Doug’s Foggiest Ideas

1. The ultimate instruction that God gives me is to Love Well.  What do you think and feel about this statement, in the context of your personal relationship with God?
2. On Sunday, we talked about how God is the ultimate example of the ultimate instruction he gives us to Love Well.  That God does not merely love, he IS love by his very nature.  Has this been your view of and your experience with God?  Why or why not?
3. If you have a personal relationship with God currently, how has the awareness and understanding of his love for you affected your life?  Has it changed you in how you relate to others?  If so, how?
4. In Matthew 22:36-39, Jesus gives the greatest commandment, which is two parts, but one single theme by which we need to live our lives, understanding that neither one is complete without the other.  Do you feel like you understand and live this out well, or has your life been more heavily weighted on one side of this single theme or the other (love of God, or love of others)?
5. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  Give an example of an experience in your life when someone has loved you well by living out this passage of scripture in some way.
6. Give an example of a time when you have loved others well, in context of the list in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
7. Share with the group which on the list given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, you feel God tugging at your heart to be working on in your love toward those in your home and life.  We are all a work in progress!
8. Pray with one another, and hold each other accountable to loving well.

We closed on the new building today (5/8/2012)! It needs A LOT of work but it’s ours! God has done great things!! YET GREATER DAYS STILL AHEAD!!

1. When you think about the characteristics of an “authentic relationship” what comes to your mind?

2. How have you experienced the desire for authentic relationship in your life?  Why do you think God created us to have this desire?

3. Can you reflect personally or share with your group about an “authentic relationship” that you have?  What is it that makes this relationship “authentic”?

4. Read John 13:34-35.  What does this verse challenge each of us to do?  Why do you think this is so important to God?  What does this communicate to the world around us?

5. Read John 17:20-21.  What is it that Jesus is praying will happen in our lives?  How does this impact our relationships?  How does this impact the world around us?  Why do you think this type of relationship is so “noticeable” to the world around us?

6. Read Romans 12:9-13.  What do these verses say to us about authentic relationships?  Our main thought this week was that, “AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY IS…The real YOU, meeting real NEEDS, for the right REASON, in the right WAY!!”  How do you see this statement imbedded in this passage?

7. Use this statement as a check-list for your life and your relationships.  Honestly rank and evaluate yourself on a scale of 1-10 in each of these areas.

(1 being low / 10 being high)

• I feel free to be the REAL ME in my relationships.
• I am eager to meet the REAL NEEDS of others in my relationships.
• I have the RIGHT MOTIVES in my relationships.
• I am doing relationships in the RIGHT WAY.

Now that you have done this, what do you feel like you need to focus on the most this week?  How can you do this?

8. Be sure to spend some time praying about your relationships.  Pray as well for any special requests that you and/or your group may have.

Continue to use your bookmark to quickly locate Romans 12 in your Bible.  Keep reading through this chapter every day for the next week.  Keep your relationships in check this week.  Use this list to challenge yourself to foster Authentic Community in your life!

1. Take time together as a group to read all of Romans 12.  This is such a rich chapter of God’s truth!  What are some of your favorite verses or phrases?
2. This past week we talked about 3 basic human questions we all ask:
   Who am I?  A question of identity?
   Where do I belong?  A question of security?
   What am I supposed to do? A question of significance?How have you worked through these questions throughout your life?  How have you seen others attempt to answer these questions?
3. Share a time when you felt like life got “knocked out from under you.”  What happened, how did you feel, did anything help?
4. Focus on Romans 12:3.  Is your default identity to see yourself too highly or to see yourself too lowly?  Why?  How does the truth that you are already in Christ help you answer the identity question?
5. Focus on Romans 12:4-5.  How does the truth that you belong to God’s family and have a role to play help you answer the security question?
6. Focus on Romans 12:6-8.  How does the truth that you have been specifically gifted help you answer the significance question?  Of the seven motivational gifts listed, what do you think your primary gift might be?  Have you seen this “worked out” in specific areas of your life?
7. The main thought for this week is:  Honest Evaluation Releases Me to Fulfill God’s Purpose.  In what ways have you “honestly” evaluated yourself in the past?  (personality or strengths tests?  Spiritual gifts inventories?  etc.)  Share any evaluation tools you have especially found helpful.Share your Top 5 Strengths or Top 5 Weaknesses.  Ask for feedback from the group.
8. Close your time together praying for one another.

For the most recent building updates go to: http://www.plumcreekonline.com/events/buildingcampaign-information/building-updates/

1. Do a quick work association with idea of “God’s will”.  When you hear this, “God’s will” what words come to your mind?

2. Can you think of a time in your life where you knew what was right to do but you decided, for whatever reason, that you were going to do the complete opposite?  Why do you think we do this? 

3. Read Romans 7:21-25.  What are your thoughts about a “hero of the faith” like the Apostle Paul struggling with the same things you and I do?

4. Read Romans 12:2.  What does this verse say is part of the cause of this?

5. Read 1 John 2:15-17.  What are the 3 things that this verse says is, “in the world”.  What do these three things ultimately represent in our lives today?

6. Our main thought this week is that, “TRANSFORMATION begins with a RENEWED MIND.”  What does this mean? 

7. Read Colossians 3:1-2 & 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.  What do these verses say you need to do to facilitate this “transformation of your mind”?  What then are some practical things that you can do this week to work on your mind’s transformation?

8. Be sure to spend some time praying about living a Romans 12 life:  being aware of God’s mercy, living your life as a living sacrifice and renewing your mind. Pray as well for any special requests that you and/or your group may have.

Use your bookmark to quickly locate Romans 12 in your Bible.  Continue to commit to reading through this chapter every day for the next several weeks.  You may also want to engage in some sort of a “Media Fast” this week in an effort to minimize the influence of our world on our minds!!

1. This week I started off our time together sharing a couple of modern day parables.

• The first one was about a guy at an estate sale that found some gold coins that were extremely valuable.  These historic coins were minted during the Civil War and in order to own them he had to bid on the entire contents of the house.  The final bid would be near $95,000.

• The next parable was about a college art teacher that was in Southern France looking for art.  At a sale she found a painting that she believed was an original Picasso.  The price tag for what the sellers thought was an amazing replica was $25,000.  This was way more than she had and would have required her to sell most of what she owned to take the chance on purchasing this piece of art.

Talk with your group about how you would respond in a situation like this; feeling strongly that these items were of great value but also understanding the price was steep, certain of serious potential but also knowing that this decision was risky.

2. Read Matthew 13:44-46.  Jesus was describing the Kingdom of Heaven.  What are the similarities in this parable that Jesus told?  Why was this man willing to sell everything he had to purchase this field?  What are the implications of this story to your spiritual journey?  Do you see your relationship with God as something of incredible value?

3. Our main thought this week was, “Total COMMITMENT is the PATHWAY to God’s Greatest BLESSINGS.”  This was the theme of all 3 parables.  How is this also true in our relationships with the Lord?  How have you seen this in other people’s lives or experienced it in your life?

4. Read Romans 12:1.  As we start this new series we are talking about God’s dream for our lives.  The second part of this verse includes a significant challenge.  What is this challenge?  What does it mean to, “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—as our spiritual act of worship?”  How do we do this?

5. This week we talked about how this challenge to live as a living sacrifice to God has a very interesting verb tense.  It is a tense that communicates a specific point in time where this decision is made and also an “ongoing decision” that continues to be made every day.  How have you seen this to be true in your life?  Why is it so important that we understand this uniqueness of this commitment to life our lives as a sacrifice to God?

6. We talked about the “blank check”, specifically the vulnerability of needing to pay for something but not having all the details.  It is scary to sign a check without filling in all the details.  Handing over a “blank check” is scary!!  This is really what God wants us to do with our lives.  Sign the check of our lives, all of it, and hand it over to Him.  Why is this so hard for us to do?  What are your greatest fears in doing this?  Why?

7. Hopefully you were at service this weekend and you received your “blank-check bookmark”.  If you have it lay it in front of you.  If you’ve never made the decision to sign that check and hand it back to God, do that now!!  If you have made that decision before ask yourself how you have been doing living your life “signed over to God”?  What can you do this week to live this way?

8. Be sure to spend some time praying about living a Romans 12:1 life.  Aware of God’s mercy and living your life as a “living sacrifice” to our incredible God. Pray as well for any special requests that you and/or your group may have.

Use your bookmark to quickly locate Romans 12 in your Bible.

Commit to reading through this chapter every day for the next several weeks.

This will help prepare you for this journey

During the, “Living on the Edge” series.

For the most recent building updates go to: http://www.plumcreekonline.com/events/buildingcampaign-information/building-updates/

1. We started this week by talking about some things that once you have seen them, they change you forever.  What examples of this do you have from your life?

2. If you have children talk briefly about experiencing their birth.  As a parent what kind of dreams do you have for your children?

3. We also talked this week about how God has dreams for His children as well.  How do you feel about God having a dream for your life?

4. Read Romans 12:1.  As we start this new series we are talking about God’s dream for our lives.  This amazing chapter begins by talking about God’s mercy.  How would you describe God’s mercy?  How have you experienced mercy in your life?

5. Read Exodus 34:5-6, Psalm 103:8 & Ephesians 2:4-5.  What do these verses say about God’s mercy?

6. Our main thought for this week is, Viewing the Vacant Tomb INITIATES God’s DREAM for Our LIVES, Read Luke 24:1-9 & John 20:1-9.  How do you think this was true for those that first Easter Sunday morning?  Read Psalm 32.  How is our main thought for the week true for you as well? 

7. Read Lamentations 3:22-23.  My challenge this week is to come up with a creative way to remind yourself every morning of God’s mercies that are new every morning.  What did you decide to do?

8. Be sure to spend some time praying about being aware of God’s mercy and also about realizing God’s dreams for your life. Pray as well for any special requests that you and/or your group may have.  Read Romans 12 every day this week to prepare yourself for the next several weeks as we journey through this chapter together in the, Living on the Edge series.

1. Take a moment and write your own definition of “Loss”.  What experiences in life have molded your definition of “Loss”?  What are a few examples of loss that you have experienced in your life?  What are some examples that you have seen in the lives of others?

2. This week we talked briefly about how people typically deal with “Loss” in their lives.  It is not uncommon for us to:  Ignore it, Blame Others & Withdraw.  Which of these would you say is your typical default method of dealing with “Loss”?  Why do you think we do this?  Why are they not necessarily the most effective or healthy ways to deal with “Loss”?

3. This week we read the story of David dealing with the “Loss” of his son.  Re-read 2 Samuel 12:13-25.  What are your observations of the way David dealt with this “Loss”?

4. This week our main thought was that, “Authenticity Processes Loss Differently”.  Why do you think we as a culture struggle with being authentic when we face a “Loss”?  Why doesn’t this come natural in your life?

5. Why is being authentic when dealing with “Loss” so important?

6. We need to be authentic with ourselves, God & others.  Why is authenticity important in all three relationships?

7. Read Galatians 6:2-3.  What is the challenge that each of us need to take to heart related to being there for others that have experienced “Loss”?  How do we live alert to these needs in the lives of others?  Do you know someone that has experienced “Loss” that you can reach out to this week?  What steps can you take to do this?

8. Be sure to spend some time praying about living alert to people experiencing “Loss”. Pray as well for any special requests that you and/or your group may have. Please also continue to pray that God would continue to empower us as a church to raise the funds we need to close on the building and complete the remodeling project.