Becoming Love

Discussion Helps for Meeting 4 - Intimate Relationship

Icebreaker  

  • If you were going to be marooned on a desert island what one survival item would you want to take with you?
  • What one entertainment item would you want to take with you?
  • If you had to choose between being marooned alone or with someone you didn't like, which would you choose and why?


Connecting Personally Clips - For this meeting we had a couple of “Connecting Personally” clips - Clip 1 - (1:02) was an example of what communing with God through prayer can look like and Clip 2 - (2:32) talked about encountering God as we read His word and what interacting with God as we read can 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 - (22:35) - from (1:34:27)

  • What stood out to you the most from the main video clip? Any favorite quotes?
  • Did anything confuse you?


(1:00) Dan talks about the importance of not letting anything take the place of knowing God.

  • What kind of things or activities in our everyday life can take the place of or interfere with knowing Him?

(4:30 - Parallels to the cross) When speaking of what Jesus did for us Dan says:

    Jesus became a lie to put the truth back in me. (the lie of thinking self-centered living is normal - see ah6 main clip)

    He was beaten and lost His appearance so that we could regain our appearance - how we were created to look.

    He was separated from God, I never will be.

    He died. I never will.

Let’s look back at that really quick. View Main Clip beginning at 4:30.

Here are a couple of similar clips: View clips - (:33) / (:43)

So there is a contrast of what Jesus went through at the cross to what He provided for us. Dan calls these “parallels of the cross”.

Let’s do an exercise. Complete the following phrases in the style of the “parallels of the cross”:

  • You became sin that I might become ______ (a son / righteous)

  • You were cursed that I might be ________ (blessed / in covenant blessing)

  • You died so that I might _____ (come alive, live forever)

  • You were separated so that I could be forever ________ (joined - one)

  • You were bound that I might be __________ (free)

  • You became thirsty that I might drink from you and never _______ again (thirst)

  • You were wounded that I might be _______ (healed)

  • You were poured out that I might be _______ (filled up and also poured out)

  • You were stripped of your clothes that I might be robed in ______ (righteousness)


You can use these parallels of the cross in your prayer time to thank God for what Jesus did on our behalf. (Demonstrate)


(13:00) When asked what surrender looks like Dan said, “Well, I know this. I know it’s not hard because the only thing He’s asking me to give is what I never was anyway.”

  • What do you think he means by “what I never was anyway”?

(15:30) Dan talks about discouragement and asks the question “if you are discouraged, where is your focus?”

  • What’s the answer to that question?
  • How does that fit with denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus?
  • Is there any place for discouragement in our lives?


Supplemental Clips

For each meeting we have viewed clips on relating to God more personally - the "Connecting Personally" clips. The supplemental clips for this meeting are similar to those clips - showing us what it can look like to commune with Him more intimately.


The first two clips are examples of what communing through prayer can look like:

View Clip 4.1 - (1:20) - communing through prayer

View Clip 4.2 - (1:15) - Father me

  • Why is it important for us to realize how God sees us? What does that realization allow us to do that we would be unlikely to do without it?

View Clip 4.3 - (1:21) - communing through a worship song - (They are talking about this song.)

  • Dan says that he doesn’t let the song sing for him. What does he do instead?
  • Has anyone found that it’s helpful to express things out loud?

(Next week we’ll be talking more about how grace meets faith and molds and shapes us.)


View Clip 4.4 - (1:26) - communing through daily devotions

  • What can make our relationship with God anything but robotic?

View Clip 4.5 - (1:53) - worship is a gift to us

  • So who is worship really for? How so?

The next two clips mention using the sacrament of communion like a wedding covenant

View Clip 4.6 - (2:07) - sacrament of communion

View Clip 4.7 - (0:44)

  • Wow, that’s pretty intense. Is this study stretching you yet? Moving you a little beyond your comfort zone?

The last clip has to do with maintaining relationship even if we stumble. We talked a little about this in meeting 2.

View Clip 4.8 - (1:46) - if we stumble, run to Him not from Him

  • What should we do if we stumble?