Discussion Guide for Community Leaders
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UNDERSTANDING THE SEASON: We are designed to live in the deeper reality of God. One of the greatest challenges people face in going deeper is self-disqualification. In this season we want to explore, embrace and express the outrageous grace of God as we fear the Lord and submit to his love for us.
Isa 33:5-6 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. NIV
We want to start our group meetings making room for conversation that brings confirmation that God is speaking to us all as we discuss what we are hearing from the Lord as a family:
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
2. Have you ever been betrayed? What would a common response be to a person you knew was about to betray you?
John 13:1-5 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus… he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. NIV
Jesus was aware of the fact that He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples and that He even knew which one it would be. How did he respond? He served the one who would betray him just as he served the ones who would not.
Jesus is love personified, love incarnate. He is what love looks like alive and breathing. This is not love as we see it today, a mere emotion, but true love. For Him to wash the feet of Judas is powerful. It takes perfect love to do something like that.
Through this example Jesus shows us that even our enemies are deserving of our love, not just through our prayers, but through our actions. We can’t say “I love you” in our minds and then not act on it. If we are to call ourselves Christians and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, then we are to love our enemies enough to overcome whatever has set us at odds with each other and touch them.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. Share a time or situation when you experienced God’s grace in your life.
2 Cor 12:9-10 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. NIV
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Who is someone you feel has wronged you that you can serve or pray for this week?