Ice Breaker

One of the things we value within community is fun. In the midst of all the pressures life throws at us, it is our ability to laugh, play and celebrate together that reminds us we serve a good, loving, and resurrected Lord who stands above it all. So, we want to take the first few minutes of our time together to play, have fun, and celebrate the fact that we belong to Jesus.

Today’s Ice Breaker: Stand Your Ground

How to Play:

The two people stand facing each other. Their hands should be able to touch palm-to-palm with elbows bent at 90 degrees.  Each person’s feet should be shoulder width apart to provide a good base. They must try to make the other player move their feet (falling backward or falling forward) by slapping/pushing their opponent’s hands (kind of like playing patty cake) or by moving their hands out of the way as their opponent tries to slap/push theirs. Touching anywhere else, moving feet, falling, interfering means disqualification. The first person to move their feet loses.

Community Groups Vision

If you have time and feel this would help the new people in your community group better understand what you are trying to accomplish as a group then take 2 minutes to show this video.

Today’s Discussion

We are continuing our new series entitled Great Faith. We will be joining thousands of Believers in nearly 60 different countries within our Every Nation Church Family in preaching, praying and fasting as we seek to discover what great faith is and why having faith even matters in the first place. That word, ‘faith‘ can mean a lot of things to a lot of people based on upbringing, church experience, and personal struggles. But, what does the Bible mean when it uses the word faith? And why was Jesus continually amazed by either the presence or lack thereof, when it came to faith in people’s lives? Let’s find out together.

Discussion Questions

What is one of your life’s dreams?

On July 13, 1960, C.S. Lewis lost his wife, Joy, after 4 years of marriage. Lewis would say this was the most difficult and painful experience he had ever endured. In response to his loss, Lewis filled his journal with thoughts and frustrations. That journal would become a book titled A Grief Observed. In it, Lewis writes…

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

“Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.”

“Getting over it so soon? But the words are ambiguous. To say the patient is getting over it after an operation for appendicitis is one thing; after he’s had his leg off is quite another. After that operation either the wounded stump heals or the man dies. If it heals, the fierce, continuous pain will stop. Presently he’ll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. He has ‘got over it.’ But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, and perhaps pretty bad ones, and he will always be a one-legged man. There will be hardly any moment when he forgets it. Bathing, dressing, sitting down and getting up again, even lying in bed, will all be different. His whole way of life will be changed. All sorts of pleasures and activities that he once took for granted will have to be simply written off. Duties too. At present, I am learning to get about on crutches. Perhaps I shall presently be given a wooden leg. But I shall never be a biped again.” ”

How would you describe Lewis’ mindset and experience in his loss?

Have you ever lost something or someone you loved that left you feeling this way?

How did that loss affect your view of God? Yourself? Others?

2 Kings 4:20-23, 32-34

“And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died. 21And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door behind him and went out. 22Then she called to her husband and said, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, that I may quickly go to the man of God and come back again.

When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. 33So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 34Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. 35Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.”

How did the woman respond to the loss of her son?

How did Elisha respond to the loss of her son?

What does this teach us about how we handle and respond to the loss of loves and dreams in our own lives?

What if God doesn’t resurrect that dead thing in our lives? How do we respond then?

Romans 12:15

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

What role should Christian community play in our suffering?

How does knowing you’re not alone in the pain of your loss affect the way you go through that loss?

What is required for us to enter into both the joy and the weeping of others?

Closing Thought

How might our trusting God with one another in the midst of loss impact the world around us for God’s Kingdom?