Each week at Riv, our Life Groups go through questions based on the weekend’s message. I thought Paul (the Riv pastor who puts these together) did a great job on the questions for this week especially in light of the topic (Psalms of Lament).
If you want to subscribe to them, you can do so by clicking here.
Here’s the questions for this week:
Overview: How did this week’s message speak to you about how to deal with difficult times in your life?
Rolling Up Your Sleeves: 1. Understanding our need for God’s help in the circumstances of life will motivate us to go to Him for help when we encounter difficult times.
Read Psalm 86 together and discuss the following questions:
How would you describe the attitude of the writer of this Psalm?
What does it mean to be dependent on God?
Have you ever felt that God hasn’t heard or answered your prayers?
What would you say is the biggest reason God should answer them?
Have you ever felt that God let you down? Why?
What does it mean to have a ‘divided’ heart toward God?
2. Honesty and transparency are vital aspects in our relationship with God - as they are with other people. It takes courage to admit it when we are down and discouraged, and humility to accept it when life if going well.
Look at Psalm 77 and talk about these questions:
Share a time in your life when you felt extremely hopeless or discouraged?
Do you find it difficult to admit to God and to your friends when you are struggling with life? Explain.
What helped you move past that time in your life when things were not ‘OK’?
Do you ever feel that you should be exempt from difficult times? Why?
What does it mean to ‘trust’ God when you don’t feel like it? Does ‘trusting God’ mean we don’t ever question Him? Explain.
Bringing It Home: What steps can you take to be more honest and transparent in your relationship with God and with your friends?
What does it mean to have hope in God’s faithfulness?
“…a few days ago, I heard from someone in a different group at the same company, asking for help with a project she was working on. I explained that the last time I helped someone in her group with a project, I was misquoted, my time was wasted and they violated whatever trust we had. Susan said, and I’m quoting precisely the same line, “All I do is work here. They pay my salary, but I’m me, not them.”
No, Susan, you are them.
The reason your brand is falling apart is because so many of your colleagues are saying the same thing, denying the same responsibility. Consumers don’t believe (or care) that there are warrens and fiefdoms and monarchies within your company. All they know is that you leverage that brand name every day, as you have for decades, but now, instead of using that brand to polish your reputation as an individual, you’re being forced to accept responsibility for the actions of others.”
Watching stuff like this always makes me believe in God more and more. Regardless of your views on how Creation happened, I think this verse holds true:
Romans 1:19-20 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
This past weekend I told Riv about LEAD and I thought I’d answer a few common questions I am getting.
What is LEAD? It’s an event for those who lead or want to.
When is LEAD? Saturday, February 20 from 10:00am to 2:00pm
How much does it cost? It’s free. Really.
How about lunch, do I have to pay for that? Nope…we’re buying lunch for you.
How about childcare, do I have to pay for that? Nope…if you have kids (infant - 4th grade), we’ll watch them for you.
Will there be bacon? Maybe.
I don’t attend Riv, can I still come? Sure. Some of the info will be Riv-specific, but there’s a lot of general leadership stuff that’s good for everyone.
What is the Schedule? This is tentative, but here’s what we have now:
10:00ish: “The Need for Leaders at Riv,” by Noel Heikkinen In this session, Noel will discuss Riverview’s leadership structure, the types of leaders that are needed, and our strategy for filling those leadership roles. A question and answer time will follow.
11:15ish: Break
11:30ish: “The Character of a Leader,” by Greg Van Nada The Bible teaches that pastors in the church are to “live a life above reproach.” While this is a specific qualification for pastors, it’s something all Christ-followers should strive for. That doesn’t mean they are perfect, but it does set the bar pretty high. In this session, Greg will draw on decades of experience working with leaders to highlight practical ways to grow in our character. A question and answer time will follow.
12:15ish: Lunch (provided by Riv)
12:45ish: “Leading as a Volunteer,” by Mark Brett Mark serves Riv as a bi-vocational pastor, which is a fancy way of saying we don’t pay him. His day job is a high-stress corporate gig, he has a ton of kids (ranging from elementary to high school age), and he still finds the time to sacrifice ten or more hours a week to serve at Riverview. In this session, Mark will discuss the pitfalls and joys of serving as a volunteer leader in the church. A question and answer time will follow.
1:30ish: “Final Thoughts,” by Noel Heikkinen
Where do I sign up? Register for LEAD here (Registration deadline is Monday, February 15)
God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work, not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.
- John Piper
In honor of Apple’s (potentially) big announcement today, I thought I’d share an old Steve Jobs clip.
He models great leadership here.
My favorite line:
“This is a very complicated world, it’s a noisy world. And we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us…and so we have to be very clear about what we want them to know about us.”
This is so true, not just about companies, but about people and churches.
So I’m watching Modern Family last week and one of the characters ends the episode with this quote:
“Can people change? I don’t know. People are who they are, give or take 15%. That’s how much people can change if they really want to. Whether it’s for themselves or the people they love…yeah, 15%. But you know what? Sometimes that’s just enough.”
There was something I liked about that and something I didn’t.
What I Liked About That - Everyone is wired in a unique way, which is a great thing. Unfortunately, a trait that one person finds charming is the same exact trait that annoys the daylights out of another person. More importantly, we all have things we excel at and struggle with. And for many of us, they are the same things we excel at and struggle with our entire lives. Paul says it this way:
Romans 7: 15-19 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
What I Didn’t Like About That - Scripture teaches us that people can change a lot (even those things that many of us think can’t be changed). Again, from Paul:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Hmmm…I think Paul would have liked and not liked that quote, too.
Hi, I'm Noel and I'm a recovering
hypocrite. I spend the majority of my time pastoring and teaching at
Riverview, surfing the internet on my iPhone,
being obsessed with Jack
Bauer, and hanging out with my smoking hot wife and four wildly talented
children. I plan on spending the rest of my life figuring out how to vicariously
plant hundreds of churches without ever leaving my church. Oh, and even though I work for Riverview, everything here is my personal
opinion and nothing more.
You are welcome to leave comments on my blog posts here, but I interact a lot more over on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to dialog about something with me, you are more likely to get a response over there.
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