It seems that many people have become disillusioned with God, and with the church. They know there is something there that has power to change their lives, but it just seems to remain elusive. As a result, many have given up. Some have walked away. What is the source of this disllusionment? Is it a byproduct of our culture, or is there something more personal going on here? And, what can we do to find strength and security, rather than disillusionment and doubt?
Lifegroup Discussion Questions are after the jump!
At the winepress, Gideon was addressed by the messenger of God in a surprising way, wasn’t he?
“Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.”
Judges 6:12
Gideon heard what the angel said, but he accepted neither the designation (“mighty hero”), nor the declaration (“The Lord is with you.”) In fact, he questioned the angel.
“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”
Judges 6:13
Do you have questions for God about your life?
The last time I can remember reading this story of Gideon was literally the week before we had our first church service at The Orchard. We were scared to death at the prospect of starting a church in our little town. Who would show up? How would we be received? What difference would we make? Would it last?
We had literally leveraged everything for this church start, and we had nothing but questions for God. It was all way over our heads, and definitely out of our comfort zone.
Now, over 6 years later, SO MANY of those question marks have been turned into exclamation points. On Sunday morning, I named just a few.
When you can look back on the exclamation points that God creates in your life like that, what does it do to your doubt and disillusionment? How does it change your future behavior?
Why do you think people have a hard time with this? Why can’t we easily see the exclamation points in our lives?
One of the big keys from Sunday is to see yourself the way God sees you. Why is that?
Have you ever thought about how God actually sees you? As a group, read through some of these verses and discuss together how God sees us.
He thinks about you a lot.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, you are still with me!
-Psalm 139:13-18
O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
-Psalm 40:5
He regards you as his beloved child
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
-Romans 5:8
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!
-1 John 3:1
Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.
-Ephesians 2:19
He wants to give you lots of gifts
You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
-Matthew 7:9-11
Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
-John 16:24
There is one really big secret to accessing these blessings, however. ALL of these blessings of God come to us through one single channel only.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.
-Ephesians 1:3
See that? All of God’s blessings come through unity in Christ. So, how then, are we to seek His blessings? How are we to truly discover how God sees us? What is the one channel we go through to receive all that He has promised?
What does that look like in a practical sense?
As you pray together, pray that we will not be people who seek the gifts, but seek the giver only.