WELCOME ICEBREAKER Why don’t people answer the door? WORSHIP Encourage everyone to really put their heart into the time of singing. If you aren’t at a place to sing read a Psalm and encourage the group to close their eyes and focus on Jesus as you read. WORD As a group read Revelations 3:14-22 The fact that this church’s affection for Jesus had grown lukewarm obviously made Jesus nauseous. It is a disturbing feeling to give into someone’s life, help him or her succeed and then feel him or her pull away from you. Jesus had been there for them in the hard times and answered their prayers when they cried out to Him. Now their actions demonstrated that they no longer needed His closeness. The Bible warns us about forgetting about God when things are going well. Read Deut. 8:10-14; 1 Tim. 6:6, 7; Luke 12:21 You cannot be lukewarm unless you have been hot first. At some time this church was a “hot” church. Their services and home groups had distinct qualities. What do you think their home group would have been like? What do you think caused this church to lose their intimacy with Jesus? What causes us to drift from spending time with our Lord? Do you find yourself spending more time with the Lord when you have pressing needs? Ask the group what are some signs that people have not spent time “dining” with Jesus and their faith has become lukewarm? Here are some examples others have given: - You have no desire to share Jesus with others.
- Your mind and mouth switch to autopilot during the singing at church.
- Your last answered prayer is just a dim memory.
- You feel guilty when you hear someone talk about what they got from their private devotional time with God.
- You read your Bible because you’re supposed to, and not because you want to.
- You find yourself critiquing and criticizing the service, rather than growing from it.
What does Jesus ask them to do? Jesus says that those who overcome can sit with Him on His throne. (That is amazing! That we can actually sit on His throne, Jesus is very secure in who He is.) What is it that we have to overcome? WORK Pray for the victims of hurricane Katrina. Let your home group know that we will take up a special offering on Sunday to help the relief efforts. Please announce that this Sunday there will be water baptism at English Bay at 4:30. If anyone in your group is interested please let the office know, review with them what baptism means and let them know that there is a meeting for all candidates after the 11:00 service. Encourage your group to spend quality time alone with Jesus.
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