends on where you are coming from. A man was entering the dating scene in life for the second time. He was asking my advice on a woman who was emailing him. They’d been dating for two months and her emails spoke in a demanding tone that he voice his love for her. My response was to ask, “Where is she coming from?”
Where you are coming from matters because your point of origin determines your frame of reference.
1 John 4:9-11 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. NIV
Verse 10 is very challenging because it contradicts the common religious pursuit of trying to prove our love, devotion and commitment to God. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” Where you come from really does matter in your relationship with God. If you come from a place of your love for God your efforts will be different than if you come from a place of God’s love for you.
God did not love us back. He loved us first!
In Mark 14 Peter tells Jesus how much he loves him and how he will never betray him even if he must die. In this same chapter of life Peter falls asleep when Jesus needs him to pray. Then he openly denies Christ three times. There is a difference between having a commitment to love God and having a revelation of God’s love for us.
John 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," NAS
5 times the Bible references John as the disciple who Jesus loved. All five times this was written by John. John had a revelation of God’s Love for him. When others fell away he was the only disciple who remained at the cross.
The Kingdom of God is built on something much stronger than your religious devotion to God.
The Kingdom of God is built on God’s love for you!
We all tend to come from a perspective of our commitment to God. We must learn to come from a perspective of God’s love for us. Where you come from matters.
When you pray where are you coming from? Many times when we pray it’s because we have fear not because we have faith. Where you come from matters.
Worry turns faith into a point in time as we nervously await further news after we’ve been prayed for. Faith is not a point in time it’s a position of the heart that produces a warrior’s mindset. Fear produces worriers. Faith produces warriors.
When some symptom shows up we commonly go online finding all kinds of options to feed and strengthen the worrier inside. Instead we must train ourselves to turn to God and begin thanking him for the revelation we have of His Love. When we read his Word and feed the warrior!
When we pray and don’t see the immediate results we hoped for its easy to start coming from a place of wrong conclusions. We start thinking things like, “I must be doing something wrong.” Where you come from matters because your point of origin determines your frame of reference.
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. NAS
Notice faith works through love. When we move into fear and frustration rather than remaining in faith we identify ourselves by what didn’t change when we thought it should have. Love gets dismissed and we’re reduced to people driven by a problem lacking intimacy with God. Remember faith works through love.
Where you come from matters because your point of origin determines your frame of reference.
Is the love of Jesus your point of origin determining your frame of reference?
GP4RL: Purpose to listen to a song about God’s love as the first thing you do when you wake up this week!
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY GROUP LEADERS
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
ICE BREAKER: Where would you most likely get lost and why?
If you ever give somebody directions when they are lost you know the first question you must ask is, “Where are you?” If you don’t know where somebody is coming from it’s almost impossible to help. This rule applies physically, spiritually, emotionally and in every way. Where you are coming from always matters!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. On a scale of 1-10 how are you doing spiritually?
2. After each person gives a number ask people to share what determined their criteria. Is it how they feel about their relationship with God, if they’ve been in the Word much this week, if they’ve been praying, if they’ve been attending church, etc. What are the criteria you resort to when assessing how you are doing in your relationship with God?
1 John 4:9-11 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. NIV
Verse 10 is very challenging because it contradicts the common religious pursuit of trying to prove our love, devotion and commitment to God. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” Where you come from really does matter in your relationship with God. If you come from a place of your love for God your efforts will be different than if you come from a place of God’s love for you.
God did not love us back. He loved us first!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
3. If you could pick one word to describe your relationship with your earthly father, what would it be?
4. Now how about your heavenly Father? Pick one word to describe your relationship with Him.
5. Does your “one word” reflect a reality you’re pleased with or one you’re disappointed in? If you’re pleased, then great. But if not, what one word would describe the way you’d like it to be?
John 19:26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” NAS
Five times the Bible references John as the disciple who Jesus loved. All five times this was written by John. John had a revelation of God’s Love for him. When others fell away he was the only disciple who remained at the cross.
The Kingdom of God is built on something much stronger than your religious devotion to God. The Kingdom of God is built on God’s love for you!
Many times when we pray it’s because we have fear not because we have faith. Where you come from matters. Worry turns faith into a point in time as we nervously await further news after we’ve been prayed for. Faith is not a point in time it’s a position of the heart that produces a warrior’s mindset. Fear produces worriers. Faith produces warriors.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
6. What causes you the most worry and stress in your life?
When some symptom shows up we commonly go online finding all kinds of options to feed and strengthen the worrier inside. Instead we must train ourselves to turn to God and begin thanking him for the revelation we have of His Love. When we read his Word and feed the warrior!
When we pray and don’t see the immediate results we hoped for its easy to start coming from a place of wrong conclusions. We start thinking things like, “I must be doing something wrong.” Where you come from matters because your point of origin determines your frame of reference.
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. NAS
Notice faith works through love. When we move into fear and frustration rather than remaining in faith we identify ourselves by what didn’t change when we thought it should have. Love gets dismissed and we’re reduced to people driven by a problem lacking intimacy with God. Remember faith works through love.
Where you come from matters because your point of origin determines your frame of reference.
Is the love of Jesus your point of origin determining your frame of reference?
GP4RL: Purpose to listen to a song about God’s love as the first thing you do when you wake up this week!