Belonging - End of Week 5
SMALL GROUP STUDY
INTRODUCTION
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.
OPEN QUESTIONS
Can you remember back to a time when someone in your life stood up for you in a meaningful, maybe even transformative way, when no one else was? What happened?
HEAD
HEART
HANDS
Who is someone in your church, at your school, at your work, or in your neighborhood that you may have made assumptions about, or who you admittedly don’t know much about who they are, where they come from, and what their story is? Would you be willing to find a time to approach them and find a way to listen to their story, learn more about where they’re coming from and how they see the world, and then write down what you learned from this expeirence?
LIVING WORDS FOR YOUR WEEK
“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.”
Revelation 7:9 NLT
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.
OPEN QUESTIONS
Can you remember back to a time when someone in your life stood up for you in a meaningful, maybe even transformative way, when no one else was? What happened?
HEAD
- Read Matthew 8:5-13 together and share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts that come to you from the reading.
- Knowing that Roman Centurions weren’t just Gentile, they often treated Jews horribly, what do you think the typical Jew would have thought about Jesus helping a Centurion?
- How do you think the Centurion had the faith to believe in the kind of authority Jesus had? How did he come to believe that Jesus could simply say the word and his servant would be healed?
- What do you think it was like for the Jews to hear Jesus praise this Roman Centurion, and talk about the faith to come of the many Gentiles, compared to the Jews who would be thrown into darkness?
- Imagine for a moment what you think happened to the Roman Centurion after this. Share your thoughts with the group.
HEART
- Who are the people on the fringe in our world today that we need to pay attention too?
- Are there people in your life that you would go to great lengths to stick up for, to bring them to Jesus, community, healing?
- Jesus isn’t often “amazed” at what he see’s humans do, but he is amazed by the Centurion. What do you think causes that amazement and how might you and I live in such a way as to amaze Him?
- It seems that Jesus continued to ignore cultural boundaries, ethnic distinctions, and racial divides in order to bring healing and gospel to all people from all places and backgrounds. How do you and I practice living this same way; in our homes, at work, in our church, in our communities?
- What does this act of healing teach you about belonging?
HANDS
Who is someone in your church, at your school, at your work, or in your neighborhood that you may have made assumptions about, or who you admittedly don’t know much about who they are, where they come from, and what their story is? Would you be willing to find a time to approach them and find a way to listen to their story, learn more about where they’re coming from and how they see the world, and then write down what you learned from this expeirence?
LIVING WORDS FOR YOUR WEEK
“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.”
Revelation 7:9 NLT
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