Discussion Helps for Meeting 3 - Identity, Value & Purpose
Icebreaker
- If you could switch identities with one person for a day who would you switch with and why?
Connecting Personally Clips - For this meeting we had a couple of “Connecting Personally” clips - one talked about reading the word to know Him Clip 1 - (1:29) and the other talked about how to use confession sheets in a personal way Clip 2 - (3:12). And each clip had an example of what communing might look like.
- Were these clips helpful?
- Was anybody brave enough to commune more personally with God like that? How did it go? Did it feel awkward at first?
Main Clip - (30:19) - from (2:22:53)
- What stood out to you the most from the main video clip? Any favorite quotes?
- Did anything confuse you?
(7:00) Dan talks about traveling across the country and asking different people about their understanding of why God sent His Son.
- Does anybody recall what he said was the typical response to that question - why did God send His Son?
- How is what Dan teaches different from that response?
(4:30) Dan talks about setting God up to fail in our eyes - and setting ourselves up to be disappointed in God.
- How are we doing that? By believing… what?
(That God sent His Son just to benefit us. We judge God on the basis of how life is going - circumstances. “If God is good then why…?” rather than realizing that we are on the planet to shine who He is in the midst of every circumstance. By not having a clear understanding of why God sent His Son.)
- (9:00) What did you think of what Dan said about faith being a normal, spontaneous result of knowing God? Let’s go back and listen to that…
- (11:40) Did you relate to what Dan said about falling apart in difficult circumstances and fear driven prayer? He used the examples of being laid off or a child making bad decisions and then showed what communion with God could look like in the midst of those circumstances.
- (15:35) In general, what should keep us from continually living in disappointment? By seeing clearly… what?
- (19:30) How can it be that knowing who you are through God alone and not the attention / affection / acclaim of others… How is it that that doesn’t make us independent from others?
- Won’t that make us isolated from others?
- (23:00) Late in the video Dan talks about being born again. What do you think it means to be born again?
- In general, if we are not supposed to depend on others to know who we are and if we're not to look to our circumstances to tell us our value, where is our sense of identity and value supposed to come from?
Supplemental Clips:
How God sees you is the truth about who you are regardless of how you feel or think about yourself. The supplemental clips for this meeting all have to do with how God sees you - who you are to Him - what you’re worth to Him - His purpose for your life. This first clip has to do with who you are to God - your identity:
View Clip 3.1 - (2:22) - identity - son/daughter
- So how does God see us? (sons & daughters) Is this always an easy thing for us relate to?
- What do you think Dan means when he talks about God seeing us “through the blood”?
- According to Dan, if we think like a son, what else will we tend to do?
- When we see ourselves as God sees us (righteous) what kind of fruit will we tend to produce?
The next four clips have to do with how God sees your value - your worth to Him:
View Clip 3.2 - (:46) - value - you're unique
View Clip 3.3 - (:50) - you're worth the blood
- Is anyone familiar with the teaching of man being a worm? (man=worm Job 25:6)
View Clip 3.4 - (:17) - you're the pearl / the treasure
- What is the price God paid to obtain us?
- What is the price we pay to obtain Him?
View Clip 3.5 - (1:13) - you're a house for the King
- If we are a house for God are we more like a remodeling project or a complete tear down and start over?
The last 2 clips have to do with His purpose for us:
View Clip 3.6 - (2:39) - purpose in redemption
View Clip 3.7 - (:57) - called to show Him
- What is our purpose? What was God’s desire in redeeming us?