If we could discover what unlocks the very life of God producing blessing and flourishing imagine how rich we could be!
No matter how rich you could become “you can’t take it with you” right? Wrong! In God’s Kingdom true riches are relationships and the one thing you can take with you into eternity is the transformed life of friends and family.
In the Kingdom of God true riches are relationships and relationships are what unlock the very life of God producing blessing and flourishing. That is what makes us truly rich. It is not good for man to be alone so by default it is very good for man to be relationally connected.
Psalm 133:1-3 “…How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! …For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” NIV
“Life” in the Hebrew here is used with wide latitude as it speaks of the life of God. This is the very fountain of life that awakens, sustains and flourishes.
In this season of the church we are sensing the Lord speaking that we need to focus! We are coming into a time of spiritual birth and if we are distracted, we will lose our spiritual focus and not have the strength required for birth. Much strength is gained from growing deeper together in Christ in relationship with each other, in relationship with God. Over the past two years I’ve grown to become extremely relationally connected with a very focused group of pastors. We purpose to meet by zoom weekly just to share what we are sensing God is saying and it has changed our lives. One pastor told us recently that his wife is extremely demanding about our meeting. She has seen such a change in who he is, what he's saying and the impartation that is being awakened within their family and their church. She’s learned when the meeting is and she’s very protective of making sure he's on time and conversational afterwards. My life has been truly transformed by this and I often find myself wanting this for you!
The church is entering into a season of relationships rather than roadmaps. In ministry your next move is always a relational move because the Kingdom of God is a relational movement!
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ESV
I love the way The Message Bible puts this:
Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message Bible)
Watch for grace in conversations this week and be prepared to extend relational time in those moments. We are sensing God is saying we can expect to encounter God specifically in the month of December. The last thing we want is entertainment. The first thing we want is encounter! December will be a total focus on “unto us a Son is born” as we grow in an awareness of the nearness of God.
I believe he is drawing near during this time. I also believe that any opportunity you have to invite somebody to come experience his presence with us in our gathering will be met with incredible grace. Pay attention to what God may be doing in relationships around you.
Someone shared with me that they invited a neighbor of theirs to Destiny and it opened the doorway to a deeper conversation about spiritual things. You just have no idea how much a simple conversation of love and concern can unlock more than you ever expected.
Watch for grace this week and pay attention to what the Lord is doing in the relationships around you.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Consider “Dinner For Six” sometime this week inviting two families to join you for dinner to get to know each other intentionally.
ABUNDANT LIFE: Relational Movement
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
Our 2022 New Year’s Revelation as a church family is EVERYONE IS CREATED FOR ABUNDANT LIFE! The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy but realize the aim of death is not to kill you but to keep you from the fulness of life until you die. Distraction is destruction of what could have been in your life.
John 10:10b “...I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” Amplified
We are called to be the giant killers of our generation. Some giant killers still live in Egypt, some live in the wilderness and some are moving into the Promised Land. The greatest tragedy of indifference is the life you never live and the difference you never make in the lives of other people.
Great encouragement comes from rehearsing God’s Word. It is God’s plan is for us to hear his voice together as a family and that is why we start each group with this question first:
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Ask each person in your group to answer the discussion questions below after reading the verses. Realize there is great power in just reading the Bible together and allowing the Holy Spirit to awaken his conversational nature in the group.
Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message Bible)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
2. Have each person give a 60 second summary of what these verses are saying, in their own words.
3. What do these verses teach us about God?
4. What do these verses teach us about people?
5. What should you do this week in response to what we are reading and what God is revealing?
6. Who comes to mind when considering a person you might share this with this week?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Consider Dinner For Six sometime this week inviting two families to join you for dinner to get to know each other intentionally.