Wake My Heart, week 7: Sacrifice
- Talk about the obstacles to generous living God has revealed in your heart this past week? What steps have you taken to be free from these?
How has God been leading you to pray for your ‘far from God long shot’? What step do you need to take this week to share Christ with them?
- Every time the heart is moved by faith the mind is moved by calculations.
How prone are you to limit your faith to the natural precedents you’ve grown up holding on to? In other words, how easy is it for you to ignore the lines of possibility and believe God for the impossible? How has the giving chart in the Journey Guide challenged your natural precedent of sacrificial giving? What do you sense God doing in your heart?
- We are all in a different season of life. Some of us are college students, newly married, parents raising children, close to retirement, empty nesters or something else. Talk about the unique temptations of your generation or season of life that would distract you from recognizing this current movement of God in New England.
The truth is regardless of the season of life you are in, God is offering divine opportunities to every generation now. How will you break the precedent and respond to the urgency of this opportunity?
- In his sermon, Justin talked about Mary’s sacrifice of the alabaster jar. We imagined what Mary might say today if we could ask her “Why did you sacrifice this prized possession and risk your future security?”. As a church family, we could hear her saying “Wait….do you know what Jesus has done for me? My sacrifice makes perfect sense in light of what God has done for me.”
Talk about your answer to this question. What has Jesus done for you? How do you want to respond to all He’s done?
- As a group, take the time to pray about this coming Commitment Sunday (December 8th). Openly confess the hindrances or obstacles to fully participating as God is leading you. Pray for one another for the faith to obey the voice of God. Rejoice together and thank God for what He is doing right now in New England.
SCRIPTURES & SERMON POINTS
Scripture verses:
Mark 14:3-9
Luke 19:41-44.
Sermon points:
• Extravagant generosity will always challenge your precedent for what’s reasonable.
• Extravagant generosity is moved by the urgency of the opportunity.
• My sacrifice makes perfect sense in light of what Jesus has done for me.