As we wrap up this message series, we will discover that dirty little secret about Christians… That while we really want God’s blessing on our lives, we often refuse to step into that blessing. Why do we get hung up outside God’s blessing, and what can we do to get “unstuck,” and experience the abundant life that Jesus readily gives?
Lifegroup discussion questions after the jump!
Has there ever been a time in your life where God surprised you? A time when He did something that wasn’t what you expected? What was that?
Jesus promised to give us something…
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
On Sunday, I related this promise to the one God gave Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham and to make him a blessing. And that blessing was in Canaan. Of course, Abraham and his family wanted in on the blessing, so they immediately responded… But…
He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
Genesis 11:31-32
They settled halfway between Ur and Canaan. They settled for just getting halfway there.
What are the things that cause us to settle? What gets us stuck between where we were, and where God wants us to be?
What do these verses tell us about God’s capacity to bless us?
Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God.
-Deuteronomy 10:14
“Everything under heaven is mine.”
-God, Job 41:11
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.
-Psalm 24:1
For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.
-Psalm 50-10-12
What is Jesus’ purpose for us?
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
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
Do we settle because we lose faith? Because maybe we don’t really believe that God has a blessing to give to us?
What happens when we settle? Can we fully expect to experience God in our state of incomplete obedience?
Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
James 1:6-8
Abraham eventually arrived in Canaan. He had trouble along the way, and he certainly had his problems, even once he arrived… But think of the years of delay in receiving the promised blessing of God. Do you know what it is like to be stuck for months? For years?
How can we each step into the blessing He has for us? What will it take for us to arrive in our “Canaan?”
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11