Download Supernatural Wk 8 Sm Grp

Week 8 March 12/13, 2016 Quick-­‐Connect Guide Use the questions in this section if your group is already studying something else and won’t be using the full discussion guide. • What are the one or two truths or insights God granted you during this Something Supernatural series? •
Share a time you experienced the supernatural when you gave yourself away to someone in need. What happened? How did that experience make you feel? Discussion Guide In this section, you will find an opening prayer, discussion questions, next steps, and a closing prayer. The discussion questions are separated into three categories—Getting Started, The Basics, and A Little Deeper—and are designed to allow the group discussion to deepen as you move through them. Use the prayers, questions, and next steps in whatever manner you find helpful based on your group’s needs. The Message Recap might help you and the group to prepare or to remember key points. Opening Prayer Father in heaven, thank You for the ability to gather together. Open our hearts to hear what You have to say to us. Guide our time and our words. Amen. Getting Started •
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Share your high and low this week. What Next Step did you commit to last week? Share how you’re doing in following through on that Next Step. What are the one or two truths or insights God granted you during this Something Supernatural series? March 12/13, 2016 Week 8 The Basics •
Share a time you experienced the supernatural when you gave yourself away to someone in need. What happened? How did that experience make you feel? •
Have you wondered throughout this series whether the supernatural still happens in our day? Share the thoughts you’ve had with the group. •
What barriers to the supernatural movement of the Spirit are there in your life? In everything I did, I showed What tends to keep you from seeing the weak as you go through a typical you that by this kind of hard day? What tends to keep you from stepping into the situation or work we must help the weak, circumstances of someone who has a need? remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” •
—Acts 20:35 A Little Deeper •
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2 Was there a part of Steve’s message in which you felt convicted by the Holy Spirit? What part? Share what you felt with the group and why you think you felt that way. Read Acts 20:24 and 35 aloud as a group: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace…In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” o What task has God given you in this season of your life? o What tends to distract you from what God has called you to do in this season of your life? What do you sense God inviting you to do to regain your focus? What are the external barriers you see to your ability to be fully devoted to God in all the ways we have learned during the Something Supernatural series? What are the internal barriers? What change do you long to see? What is one step you could take toward that change? Week 8 March 12/13, 2016 Next Steps Review the next steps below and consider which one or ones each member of the group would like to commit to for the upcoming week (and beyond). •
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Pray and journal. The call of Jesus to give ourselves away is counter-­‐cultural and we can feel like we’re swimming upstream when we try to live out His words. Spend some time praying and journaling this week about the ways you live into our “culture of more” and get distracted by greed. Ask God to show you where transformation of your heart is needed and how you can open to that transformation. See a need and step out. The first step to experiencing the supernatural is seeing a need and stepping out of your comfort zone and into that need. This week say a prayer each morning that God would give you eyes to see the needs around you and the courage to step out of your comfort zone and into the need. Then try it! Don’t assign yourself a task or feel like you need to solve a problem, just take a first step and allow God to guide you. Begin to serve. There are many ways to serve those in need at Willow—whether it is to serve those who have spiritual or physical needs. You could help kids grow in their faith by serving in one of our student ministries. You could pray for those going through crises by joining the prayer team. You could serve those with physical needs at the Care Center. You could serve those who have questions about faith by being a table facilitator or helper in Alpha. You could help people feel welcomed and get connected by serving in your section. Check out all the opportunities on the website and then step in and experience the supernatural. Closing Prayer Pray for whatever difficulties or needs were shared during your time together and have someone close that time by reading the prayer below. Father in heaven, thank You for the Scriptures and specifically for the book of Acts. Thank You for the rich history of Your church and all the demonstrations of Your power, provision, and love. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit anew. Give us the courage and strength to open to Your abiding grace and give ourselves away for the sake of others. May we each finish the race you have marked out for us well and always share about Your kingdom and the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness and without hindrance. Amen. 3 March 12/13, 2016 Week 8 Message Recap Steve Carter’s Teaching: Acts 20:13–35 The book of Acts is filled with one supernatural activity after another. The last third of the book is no different. Paul traveled to Troas and was teaching on a Sunday evening (those present had probably worked all day). Scholars believe Paul taught for six to eight hours straight. And we read that as Paul “talked on and on,” a young man named Eutychus (whose name meant “lucky”) “fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead” (20:9). But then Paul wrapped his arms around the man and he came back to life. Later, when Paul was on his way to Rome, he was shipwrecked and washed ashore on the island of Malta with 276 others. When this group arrived, the islanders welcomed them, but then, while Paul made a fire, he was bitten by a viper. He shook off the snake and suffered no effects so the people believed him to be divine. Afterwards, Paul healed all the sick people on the island by praying and placing his hands on them (28:7–9). As we read these stories and others in the book of Acts, a few questions might come to mind: Why isn’t the supernatural happening in our day? Why isn’t the supernatural happening in me? Why isn’t the supernatural happening through me? What’s preventing the supernatural from happening at all or more often? We find the answer in Acts 20. On his way to Jerusalem (and eventually to Rome), Paul stopped to speak to the leaders of the church he had planted in Ephesus. He described all he had done while there—serving the Lord “with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of [his] Jewish opponents;” not hesitating “to preach anything that would be helpful;” and declaring “to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (20:18–21). Then Paul said: Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (20:32) In essence, Paul said he had set the table for those in Ephesus—he had provided the example of how to live and now they were to go and do likewise. His commission to the leaders in Ephesus was that if they wanted to see the supernatural, they should do what Paul did—they should be fully devoted to God and His purposes in the world. Doing so hinged on God’s grace. As we see throughout his letters and the book of Acts, for Paul, everything pointed back to grace. Often, we receive this grace and then hold on to it instead of giving it away. Paul knew that God had poured out His love and grace and that it was the church’s job to let it flow. When we are committed and fully devoted, we long for more grace and it is this grace that builds us up, holds us firm, allows us to be brave, and gives us the unstoppable power of the Spirit. As Paul said in verse 32, this grace makes us saints. Paul went on to say: I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. (20:33) What does this mean? Paul looked around him at the cosmopolitan city of Ephesus and saw that the mantra there was “I want.” So Paul wanted to warn the leaders against letting their eyes wander away from God. This must have been the key to Paul’s seemingly unstoppable work ethic. He was constantly connected to the Spirit. 4 Week 8 March 12/13, 2016 Paul knew that greed squelches the Spirit of God and prevents the supernatural from happening. Greed is the insatiable appetite for more and causes us to think that if only we had this or that, then we will be okay. Anyone who lives this way knows that the more we seek is never enough. When our heads are “on a swivel”—always wanting more and looking for more—we will suffocate the Spirit. Paul continued: In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (20:35) Because Paul didn’t allow greed to capture his eyes and his heart, he was able to see the weak. He raised money for the church in Jerusalem when they had need; he built churches through the region; he taught for hours at a time when he saw people with weak faith; he healed the physically sick; he wrote letters to the churches he built to encourage them. He did all of this not to earn God’s favor, but to align with God’s work in the world to help the weak. Why? Because as Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In our culture, we are taught it is more blessed to receive than to give. Or at best, it is good to give so we can call in a favor later from the one to whom we gave. And it is this way of living that prevents the supernatural. When we learn the art of giving ourselves away, we can experience something supernatural. Allowing the Supernatural Preventing the Supernatural Full Devotion More Grace Unstoppable Spirit Less Greed Help with Need Give Yourself Away Low Devotion Less Grace Stoppable Spirit (“just get me to heaven”) More Greed (head on a swivel) Help My Need Get It Today Giving yourself away delivers you from you. Giving yourself away fastens two stories together. Giving yourself away imitates God’s heart. This material is protected by U.S. Copyright Law and is for your own personal use. Any further use requires permission. Contact Kellye Fabian at Willow Creek Community Church with your request. 5