THE BEAUTY OF ORDINARY JOHN 15:1-11 AUG. 9, 2015

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Sylvia Harrison
5 years ago
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Write out your focus or application for this week on the card as well. GROUP DISCUSSION: Read John 15:1-11 as a group before discussing these questions.

1 SERMON APPLICATION GUIDE THE BEAUTY OF ORDINARY JOHN 15:1-11 AUG. 9, 2015 WRITE OUT YOUR ONE-SENTENCE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS WEEK S MESSAGE: Take the Ordinary Challenge card and write which challenge area you will focus on this month. Write out your focus or application for this week on the card as well. GROUP DISCUSSION: Read John 15:1-11 as a group before discussing these questions. After the group discussion, consider breaking up into smaller groups (2-3) where each person can share what steps they re taking this week in their ordinary challenge and how others can pray for them in that. 1. SHARE WHICH ORDINARY CHALLENGE YOU ARE TAKING. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT PARTICULAR CHALLENGE?

2 2. WHAT STOOD OUT TO YOU FROM JOHN 15:1-11 OR THE SERMON FROM SUNDAY? 3. DO YOU SENSE A NEED OR EXPECTATION TO BE EXTRAORDINARY OR DO EXTRAORDINARY THINGS? WHAT THINGS IN OUR LARGER CULTURE OR CHURCH CULTURE MIGHT CREATE THOSE SORT OF EXPECTATIONS?

3 4. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE OR EXPLAIN ABIDE? WHAT IS ORDINARY ABOUT ABIDING IN CHRIST AND WHAT MIGHT BE EXTRAORDINARY ABOUT IT? 5. JESUS MENTIONS ABIDING IN HIM (15:4), HIM ABIDING IN US (15:4), HIS WORDS ABIDING IN US (15:7), AND ABIDING IN HIS LOVE (15:9). HOW MIGHT THOSE THINGS RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER?

4 6. WHAT ARE SOME THINGS GOOD OR BAD THAT KEEP YOU FROM FRENETICALLY TRYING NEW THINGS IN ORDER TO GROW OR BE SATIS- FIED RATHER THAN ABIDING IN CHRIST? WHAT ROLE DO CONTENTMENT AND IDOLATRY PLAY IN WHY WE RE OFTEN LOOKING FOR THE NEXT BEST THING INSTEAD OF ABIDING? 7. HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR ORDINARY CHALLENGE AREA WILL HELP YOU ABIDE IN CHRIST, BEAR FRUIT IN CHRIST, AND EXPERIENCE JOY IN CHRIST?

5 NOTES

6 LIVE 15 FAMILY FOCUS For LIVE 15 we are including a family focus to our regular sermon application guide. The goal of this focus is to provide three questions that parents can ask their children in order to help them get the most out of LIVE. These questions can be discussed in one sitting or stretched out over the course of the week, and are intended to supplement the content of Kid LIVE, so you ll want to make sure that your children pick up a copy of the Kid s Notes each Sunday of LIVE. 1. ORDINARY? Discuss: Ask your children what they think of when they hear the word ordinary. Do they think ordinary is good or bad? Do they have positive or negative associations with this word? Why do they think about these things when they hear ordinary? Ask them: what does the Bible say about ordinary Christian life? Pray: Pray with your children that they would have a biblical view of the ordinary Christian life. Praise God with your children that he cares about all of life even the ordinary moments. 2. ABIDING AND KEEPING JESUS COMMANDS Discuss: Read John 15:1 11. Ask your children what it looks like to abide in Christ. Ask your children to list ways that they keep Jesus commandments in the ordinary events of life. What does it look like to obey Jesus at dinner time? What does it look like to obey Jesus as they do their school work? What does it look like to obey Jesus when they spend time with their friends? Ask your children where the power to keep Jesus commandments comes from. Pray: Pray with your children that they would have hearts that want to obey Jesus and that they would know how to obey him in the ordinary events of life. Praise God with your children that he gives us the power and desire to obey him.

7 3. KID LIVE CHALLENGES For Kid LIVE, children are being challenged to pick one of the following areas to focus on for the month of August: 1. Prayer, 2. Bible reading/memorization, 3. Trusting God, 4. Loving others. Discuss: Ask your children which challenge they want to focus on for Kid LIVE. Ask them why they chose that challenge and how you can help them carry out that challenge. Pray: Pray with your children that God will use the challenges that they selected to make them more like Jesus. Pray that they would engage in the challenges in the power of God rather than from merely their own strength.

8 RESOURCES TO SEE OTHER USES OF ABIDE : Ps. 37:27; 61:7; John 8:31; 1 John 2:24; 3:6-9, 2 John 9; 2 Tim. 3:14 SATURATE BY JEFF VANDERSTELT Saturate shows how the gospel applies to all of life. To grow as a disciple is to see Jesus saturate the ordinary parts of everyday life. (This book is for sale at the Resource Area.) ORDINARY BY MICHAEL HORTON This book highlights how our culture shines the spotlight on what s flashy, new, or a mountain-top experience but how God uses very ordinary means to mature us over a lifetime. EVERYDAY CHURCH BY STEVE TIMMIS & TIM CHESTER While walking through 1 Peter, this book shows how God s people can live out the mission of the church in ordinary ways rather than adding new things to our lives. ORDINARY BY TONY MERIDA In Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down, Tony Merida shows how the things that change the world are often small, ordinary acts.

THE GOSPEL AND COMMUNITY

SOJOURNCHURCH position papers THE GOSPEL AND COMMUNITY The the goal of this paper is to articulate how the gospel molds and shapes community by looking at the creation of the community, the foundation