Elemental: S2 - End of Week 5

INTRODUCTION
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN
Share a time in your life when everything seemed to be “right.” All was well. Life was good. Everything seemed to fall into place. What was that season of life like?

HEAD
Read Mark 3:14; 1 John 4:8; James 1:17; Romans 8:38-39; Zechariah 2:8; John 13:35; 1 Peter 4:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Psalm 13:2 together and share any wisdom, insights, or questions in response to the reading.

As you consider Jesus’ invitation to “follow Him.” Remember that he also called the disciples to “be with him” before he sent them out. What does it mean for you to “be with him” and be “sent out” by him? How is his invitation to “follow” lived out in your life today?

How has God demonstrated that he is love to you? What was your journey to knowing that love like? Did it ever include fear? How can (or did) God’s perfect love cast out that fear?

God is crazy about you! How does it make you feel to know you are “the apple of his eye?” He knew you before you were born. He cares about every detail of your life. His love for you knows no limits! How can you live in that love and favor more fully?

HEART
It seems unlikely that we would need to “deconstruct” love but has God’s call to “love one another” ever challenged you? Right before he went to the cross, Jesus told the disciples they should love one another just as he loved them. Those words ring true for us here and now…so, how is it going with your call to lovewell?

2 Corinthians 5:20 places us as ambassadors in the context of reconciliation. Vs. 19 tells us that, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” We are then called to be ambassadors for God–AKA the highest ranking officers called to establish and maintain diplomatic relations between God and His people! That’s a high calling! How well are you functioning in your role as Christ’s ambassador?

HANDS
At the end of our series guide this week we were admonished to “keep wrestling.” Even though we’ve come through a season of deconstructing and reconstructing, that does not mean this work is over. We hope that you recognize this is a work you can continue with…questioning, wrestling, breaking down and building up. It’s all good and it’s all ok.

As you wrap up your connect group for this series, spend some time reflecting on what you have learned and how you have grown through season’s one and two of the Elemental series. What is one take away from this that you can share with your group? What is one thing you might still be wrestling with?

How can this group pray for you today?

LIVING WORDS for YOUR WEEK
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
2 Corinthians 5:17