Sunday 7 October 2012

Imitating Jesus - Week 1


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Small Groups – Week of October 7

Preparation (do this prior to attending your small group)
Contemplate: What, in your opinion, is discipleship?

Read: Luke 9:57-62

Reflect: What does this passage teach you about the nature of discipleship? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” What do you think he meant by this statement? Do you agree with him?

Pray: That God would teach you more about following Christ over this next week through the Sunday sermon, your small group and personal reflection. Pray that you would be empowered to follow Christ with the devotion He so richly deserves. Pray that Toronto Alliance Church would be known city-wide as a community of believers fully devoted to the Lordship of Christ.

Small Group Discussion Questions

1.       Who was someone you looked up to as a child or teenager (this person can be fictional or non-fictional)? How did you visibly demonstrate your admiration of this individual? (For instance, I (Jeff) looked up to Arnold Schwarzenegger as a teen (not the best role model, I know). In my admiration of the Governator I decided to get a haircut similar to the one he had in the movie Predator (Yes, I used to have hair).)

2.       Read Luke 9:57-62.

3.       Share one thing that stood out to you from the sermon on Sunday.

4.       In verse 57 we meet someone who was very eager to follow Jesus Christ. What might make someone eager to follow Him?

5.       Many people seem to think that they can be Christians without following Jesus (i.e. They accept the gift of eternal life but do not give Christ complete authority over their lives). Jan David Hettinga, in his book Follow Me: Experience the Loving Leadership of Jesus suggests: “Today, we are experiencing a crisis of commitment for the most ordinary of reasons. We are not asking for it! We have failed to show what discipleship means at the heart level, or how to follow Christ from the depths of our being. Somehow, we have mistakenly assumed that saving grace must be isolated from the call to follow—the call to enter into the kingdom of God, which is where followers of God live.” What evidence might there be in someone’s life which would demonstrate that they are disciples or followers of Christ?
 
6.       The individual in verse 57 likely did not consider the cost of following Jesus (see verse 58). What are the costs of following Jesus in Toronto in the year 2012?
 
7.       In verses 59-62 we encounter two more individuals. The first is called by Christ to follow and the second commits to follow. What do these encounters tell us about the priority of Christ in our lives?
 
8.       Christ demands the supreme place in our lives. He is our Lord and King and all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to Him. What is one thing in your life that gets in the way of your discipleship/following of Christ? What are you going to do about this struggle?
 
9.        Sunder Krishnan, Sr. Pastor of Rexdale Alliance Church writes:
“In a survey a few years back Christian researcher George Barna found that there are an estimated forty-five million individuals in North America who claim to be born again based on two basic convictions: they believe that a personal commitment to Jesus Christ is important, and they believe they are going to heaven because they have confessed their sins and received Him as Savior. In other words, they have satisfied what they believe are heaven’s minimum entrance requirements. But Barna’s survey also found that the lifestyles and values of the majority (about 66 percent) of these “born again” individuals are really not much different from those who claim no faith in Christ.
                If you find yourself among this grouping of people, who call themselves Christians but whose lives don’t clearly reflect the character of Christ, then I must confront you with a sobering possibility: perhaps you need to take a very close look at your spiritual condition. Is it possible that you really aren’t born again after all? Please hear me out.
                SCRIPTURE IS CLEAR THAT THOSE WHO ARE TRULY BORN AGAIN THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST WILL EXPERIENCE A RADICAL CHANGE IN THEIR LIVES.”
The wonderful news is that God gives us the power through His Holy Spirit to live as obedient disciples of Christ. Philippians 2:13 reads: “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” As you finish your meeting, pray for each other – that we would find victory over this issue that gets in the way of our commitment to Christ and that we would live as committed followers of Jesus Christ.
 

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