God With Us

God With Us – Week 4

 

Josh’s point: Fear is something everyone has to deal with…the truth is…that included those at the first Christmas…

 

(Take a deep breath. I’m going to condense a lot of info into the first question.)

 

The Angel DID NOT say to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds that fear was not present. The Angel DID tell each of them to stop living in the fear that was present.

 

Think of what it means to “live in the face of fear” while reading this excerpt from Annie Dillard:

“What does it feel like to be alive?

Living, you stand under a waterfall. You leave the sleeping shore deliberately; you shed your dusty clothes, pick your barefoot way over the high, slippery rocks, hold your breath, choose your footing, and step into the waterfall. The hard water pelts your skull, bangs in bits on your shoulders and arms. The strong water dashes down beside you and you feel it along your calves and thighs rising roughly backup, up to the roiling surface, full of bubbles that slide up your skin or break on you at full speed. Can you breathe here? Here where the force is the greatest and only the strength of your neck holds the river out of your face. Yes, you can breathe even here. You could learn to live like this. And you can, if you concentrate, even look out at the peaceful far bank where you try to raise your arms…It is time pounding at you, time. Knowing you are alive is watching on every side your generation’s short time falling away as fast as rivers drop through air, and feeling it hit.”

Pastor Josh said living in the face of fear is something we have to learn to deal with. In light of the angel’s acknowledgement of the presence of fear and the story above, what can we do to live in the face of fear when it’s trying to steal our breath away?

 

***For Leaders – Have last week’s verse ready: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 Also, lean into Phil 4:6-7 that addresses fear & peace. Overall, we avoid fear, but it’s empowering when functioning in the Lord’s strength in the face of fear and overcoming it to accomplish our life’s mission.

 

 

 

The story says that “time” is pounding at you. Why is it important to take “time” into account when living life in the face of face fear?

 

***For Leaders – Lean into the wisdom of Moses: Teach us to numbers our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psa 90:12. Fear will literally steal years away from us and knowing that our time on earth is short is a motivator to keep fear from stealing more! Just like the story says that being alive “is watching on every side your generation’s short time   falling away as fast as rivers drop through air”. We have a mission like King David, who faced his share of fear, but at the end of his life Scripture says, “…when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep and was buried with his ancestors.”

 

 

Read Psalm 71:3 (ESV)  Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

 

What secret to life is revealed here in living life in the face of fear?

 

***For Leaders – The secret is God has given the command to save you! He gave the same command for Joseph and Mary so they continued forward even though fear was present.  He has given that same command to save you and he will carry you through whatever trial you face as you can continually come to him in the midst of it all.

 

Pastor Josh and Lisa said to call your fears to the mat quickly and renounce them. What fear in your life do you need to call to the mat and renounce?

 

Week Three.   

GOD WITH US 

 

God is with us in our decisions.  

This week as we learn more about what it means that God Is with Us, Immanuel, we are a circling around the question of what it looks like to incorporate God into our decisions.  Studying through Psalm 23, Pastor Josh teaches there is a peace and a rest that come from being in the presence of the Lord, even in our decisions. 

 

 

–Dive In! 

Do you have an example of when you knew God’s presence was involved in a bigger life decision and when it wasn’t? 

How did you know? 

 

Pastor Josh seemed to focus on being in the presence of the Lord as the key to operating from a position of confidence in making decisions that are good and righteous.   

 

Leader- 

Psalm 23 has many declaration statements.  These declaration statements are statements about God’s character that David believes to be completely true, but he starts out by declaring God’s position in his life.  David is believing that God provides all these good things over his life, but it starts with David humbly saying that he is a sheep and looks to only Yahweh as his shepherd.   

 

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
     he refreshes my soul.”   

 

Pastor Josh said God can still redeem a decision, but it doesn’t mean that God guided that decision. 

 

2. Share a time when God may have redeemed a decision you have made or prayerfully consider if there is a decision, He wants you to allow Him to make right.

 

-Leader 

As Pastor Josh said, the right choice is rarely easy, not obvious, and usually not culturally acceptable.  The same is true for the process of redeeming a decision that was made without God’s name on it.   

 

Beginning to seek after the presence of the Lord, even in all our decisions, begins with the same heart posture David had at the begging of Psalm 23.  “The Lord is my shepherd”.   

He started with a declaration, which was then led by action.   

 

David gives us more insight on how to be in the presence of the Lord, even during a dark valley later in Psalm 27:4 

 

“One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” 

 

David was anywhere but a green pasture when he wrote this as it is believed he was in exile on the run from King Saul.  However, he seems to know exactly how to find peace and rest and make decisions that Jesus would put His name on by desiring, above all else, to be in the presence of the Lord.  David’s desire was just to be in the presence of the Lord and to behold his beauty.  There was nothing that held greater weight for David than God Himself, but David also put into action seeking after God.   

 

3. What are ways that you seek after God and His Kingdom?

 

 

-Leader 

If we want to seek out God ways, His peace, His guidance, and His Kingdom, how do we get there?  Most of Jesus’s teachings were very contrary to the ways of culture, and the same is true for us today.   

Jesus said that His Kingdom is not of this world, but often would use parables, approximately thirteen of them in the New Testament, to describe what the Kingdom of God was like.   

Jesus used multiple word pictures to describe His Kingdom, but each one referred to something growing or “coming to life.”  He also spoke in Matthew about the “worries of this world that we sometimes allow to persuade us to make decisions that do not foster the goodness of God. 

 

Matthew 6:31-33 

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

 

From the begging pages of the Bible in Eden and throughout Jesus’s ministry, humans are given an opportunity to create life alongside God.   

 

4. What’s something you’ve been seeking after that Jesus would say is “a worry of this world” and how instead can that worry, or need be looked at from a Kingdom perspective?  *Think- “if I put my time and effort into this, will it bring forth life or does it bring forth fear and separation”? 

 

“Lord, let it be said of us today, that one thing that we desire above all else, is to seek after making decisions that foster your presence for your great names sake.” 

Amen 

 

Bonus questions 

What represented the Lord’s presence in the Old Testament? 

What or who houses the presence of the Lord today? 

 

*Fast track tips* 

1. Partner with David and say” I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”  (Psalm 27:13).  Look for the goodness of God around you and specifically in others.

 

2. 2. Seek after a Kingdom perspective with humility.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5-7) 

 

3. Consider ways to “breathe life” into something (bringing forth the goodness of God) in your life that seems to be dying or seek to find out if there is something God wants you to put to death (spiritually) in order to bring forth life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God With Us – Week 2

 

 

Christmas question! Why do you think that such a big God started out so small on earth? Give your thoughts and then read: Col 1:15-17 & Genesis 1:26

 

***For Leaders – This is an initial question for wonder and discussion. Answers will vary. Quick thoughts to add to the discussion: 1) He chose not to skip any aspect of our humanity from birth to temptation to death. 2) He greased the skids for himself to become human flesh like us because he created us in His image. This gives greater significance to wearing the same flesh we wear every day.

 

 

 

What is in Gen 1:26 that makes our faith as believers so unique?

 

***For Leaders – We were not only made in the image of God, but we were made in the image of a triune God.

 

 

 

What is God up to in your current or most recent trials?

 

***For Leaders – He’s reaffirming your identity in it. We read about it with Gideon last week, we see it with Joseph this week and look hard to see how he is doing it with you. It could be from a word you heard from the Lord, a timely Bible verse or an encouragement you received from somebody. When you’re in the middle of a trial…don’t lose sight of God’s bigger story. Know that God has a bigger story that He is writing in you. This chapter of your life may be a crisis…but the story being written is a masterpiece. 

 

 

 

Pastor Josh said, “When you’re in the middle of a trial…do exactly what God is asking of you.” How did we see that in Joseph’s life? (See Matthew 1:20-21, Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19-20, Matthew 2:22)

 

***For Leaders – Our knowledge about Joseph may be limited, but his character shines through in the way he treated Mary when her pregnancy was revealed. Another significant aspect was Joseph recognizing how God spoke to him during his trials. Through dreams, Joseph obediently heeded God’s guidance. Today, God communicates with us through our thoughts, dreams, other people, and His Word.

 

 

 

In considering the question and response above, how can you discern how God is speaking to you during your trials?

 

***For Leaders – Participants may be unprepared to answer this question. The answer to it begins with how God has spoken to you during trials in the past. It is a question they need to continue to ask themselves so they are prepared for the storms of the future.

God With Us – Week 1

 

Psalm 139:1-10

 

Have there been times in your life when you felt that God was just a passive viewer? How did that play out?

 

 

 

Pastor Josh made the point, “He is close when you are close and close when you are far.” He was with you in your best times and in your worst times.  He is with you at your highest moments and with you at your lowest. He was caring for you in all times.

 

Share with the Group when you have experienced God’s presence during your best and worst times in your life.

 

 

 

Read 139:9-10 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

What are the differences between a guide and a taskmaster. How does this play out with God in your life?

 

***For Leaders – You’ll receive various answers. Overall, a guide is gentle and wise with your best interests at heart. God will guide us, whereas, Satan will attempt to be a taskmaster that is harsh every time we fail.

 

 

Read Col 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

AND

Read Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

We are faultless in God’s presence yet Satan accuses us before God. How do these truths collide in our hearts and minds during our daily lives?

***For Leaders – Satan is a liar (John 8:44) who accuses us with lies. What is his #1 target? Our identity. He knows how essential our self-perception is so he lies to us about who we are, that God is far from us and we are hopeless. How does that play out? Craig Groschel has some examples:

• After you yell at your kids, you think “I’m a bad parent.”
• When you don’t get the job you want, you think “I’m pathetic. I never get any breaks.”
• When you realize you didn’t read your Bible, you think “I’m a bad Christian.”

More accusations: You are a spiritual failure. You will never amount to anything. You will never change. You don’t have what it takes. You can never be healthy. You can never be pure. You can never have a good marriage. You can never be financially free.

 

What is the difference between an affirmation and an accusation?

***For Leaders – God gives affirmations, and the devil gives accusations. Here are some affirmations from God. You are:

• Sought after (Isa 62:12)
• Precious in His sight (Isa 43:4)
• A new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17)
• Not condemned (Rom 8:1)
• Forgiven (Col 1:14)
• Loved (Col 1:14)
• Accepted (Rom 15:7)
• A child of God (1 John 3:1)
• Corrected because he loves you (Heb 12:6)
• Jesus’ friend (John 15:14)
• Free (John 8:36)
• The temple of God (1 Cor 6:19)
• God’s reassured possession (Deut 7:6)

 

***As believers, it is important to note the difference in our Spirit between hearing the voice of a guide who affirms as compared to a taskmaster who accuses. The immature believer doesn’t figure out the difference and gets crushed in spiritual warfare. The mature believer recognizes God’s voice in affirmation when God speaks to them in their thoughts and responds with confidence to His direction even if it is disciplinary. (John 10:27-28)