Happy

• Use the lead app to check in students and make sure any students not listed fill out a connect card digitally.

• Do not move on until check-in has happened and any students not listed have filled out a connect card.

• At the beginning of group go over the Small Group expectations. You can find a paper copy in your buckets and you can find them in the app. And mention The Foundry and Radiant.

• Ask the students:

  • If you could be one person, living or dead, who would it be and why?

  • What is your most treasured possession? Why?

  • Why would Solomon, a guy who had everything, say it was all meaningless?

• Have a student read Ecclesiastes 3:11

  • Ask the students “What does it mean that God “set eternity in our heart”? “

    • This is the idea of a god shaped hole in our souls that we keep trying to fill with other things.

• What are some of the things the world tells us we need to be happy?

  (money, things, beauty, popularity, talent, power, etc.)

• Why is it important to pay attention to God now?

• Have a student read Ecclesiastes 12:13

  • Ask the students “What do you feel it means to fear God? Why should we fear God?”

• Have a different student read Matthew 6:19-33.

  • Ask the students “What do you think God means when he says “all these things will be given to you as well”?”

  • Does this mean He will give us everything we want? Why or why not.

• Have a different student read Matthew 22:36-40.

  • Ask the students “What does it mean in Matthew 22:36-40 to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind?”

  • How would you describe what it means to love God with each of these aspects of yourself?

• Ask the students about the 7 commands of Jesus we talked about and see how many they can remember. Spend a few moments going back over them and see which ones your group may want to explore and so it :). Keep a mental or paper not so you can check back in on this later in the semester.

  • Here is a list for you guys of the seven:

    • Repent and Believe (Mark 1:14-15)

    • Be Baptized (Matthew 28:19)

    • Pray (Luke 18:1)

    • Make Disciples (Matthew 28:19)

    • Love People (Matthew 22:36-40)

    • Read Scripture (John 8:31-32)

    • Be a servant (Luke 22:25-26)

• Have a student read Galatians 6:7-8

  • Explain how these verses tell us the truth of what happens when our lives are marked by a focus on Jesus instead of the things the world tells us to focus on.

• Finish by just catching up with how life has been since last small group.

• Pray as a group.

We will know we have hit our target if:

-Everyone understands the value of fixing our focus on Jesus instead of the world.

-Everyone has heard and understood the small group expectations.

-The students have a simple step towards one of the commands of Jesus.

-The students are pumped about The Foundry and Radiant.