Select Video 5 summary if you did not watch the video
God gives His laws and commandments to free us,
protect us, and show us His love…not to take away our fun and ruin our lives
1. If we see God as a cosmic killjoy just waiting
for people to do something wrong so He can catch and punish them, how will this
impact our relationship with him?
Individuals who have this perspective tend to not want to
have a relationship with God….in fact, this is one of the biggest “complaints”
against Christianity is that they see it as a religion of “do’s and
don’ts”. For believers who see God with
this perspective, will limit their
relationship with Him. Their
relationship will become very legalistic and religious.
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2. The Ten Commandments are the basic “rules of the
road” for how people are to relate to God and each other (Exodus 20:1-17; The
Story, pp 61-62). How would our lives
and faith improve if we followed these commands (in action and in spirit)? What can we do to embrace and follow these
commands more fully?
Jesus addressed this when delivering the Beatitudes (The Sermon on the Mount). He was speaking of how we should follow God’s commands not only in action but in spirit. A couple examples included extending murder to include hating someone and adultery to include lusting with our eyes and heart. We may not be physically guilty of committing murder or adultery, but the feelings we harbor in our heart are viewed in the same way to God.
1 Chronicles 28:9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Luke 16:15 “He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight”. Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”. If we recognize that doing the right thing must first be reflected in our heart, our lives would significantly change because we would want to be obedient to please Him…not just trying to do the right thing. This would also cause us to take our eyes off of ourselves and to focus on Him. |
3. Randy unpacked
the reality that God is seeking to come down and connect with His people…with
us! He said that three things need to
happen for God to draw near to us in the Lower Story and experience His
presence. Why are each of these so
important?
The God of the Upper Story wants to come down and do life with us in the Lower Story. God is no longer going to be “up there” but “down here.”
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4. God no longer dwells in tents or temples: He lives in us (Acts 7:48-50); 1 Corinthians
6:19). How does recognizing that God
dwells in us help connect His Upper Story to our Lower Story on a daily basis?
Knowing that Christ dwells in us through His Holy Spirit, lets us know that He is always with us. Jesus said He would send the Spirit to us to be our Helper, Comforter, and Guide. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever” (John 14:16). The Greek word translated here “Counselor” means “one who is called alongside”. The Holy Spirit has been called to be “alongside” us and through His strength, He can help us in our weakness to do the things that He has commanded us to do. It is through the Holy Spirit that we connect with Him on a daily basis and experience His Presence and direction in our lives.
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5. God showed His love for people and His desire to connect the
Upper and Lower Story by moving into their neighborhood. He settled in, right in their midst. God is still seeking to connect with us on a
deeply personal level. What are ways you
experience the presence and care of God breaking into your daily life?
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6. This chapter of The Story and Randy’s lesson both reveal the
third thing God had to do so that we could experience His presence in a
personal way. The biggest obstacle of
all needed to be overcome…human sin.
Sacrifices needed to be made so that human wrongs could be cleansed and
covered over (atoned for). How does the
sacrificial system found in The Story and the book of Leviticus pave the way
for the final sacrifice that would wash away all sins forever (the death of
Jesus on the cross)?
ISin causes us to be separated from God (spiritually and
physically). But God, in His grace and
mercy, provided a way out of this dilemma, the shed blood of His perfect Son on
the cross. God declared that “without the shedding of blood, there is no
forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22), but through the shedding of blood, redemption
is provided. In the Old Testament,
sacrificial offerings were made to God to “atone” for our sins and to reconcile
us to God (Exodus 20:2-17). But these
sacrifices were incomplete (temporary) and had to be made continuously. These
sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice of
Christ on the cross (Hebrews 10:10). When
we accept Jesus Christ, we accept what He did on our behalf and through Him we
have the forgiveness of our sins and we are reconciled to God.
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7. “Mad Cow Disease,” as Randy called it, was an
example of people trying to invent their own religion, to create their own way
to God. How do people still do this
today and how are the results just as disastrous?
When we put our trust, devotion and time in
anything other than God, we are creating “idols” in our lives. These can become our own “gods”. We can also create our own way to God if we
put our trust in any traditions or practices that causes us to feel that we can
earn our way to God. Putting our trust
in anything other than the redemptive work of Christ means that we don’t accept
what He did on our behalf or that it isn’t good enough. A way to test how we feel about this is to
answer the question “What would you say to God if He asked why He should let
you into heaven when you die?” If you
say because of all the good works you’ve done or because you went to church
every Sunday or because you weren’t as bad as other people you have known…..you
are not trusting in Christ.
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8. God promised that His presence would be with the people and
they would stand out in the world because of it. This is still true today. What are some ways Christians should stand
out in our world? Name one area of your
life in which you sense God is calling you to look different to the world
because He is with you.
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9. Read movement 3 of The Story (p. 11 of this participants guide). What is the big theme of this third movement?
Jesus Christ came to earth to dwell among us and to provide a way back to God.
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