Andrew Bauer // Rockford Campus // June 9, 2024

 

Storytellers: Compassionate Healer

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE

 

REMINDERS

Table Time: Registration for Table Time is now open in the events section of the website. This is an opportunity to get to know people from your campus better by meeting for dinner once a month with groups of 3 couples or 6 adults. Rockford and Ensley groups will meet once per month in July, August, and September. Northview groups will be formed for the fall.

Summer Events: Reminder to check out the Events page on the website for a list of summer events for men, women, families, and students. You can see a list of Sunday night programming, Guys Nights Out for men, women’s bonfires and playdates, and Kids and Teens Worship Arts Camp.

 

TOGETHER IN LIFE

If you made a plan to begin memorizing a Bible verse last week, share how that went for you. If comfortable, share the verse you’re memorizing. Share how that has impacted your trust in Jesus and how you respond to the stresses and joys of life so far.

 

TOGETHER IN THE WORD

THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: Luke 7:11–17 | Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

Note: We encourage you to read the entire text together as a group out loud.

 

THE COMPASSION OF JESUS

QUESTIONS:

• What comes to your mind when you think about compassion?
• Has there ever been an instance when you experienced compassion from someone? How did that feel?
• Has there ever been an instance when you were hurting but experienced a lack of compassion from someone / others? If you’re comfortable talking about it, share how that felt.

In the sermon, Andrew noted that when we look at the actions of Jesus in this account, we see that Jesus did four things:

Saw       Had compassion       Spoke       Touched

 

SEE: LOOK WITH THE EYES OF JESUS

Read Exodus 3:7.

The Bible tells us that God sees the hurts and needs of His people. Yet as human beings, we can often be focused on our own hurts, needs, or plans. Consider the questions below.

QUESTIONS:

• What is it like to look with the eyes of Jesus?
• Consider the people you interact with on a daily basis in your home and community. Do you ever see someone who is hurting and yet lack compassion for them? Why or why not?
• Who or what do you look at most? Are you often most focused on your own needs and plan or do you actively seek to see the people around you?

 

HAVE COMPASSION: FEEL WITH THE HEART OF JESUS

Remembering what you read in verse 13, consider how Jesus felt when He saw the crying woman.

The word used for compassion is splagchnizomai. It’s the same root word of “spleen,” and literally means to be moved in the bowels or the gut. To be affected from the inside.

Read the following quote:

“When Jesus saw the people in misery, his bowels yearned within him; the works of grace and mercy in Christ, they come from his bowels first… Whatsoever Christ did… he did it out of love, and grace, and mercy—he did it inwardly from his very bowels.” – Richard Sibbes

QUESTIONS:

• What do you think it means to be moved with compassion from your gut or your bowels? Have you ever experienced this?
• What is the difference between acting out of kindness and acting out of genuine compassion, from your innermost being?

 

SPEAK WITH THE WORDS OF JESUS

Look again at verse 13 then read Ephesians 4:25–32, Colossians 4:6, and Proverbs 15:4.

QUESTIONS:

• How do these passages suggest God would like us to speak to people both inside and outside the family of God?
• Based on what Ephesians, Colossians, and Proverbs tell us, how can our words bring either life or death to the people who hear them?
• Why must we ask God to move our hearts with compassion toward others in order to speak as Jesus spoke?
• How can you and I bless others with our words out of a heart of compassion?

 

TOUCHING WITH THE HANDS OF JESUS

Look now at verses 14–15 .

QUESTIONS:

• Aside from speaking to the young man, how else did Jesus interact with him?
• Andrew noted in the sermon that to touch a dead body in Jesus’ day was to become “unclean.” What did Jesus’ actions communicate to the people?
• What would it look like for us to touch the hurting around us in order to bring life?
• What would it look like to enter into messy or “unclean” situations with the love of Jesus? Does this feel like a challenge?

 

TOGETHER IN ACTION

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved… – Ephesians 2:4–5

Consider this verse and what it tells us about the compassion that we have received from Jesus. How does it replicate the account of Luke 7:11–17?

As you go throughout this week, practice looking for opportunities to look, feel, speak, and touch with compassion each day.

Connect with your group by text over the next week to share how this has been going for you. Are you noticing any impact on your pace of daily life?

 

TOGETHER IN PRAYER

Pray the words of Ephesians 2:4–5.

• Praise God that He is rich in mercy.
• Praise Him that just as Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son from the dead, He has raised each of us who fully surrender to Him from death to new life.
• Ask Him to develop the same heart of love and mercy toward others in each of us, by the power of His Holy Spirit, that the world will know we are His.
• Ask Him to help us remember this as we go through our summer.