Just Do It :: Eureka
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.
Extended Small Group
This is week 2 of 4 of this semester focused completely on what to do with our bibles. The bible is the infallible word of God given to us by God so that we can know him better. Infallible means that it is incapable of containing mistakes. It is completely trustworthy and the most powerful tool we have access to when it comes to growing our faith. Having the skill set and the tools to not only read but digest our bibles is our hope at the end of this series. Our first week we learned the basics of the bible. This week we talk about Eureka Moments.
Last time we saw how the books of the Bible belong to different categories. That being the case, we read the books differently. Last time we mapped out the books so you could have an idea of what’s in them and how to read them.
Life Book Challenge Check in
Your challenge/ our challenge was to read acts 1 and 2 of the book before tonight. That’s was a whole month! We were challenged that anytime it referenced a scripture or chapter and book of the bible to take a moment and crack open your bibles and read those along with the book. And to bring it back with you March 2nd.
Ask students “Who hit the target on this challenge?” (There will be a print in your box)
Explain that if you did the whole thing that is a straight up bullseye, but maybe you started strong but fell off, or maybe you got discouraged or lazy. If that is the case then you at least aimed at the target even if it wasn’t a straight up bulls eye. Or maybe you did nothing. That isn’t even taking a shot.
Have everyone put their initials on the target.
Have a discussion about where everyone was on the target for this challenge and why. Get to the bottom of what either got people through the challenge or kept people from the bulls eye.
Let them know they can still accomplish the challenge they just need to pick up where they left off and keep the target in front of them.
Also who didn’t return with their life books? Who lost theirs and needs a new one? If you have some in your group that need a new one give them one.
Introduction – Eureka!
Gru has a moment there we all have had in our lives. When he says “light bulb.” He’s getting an idea, something’s making sense to him. Those are eureka moments in our lives. Today we want to talk about the light bulb coming on - the eureka moments when we read our Bibles. We want the Bible to make sense to us when we read it. We want the light bulb to click on. Eureka moments that make us say , “Now I get it!”
Today we’re talking about the eureka moments we have when we read the Bible. All of us have some natural impulses when we read the Bible, we have things that we naturally do. Tonight let’s look at two of our impulses and then talk about alternatives to those impulses. Then we’re going to actually do some of those alternatives.
Impulse 1
We all have an impulse to want to understand God’s word. This isn’t a bad thing, wanting to understand is actually a good impulse. But here’s where the impulse goes bad. We place the duty of understanding completely upon ourselves.
Here’s what we do, we want the eureka moment so badly that we say to ourselves, “Now you better get this stuff because this is important!”, “Get ready to have your life changed, okay ready to have your mind blown - now read!” And then we read and we walk away without some big mind-blowing moment, or we have more questions coming out than when we went in, and now we’re just depressed because once again, it feels like we’ve failed.
Alternative 1: We fail because we put the entire burden to understand on ourselves. Here’s the good news for us today. God’s word doesn’t work that way. God’s design is that He Himself would help us understand His word! And so the alternative is to ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand his word.
Illumination: Illumination is specifically the Holy Spirit’s work helping us understand and apply God’s word. Going back to our metaphor, we want the light bulb to come on and it’s actually the Holy Spirit who flips the switch. It is both true and unbelievable that God would actually come to our side and help us understand His word to us? That’s why it’s so important that we ask the Holy Spirit to help us learn and understand when we read the Bible. It’s not our job to “get it.” It’s our job to get into it and then God helps us get it.
Impulse 2
That brings us to our second impulse. When we read the Bible our impulse is to read it like a text book. We read it really slowly and we drill down as far as we can for each word. This is probably our impulse because we know the Bible is packed full of knowledge bombs and we want to mine each of those bombs as best as we can. This is not a bad impulse and there are lots of times that we should be reading the Bible very carefully - studying it closely.
Alternative 2: But how often do we just read the Bible like we would read any other book? How often do we just read it to get an overview of what’s going on or really connect with the real life people living those experiences? How often do we read it just to see the main point? So the alterative to reading it like a text book is to read to get an overview and connect to the real people contained in its pages. Studying and drilling down deep is valuable. But we rarely read just to see the main point. We rarely read just to get an overview. Sometimes reading to put ourselves in the shoes of those in there bible is the best thing we could do.
Practice the Alternatives
What we’re going to do now is practice these alternatives. Here’s what you’re going to do. Knowing that the Holy Spirit helps us understand His word, you’re first going to ask His help for your group to understand what you’re reading. Then you’re going to be given a portion of scripture. Individually you’re going to read that portion of scripture trying to figure out the main point. Once everyone is done reading, each person will describe what happened in one or two sentences. You may not repeat the headings in your Bibles; you must give your own words to it
Pray - Illumination - Pray as a group for the Holy Spirit to reveal to each one of you the truth - the main point of the scripture you are reading.
Practice 1:
Each student and leader read Mark 5:1-20
Your first passage of scripture to read is Mark 5:1-20. You should read individually and silently to yourself. As you read you should be paying attention to the main stuff that is happening. Don’t get bogged down on words or names that you don’t understand. You are reading to get an overview of what’s going on. Once you finish, please be quiet until the other group members have finished reading.
When everyone has finished reading, discuss the following items:
1. Have each person say one or two sentences summarizing what happened. They cannot repeat the headings in their Bibles; they must use their own words.
2. Who is the most important person in this story? (Jesus)
3. What is the most important thing that happened? (Healing of the demon possessed guy)
4. Have each person share what part stood out most to them. What was their favorite part?
5. What difference does this story make for us? How are we better off knowing this story? (Jesus can heal, Jesus is our savior, demons are real and not to be messed with, Jesus is the good news.)
Practice 2:
Each student and Leader read Mark 10:17-31
When everyone has finished reading, discuss the following items:
1. Have each person say one or two sentences summarizing what happened. They cannot repeat the headings in their Bibles; they must use their own words.
2. Who are the main people in this story? (Jesus, rich man)
3. What is the most important thing that happened? (Rich man refuses to give up his money for Jesus)
4. Have each person share what part stood out most to them. What was their favorite part?
5. What difference does this story make for us? How are we better off knowing this story? (Following Jesus means giving up everything.)
Practice 3:
Each student and Leader Read Mark 11:15-19
When everyone has finished reading, discuss the following items:
1. Have each person say one or two sentences summarizing what happened. They cannot repeat the headings in their Bibles; they must use their own words.
2. Who’s at the center of this story? (Jesus)
3. What is the most important thing that happened? (Jesus clears the temple)
4. Have each person share what part stood out most to them. What was their favorite part?
5. What’s our takeaway from this story? (God’s house should be sacred, we are homes for God, we ought to be sacred places for God)
NEW CHALLENGE:
Each of you either already have or will go home with a Life Book. The previous challenge was to read acts 1 and 2 of the book. Now we have some new tools in our tool box and we want to use them. Take a card with the basic questions we asked tonight and re-read acts 1 and 2 before our next Extended Small Group, which is April 13th. Read Mark through the lens of the lifebook using the alternatives of our impulses - praying and listening to the Holy Spirit, and understanding the main points in each piece you read.
If/when you have eureka moments put a small note in your life book and bring it back in April :).
One last thing. One of the most valuable things in the life of a Jesus follower is the people they do life with. So let's help each other. Keep each other accountable and check in with each other.
Finish by praying as a group.
We will know we have hit our target if:
-Everyone leaves with a Life Book (either theirs or a new one)and a print of the Eureka Challenge.
-Everyone has participated in the practice from the small group time.
-The students have understood and accepted the challenge to read Act 1 and 2 of the Life Book using the Eureka Challenge cards over the next month.
-The students are pumped about The Foundry and Radiant.