cell outlines 2016 SERIES 5

Transcription

1 cell outlines 2016 SERIES /aloveuk These Cell Outlines are written by ALOVE UK. They are available every month from our web site. For more information and other cell resources, visit alove.salvationarmy.org.uk

2 OVERVIEW SURPRISE ME, GOD! They say life is full of surprises! So when preparing this set of cell material I thought back over my life to look for some. This is what I saw. I was surprised when, at ten years old, I went out for a ride in the car with my mum and dad. We drove to the airport where my dad flung open the boot of the car to reveal suitcases we were off on a family holiday to Spain! I was surprised when, after eleven years of being an only child, my parents announced that my dearest wish, which was to have a brother or sister, was about to be fulfilled! I was surprised when, reading my Bible one day, God spoke clearly to me about buying a house, despite the fact that my husband and I worked for a Christian charity without any salary. A year later, we moved into our very own first home! I was surprised when, out of the blue, someone bought us a brand new family car the exact make and model that my husband had picked out. I was surprised when, suddenly and unexpectedly, my grandfather collapsed and died in his own home. I was surprised when my first baby turned out to be a beautiful girl I was convinced she would be a boy. I was surprised when my parents in-law announced they felt God calling them to move to South Africa to live. A year later they left, leaving five grandchildren. They didn t come back to live until ten years later. They enjoying every minute of their adventure with God! I was surprised when my daughter s pet gerbils had twelve babies they were supposed both to be boys! I was surprised when at eight weeks old, my second child this time a boy was diagnosed with a serious heart condition that required life-saving open heart surgery. It was Christmas Eve. I was surprised when some close friends gave us a very generous financial gift to enable us to buy a larger house for our growing family. I was surprised when my husband and I brought home a new puppy to our family. I think our family were surprised too we are not known as dog lovers! Life is full of twists and turns, ups and downs just when we think we re plodding along nicely, something comes along and surprises us. It may knock us off track, or fill us with energy; but as much as we like to plan, can we ever really know what s just around the corner? ýý Life is full of surprises and serendipity. Being open to unexpected turns in the road is an important part of success. If you try to plan every step, you may miss those wonderful twists and turns. Just find your next adventure do it well, enjoy it and then, not now, think about what comes next. Condoleeza Rice These cell groups are all about God s surprises! And one guy in the Bible knew just what surprises life can turn up. He started out as one of the youngest brothers in a very large family, with the lowly job of looking after the family s sheep. He ended up rich and powerful, with the top job in the whole of the vast empire of Egypt. (Can you guess who it is yet?) Just how he got from one to the other is an exciting life story full of surprising and unforeseen events. He went through times of great darkness, and times of exuberance and joy. And through it all he never stopped trusting God he really knew and understood the promise of God in Jeremiah 29:11 (NCV) I know what I am planning for you, says the Lord. I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. Pope Benedict XVI

3 OVERVIEW In these cell groups we are going to think about how God loves to surprise us, and how we can we be ready and expectant for what God wants to bring into our lives. In Session One Introducing Joseph we will meet this great Bible character and look at his story; in Session Two Surprise, Surprise! we will consider how God surprises us; in Session Three Prepared to be Surprised we will commit ourselves to be alert and expectant for God s presence in our lives through praying a simple prayer every day; and in Session Four Surprise Me, God we will sum up what we have discovered and review the significance of Joseph s surprising life! ýý Our God is the God of great surprises. God loves to surprise and bless his people. Yes, life can be exhilarating and exciting, and, yes, life can be demanding and difficult. We learn from the Psalms in the Old Testament that we walk together in difficult and pleasant places. In all of the experiences of life, our good Lord loves to come alongside and surprise us with his love and his interest in us. Yes, our God is the God of great surprises, who, in the midst of every situation in life, finds a way to remind us of his presence and surprise us with his love and his encouragement. And, as our God is the God of great surprises, so you are to be a person of great surprises and look for ways to surprise the people in your life in ways that will bring the blessing, joy and encouragement of God into their lives. Rev Dr E. Stanley Ott

4 OVERVIEW Leader s Notes Here are a couple of other ideas you could use in your cell groups. Joseph Karaoke If your group like to sing, how about a bit of Joseph Karaoke in each session from the famous musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Songs like Any Dream Will Do, Joseph s Coat, Go, Go, Go, Joseph, Close Every Door to Me are all fairly well known. Tracks are easily available from itunes and lyrics on the internet. Joseph Quizzes Find some fun online quizzes about the life of Joseph on the following websites: tanakh_people/joseph.html Further Reading For more info on the life and times of Joseph: Our God of Great Surprises by Rev Dr E. Stanley Ott God s Surprises Let God Surprise You

5 ONE INTRODUCING JOSEPH WELCOME Plan a surprise to welcome your group something you don t normally do and that would be really unexpected. For example, provide a selection of high-quality cakes, some nice drink, or a little gift for everyone. Read the Cell Introduction together. Share some of the surprises that you have experienced in your own lives. WORD a. Introducing Joseph Take some time to get to know the story of Joseph. You can use any of the following ideas: Read the Bible. Depending on how long your group can concentrate on reading the Bible text, pick out the key passages from the story of Joseph and read them together. (Joseph s story is found in Genesis ) Read the story from a children s Bible storybook, with pictures. There are also interactive Apps, designed for children, which tell Joseph s story. Look at a variety of images based on this story (easily done via an internet image search). Discuss how they help you imagine the story or think about it in new ways. Watch a video clip (search on YouTube if you don t have any clips to hand). Try this: 60 Second Bible Stories: Joseph Or this Joseph From Pit to the Palace b. First impressions Write the following questions on separate pieces of flipchart paper and spread them around the room. Give each person a pen and ask them to go around the pieces of paper writing down any answers that they have to each question. Then gather the papers together and discuss the answers. What part of Joseph s story stands out to you the most? What character traits do you see in Joseph? In what ways/situations do you think Joseph was surprised by God? In what ways can you identify with Joseph? eg, what similarities do you see between you and him? What do you feel we can learn from Joseph s life? WORSHIP Twice in the story of Joseph we read in the Bible that The Lord was with Joseph (Genesis 39:2; 39:21). Look up the verses and find out what happened. Spend some time praying for each other, asking God to be with each one of you as he was with Joseph. Try getting your group into a circle and asking everyone to place their hands on the person on their right. All together pray out loud for God s blessing and presence to be with that person. Then all turn to the person on their left and do the same. (You may find some loudish background music will help everyone to pray out loud!)

6 ONE WITNESS Look again at the sheet of paper with the What do you feel we can learn from Joseph s life? question on it. From the answers that you have written on it, ask each person to consider one thing they can put into action this week and how they are going to do it. Don t forget to ask for feedback in the next session.

7 TWO SURPRISE, SURPRISE! WELCOME Have a look through YouTube and find some clips of people being surprised. Show these to the group. (Try searching surprise present for starters but you may need to be careful!) If you can t access any videos, try talking about TV shows that spring surprises on people, eg, Surprise, Surprise with Holly Willoughby or John Barrowman s Tonight s the Night. Ask the group to think about what sort of emotions people are feeling when they are surprised. Feedback from last session Ask each person if they were able to put into action their chosen task and how they got on. WORD a. Surprise Thesaurus Brainstorm as many words as possible that mean surprise ; jot them down on some flipchart paper or perhaps write them out as a spidergram. (Use a thesaurus or look at the visual thesaurus landing/?ad=google.visualdictionary for some ideas.) b. Surprise reports Ask the group to get into pairs, then give each pair one of the following Bible passages. Ask them to read the passage carefully, considering the emotions of the characters involved and where/how God was at work. Then come up with one of the following: either act out the story like a TV interview with Joseph (one person as Joseph and one as the reporter); or write a diary entry from Joseph s perspective. Tell them to be sure to emphasise how the people involved would have been surprised by the way things were going, and how they would have felt about it. Encourage them to try to use as many of the surprised words as possible! Ask each pair to share their story/drama with the group. Afterwards discuss what the group members may have learned through this activity. Did anything surprise them!? Genesis 37:1 36 Joseph sold by his brothers into slavery Genesis 39:1 20 Joseph and Potiphar s wife Genesis 39:21 23; 40:1 23 Joseph, the cupbearer and the baker Genesis 41:1 46 Joseph interprets Pharaoh s dreams Genesis 42 Joseph s brothers turn up! c. Surprised by God Watch the following video clip: The Time God Surprised Me The Most œœ Discuss with the group any times they feel they have been surprised by God. Use your own examples too. You could then make your own script, or even video, like the one that you watched on YouTube. You can also come back to this in Session Four. WORSHIP Use as many of your surprise words as appropriate to write your own psalm to God, either individually or as a group. Then use your psalm(s) in a time of prayer together, thanking God for how amazing he is! WITNESS Give a friend a nice surprise this week!

8 THREE PREPARE TO BE SURPRISED! WELCOME Ask everyone to share their own stories of surprises (eg, have they ever been thrown or invited to a surprise party? Have they ever been given a surprise present?) Alternatively, play this surprise game. HOP DOP: All the players (any number of them) are divided into two teams and then sit at the table facing each other. One group is given a little coin. The leader of this team must give the coin to one of his partners. He must do it imperceptibly. At the command Hop! from the opposite team the coin must be shown over the table. At the command Dop! it is again hid under the table, where the players continue to pass it from hand to hand. At the command Hand on table! the players put their hands on the table with the palms down. The leader of the opposite team must guess who has the coin between his/her fingers. If they guess correctly, the coin is passed to the opposite team and the game begins again. ( Feedback from last session Get some feedback on what each person did to surprise someone else during the last week. WORD a. Brainstorm together some other Bible characters who were surprised by God. Take some time to remember what happened to each of these people and how they responded when things didn t go the way they expected or went better than they could have ever hoped for. Some examples could include: Abraham and Sarah receiving their much longed-for child Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac and then God telling him not to at the last minute Moses and the burning bush Isaiah having a vision of the Lord Hannah having her baby son Samuel Elisha seeing Elijah taken up to Heaven Mary and Joseph enough said! Paul and Silas rescued by an angel from prison And what about the disciples? They were continually surprised by what Jesus said and did! If your group are particularly interested in one of these stories, you could continue to discuss it in Session Four. b. God, Surprise me! A guy called Terry Esau has written a book in which he describes a 30-day faith experiment in which he asked God each day to surprise him then kept his eyes open to see what God would do. (Have a look at the website together: or a peek inside his book on Amazon Faith-Experiment/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8-1) There are lots of clips on YouTube of Terry Esau describing his experiment. The following is an extract from his book:

9 THREE Surprise Me: A 30-Day Faith Experiment Terry Esau What if Every day for thirty days I pray and ask God to surprise me? Surprise me, God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Three words. Not asking for something in particular. Not giving him my list. Not presenting my agenda. Just inviting him to barge into my life in any old way he pleases to crash into the busyness of my schedule and mess with it. Then what if Every day I record my thoughts and activities. All the twists and turns that give shape to the month. I ll look for when, where and how God steps into my world The interesting thing about this experiment it s not taking place in a vacuum. I m not taking time off to do it. I haven t set aside thirty days to laboratory-ise it. Life as I know it will continue and this project will weave itself in and around and through it. This is intentional. I want this to be a slice of the normal life I lead, not a scripted event that doesn t relate to my everyday existence. Surprise Me is about inviting God into my life as is. The following post is written by someone who gave this a go: God, Surprise Me! Posted by Linda Werner on 12 June 2011 On June 1, I began a 30-day journey in which I ask God every morning to surprise me. I was challenged by my brother to take this journey with him and a few of his closest friends. I loved the idea as well as the timing of a new month and the beginning of summer. What I have discovered over the last twelve days has been simply amazing. Let me share some of my take-aways: When you begin the day with anticipation of what will come, your heart is open and you become more aware of people, conversations, and thoughts. When little things happen, surprises if you will, you will find that you will be saying Thank you more often. There is a huge amount of excitement to share with others your little surprises and what GOD is doing in and around you. Every time God surprised me, it ignited my faith like crazy! In my journal every morning I write the date and these words, God, Surprise Me! in red. At the end of the day before going to bed I reflect on my day and all that GOD did. At the end of the month I will celebrate and declare once again that HE is worthy of MY TRUST and MY LIFE. Who wants to join me on this journey of delightful surprises? Ask your group if they would be up for doing something similar? Decide what you are going to do, but keep it manageable perhaps just one day, or three days or a week. You could even give each person a special little notebook to record their surprises. Discuss how you should do this what attitude of the heart you should have, how to keep your eyes open to spot what God is up to. Remember the key thing is to pray Surprise me, God every day, and be alert for God in the midst of the ordinary. WORSHIP Watch the following short YouTube clip: œœ 912_tag Surprise Me God

10 THREE Read Proverbs 3:5 6 ýý Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he is the one who will keep you on track. We can see from the life of Joseph how he really lived out this verse. Use this verse to pray together and commit yourself to the above. Ask God to really surprise each one of you this week. Ask God to help you trust him and listen for his voice in all that you do this week. WITNESS Keep a diary or write a blog, as you have agreed above, of how God surprises you each day of your experiment. Be prepared to share with the group in the next session. MSG

11 FOUR SURPRISE ME, GOD! WELCOME Play a game of nice and nasty surprises. For example, you could have some boxes or bags filled with different things, and group members have to put their hands in the box and guess what is in it have some nice things to touch and some nasty things! Or how about a taste test game where each group member is blindfolded and you place something nice or nasty in their mouths. Go round the group and give everyone a tasty piece of chocolate but for one person give them something sour or bitter tasting! (Check for food allergies first.) WORD Allow plenty of time for people to share about their Surprise Me, God experiment. In fact, you may find much of this cell group is taken up sharing and discussing everyone s experiences since the last session. If this takes over the whole session let it! Continue to discuss one of the life stories from one of the other Bible characters that you discussed in the last session, if your group are interested. Can you add anything to your script/video from Session Two The Time God Surprised Me the Most? WORSHIP Print/write out the following surprise quotes on pieces of paper. Place them in the middle of the group. Allow some time for people to read the quotes. Ask group members to pray out loud prayers based on any of the quotes that they wish encourage just short one-sentence prayers, eg, Thank you God that you have surprised me every day, God, help me to live each day like an adventure with you. It would be good to allow this time of prayer to continue into thanking God for all the surprises you have had with God. God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. Pope Benedict XVI Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. Samuel Johnson The story of Easter is the story of God s wonderful window of divine surprise. Carl Knudsen Bibles laid open, millions of surprises. George Herbert I believe in the surprises of the Holy Spirit. L. J. Suenens History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr

12 FOUR A life full of turns, achievements, disappointments, surprises, and crises is a life full of landmarks. There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved. It is God s finger on man s shoulder. Eric Hoffer Charles Morgan Seize every day as an adventure and your spirit will soar when you discover the wonderful surprises life has to offer. Unknown WITNESS Encourage people to continue with their surprise journal if they wish to. Would you have the opportunity to share what you have discovered with the rest of your corps? And encourage them to look for God surprises in their lives. If so, use some of this time to work out how you will do this. (Don t forget about your The Time God Surprised Me The Most script from Session Two.)