Matt Zainea                                         Rockford Campus                                      Jan. 28, 2024

 

Storytellers

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE

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REMINDERS 

Ignite 2.0 (Feb. 25 5:30pm) – We’re excited to re-try the Ignite event to celebrate and encourage our volunteers. Even if you signed up last time, please sign-up again for this new date:  https://magnifychurch.org/event/ignite/

Leader Development Class (Sunday nights) – We relaunched the LDC this Winter and so far, it’s been GREAT dialogue. This Winter, we’re going after topics that are incredibly relevant to your leadership including:

• Group Expectations
• Group Life Cycles
• Crucial Conversations

Please plan to come to 3-4 over the coming months to be sharpened and equipped as a leader!

 

TOGETHER IN LIFE

Take time this week to share parts of your story with your group. Use the 3×3 Method of Story Sharing. Describe the following that shaped your walk with Jesus:

• 3 Important People
• 3 Important Events
• 3 Important Places

In learning one another’s story in small pieces we can begin to know each other in other ways to encourage and grow our relationships with them.

 

TOGETHER IN THE WORD

THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: Luke 4:1-11

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

 

 

TEMPTATION #2: SATAN’S OFFER

 

QUESTION: After reading the passage, ask and answer:

• What was the nature of Satan’s temptation of Jesus? How was Jesus tempted?
• What led up to Jesus’ temptation (cf Luke 3:21-22; 4:1-2)?
• How does Temptation Question #2 (4:5-7) differ from #1 (v3) and #3 (v9-11)?
• How does Jesus respond to each of the temptations?

TRY THIS: Read Genesis 3:1-6. How does Luke 4:1-11 compare/contrast Adam and Eve’s temptation?

QUESTION: Temptation Question #2 is marked with a promise: give Satan glory, receive power. This seems straight-forward but is often sneaky.

What famous stories (songs, plays, books, or movies) play off of this story of temptation? Sometimes it sounds like, “In exchange for your soul…” or “Serve me and I’ll give you…”

QUESTION: The trade-off Satan offers Christ is one that – through obedience to God, in God’s timing and through God’s means – He already has been promised to receive. In what ways are people sometimes tempted to trade a good promise from God “down the road” for immediate satisfaction now?

BIG IDEA:

The second question of temptation of Jesus in v5-7 is the only one with a promise. Sin always promises things that sounds good, but will never satisfy.

Sin always…

promises what it cannot deliver

costs more than it says it will

destroys more than initially imagined.

God’s best way is always life-giving to us,

even if in the moment it doesn’t feel like it.

 

 WORLDLY POWER vs. GODLY AUTHORITY

TRY THIS: If you can recall Matt’s message, try to put into your own words how you would describe Worldly Power vs. Godly Authority.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to imitate Christ and to do as He commands in order to reflect His love (cf John 15:10-11). Learning to live under and to properly use Godly Authority takes practice.

QUESTION: What relationships do you have in your life where you are called to submit to authority? In which relationships are you called to exercise Godly authority?

QUESTION: At some level, we all exercise “authority” in our lives as we relate with others. Sometimes things go our way and sometimes they don’t. What do you do whenever you attempt to live with Godly authority and it doesn’t go “as planned”? What are you often tempted to do when it seems as though it “doesn’t’ work”?

SHARE: Share a time when you were able to exercise Godly authority in a relationship over a long time when, on the surface, it appeared that it wasn’t “working”.

READ: Philippians 2:1-11

QUESTION: From this text, how did Jesus model Godly authority? In what ways are we called to exhibit Godly authority in our lives?

 

TOGETHER IN ACTION

Discuss talk about the 5P’s of our Relational Roles (Person, Priest, Partner, Parent, and Professional). What do these look like in your life right now? How are you living our Godly authority in these roles?

Challenge take time this week to assess in what areas you need to grow in loving others through Godly authority.

 

TOGETHER IN PRAYER

Pray for our Global Partners this week. Take a look at the Magnify Church Missions page and pray for missionaries by name.  Magnifychurch.org/global-partners