25 Feb Discussion Guide: Genesis Week 7
PRAYER
Take the first few minutes of your time together to listen to what God is doing in one another’s lives and pray for any specific needs people in your group may have.
Today’s Discussion
This week we continue our series titled Genesis, where we will be walking through the first book of the bible by the same name. We will be exploring who God is, what was His purpose in creating the world and humanity, and how, in the midst of all the brokenness our sin has brought to His creation, how is God putting it all back together again. I want to challenge us over the course of this series to think deeply, speak honestly, and perhaps even learn how to love more passionately. Let’s get started with the beginning.
Discussion Questions
Who is the greatest Christian missionary or minister you know of? Why makes that person so great in your eyes?
Conoces de un misionero cristiano muy bueno? Que hace que esa persona sea buena en tu opinión?
Dr. Martin Luther King JR.
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
What do we mean when we say someone was “called by God” to do something?
What are some things God calls people into?
How can we know that it’s actually God calling us in those moments?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Si un hombre es llamado para ser un barredor de calles, el debería barrer las calles como un Miguel Ángel pinto, o Beethoven compuso música, o Shakespeare escribió poesía. El debería barrer las calles tan bien, que todos los anfitriones del cielo y la tierra pausarán para decir, ‘Aquí vivió un gran barredor de calles quien hizo su trabajo bien.”
Cuales son algunas cosas a las cuales Dios llama a la gente?
We know that God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). We also know that God cannot contradict Himself (Numbers 23:19). Therefore, one of the best ways we can know that it is in fact God calling us into something is that calling is in line with, and does not contradict, Scripture. We know God’s Word tells us not to commit adultery, so if someone says God was leading me to that person, or God wanted me to be happy and that person was what would make me happy, then we can know definitively that was not a calling from God. But that is for the more obvious situations. How can we know if it’s God calling us when it comes to things like the career we pursue, or the person we’re thinking about marrying?
Here we have to take into account character, giftings, desires, and talents. If Psalm 139 is true, and God has knit us together in our mother’s womb then He is the One responsible for our abilities and talents. If Psalm 37 is true, and God gives us the desires of our hearts, meaning he puts the desire in there and not just that He gives us the thing we desire, then that means the thing God calls us to is going to touch that desire in our hearts. And if the thing we feel called to does not match with what we know about God’s character, or it will cause us to operate in a character that is not in line with who God has designed us to be, then we can know that’s not God calling us.
But, if the thing I’m feeling God is calling me into is in line with how God has designed me, the desire He has placed in my heart and enables, or requires, me to grow and operate in Christ-like character then there’s a good chance it is indeed God who is going the calling. However, it’s still not 100% guaranteed, and that is where faith, trust and humility come in. No matter how confirmed that calling may feel, there will always be an element to that calling that is scary, or makes you uncomfortable, which requires us to step out in faith and trust God. And, if we missed it, and it wasn’t God calling us, then we have to have the humility to admit that and trust that God will honor our heart’s desire to follow Him, pick up the pieces, and make something beautiful and God-glorifying out of it.
Hebrews 11:8-12
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
What changed in Abraham’s life when he said yes to the call of God?
When God called you to faith in Christ how did your life change?
Hebreos 11:8-12
Por la fe Abraham, al ser llamado, obedeció, saliendo para un lugar que había de recibir como herencia; y salió sin saber adónde iba. Por la fe habitó como extranjero en la tierra de la promesa como en tierra extraña, viviendo en tiendas como Isaac y Jacob, coherederos de la misma promesa, porque esperaba la ciudad que tiene cimientos, cuyo arquitecto y constructor es Dios. También por la fe Sara misma recibió fuerza para concebir, aun pasada ya la edad propicia, pues consideró fiel a Aquél que lo había prometido. Por lo cual también nació de uno, y éste casi muerto con respecto a esto, una descendencia como las estrellas del cielo en numero, e innumerable como la arena que esta a la orilla del mar .
Que cambio en la vida de Abraham cuando dijo que si al llamado de Dios?
Cuando Dios te llamo a la fe en Cristo como cambio tu vida?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
What do you supposed Bonhoeffer means here?
Has God ever called you to something that didn’t make sense, or was even frightening for you to consider doing?
How did you respond?
What has been the result?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, El Costo del Discipulado
“Cuando Cristo llama a un hombre, El le ofrece que venga y muera.”
Alguna vez Dios te ha llamado a hacer algo que no tenía sentido, o que te dio miedo considerar?
Cual fue el resultado?
Closing Thought
Hebrews 12:1-4
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
What was God’s call on Jesus’ life? How did He answer that call?
What is God calling us to do in response to that Truth? How can we answer that call?
Pensamientos de Cierre
Hebreos 12:1-4
Por tanto, puesto que tenemos en derredor nuestro tan gran nube de testigos, despojémonos también de todo peso y del pecado que tan fácilmente nos envuelve, y corramos con paciencia (perseverancia) la carrera que tenemos por delante, puestos los ojos en Jesús, el autor y consumador de la fe, quien por el gozo puesto delante de El soportó la cruz, despreciando la vergüenza, y se ha sentado a la diestra del trono de Dios. Consideren, pues, a Aquél que soportó tal hostilidad de los pecadores contra El mismo, para que no se cansen ni se desanimen en su corazón. Porque todavía, en su lucha contra el pecado, ustedes no han resistido hasta el punto de derramar sangre.
Cual fue el llamado de Dios en la vida de Jesús? Como contesto el?
A que nos está llamando Dios en respuesta a esa Verdad? Cómo podemos responder a ese llamado?