#STFLOVES Leader’s CG Study Guide for the week of May 2, 2021 PDF Version
Leader’s Community Group Study Guide
For the week of May 2, 2021
ANNOUNCEMENTS
VBS 2021 June 7 – 11, 2021
We need all Community Groups to participate to make VBS great! Take a tag of needs, located in the main entrance at our BP campus and help get the supplies needed. You can take them individually or you can collect as a group!
If you are willing to serve as volunteers, VBS could use your help! There are many different ways to serve. From organizing, decorating, prepping, to clean-up, contact mike@stfchurch.com for more information.
Married Date Night
This month the Married Life Ministry Date Night is on Saturday, May 8, from 6-9 p.m. at Cinebistro Hyde Park. We will be watching Extraordinary, the story of a couple who works to run their marriage race to the end. $20 cost to attend will go towards your choice of food purchase at the event.
QUICK REVIEW
Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything you heard for the first time or something that caught your attention, challenged or confused you?
MY STORY
1. Every name has a meaning. What does your first name mean?
(Example: Benjamin means ‘son of the right hand’ Here’s a link to find out what your group members names mean. You might want to look them up ahead of time so that if they don’t know, you can share the meaning with them. www.babynames.com )
2. What are the labels you’ve been given, the ones you live under?
(Sometimes we live under our label and let it define us. Examples include: OCD, ADD, ADHD, handicapped. . . or we may associate and blame our behavior on our heritage or color of hair etc. We may also allow our life circumstances to label us. Examples include being a dog owner so being “pepper’s mom” or “pastor’s kid”.)
DIGGING DEEPER
1. Regardless of what your name is or what someone has labeled you as, it’s by receiving God’s label over anyone else’s that is your true identity. Although there are hundreds of promises in the Bible concerning you, here are 5 labels God confers on you. Read the following passages. In what ways does God’s description of you differ from the labels you’ve taken on?
Child of God. John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
(Say: “If you have received Jesus in your life, you are automatically made a child of God and have access to your inheritance in Christ. You have a place of belonging, a Father that loves you, and an eternal home in Heaven. With this truth, we are not childish, but childlike in our faith and humility.”)
Loved. 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
(Say: “When you know that you are loved unconditionally, fear is removed from your life! One who is loved by God is protected fiercely by God and has no fear of anything. The same way a child can rest securely in the arms of a parent, so can we rest securely in the love of God despite the challenges and obstacles of this life.”)
Favored. Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
(Say: “God has bestowed favor upon you! As you receive that label and speak it over your life, you receive the benefit of His favor and no good thing will He withhold from you as you walk uprightly!”)
Blessed. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
(The word blessed and its variations appears over 400 times in the Bible. God can bless you as well as you receive His label for you.)
Poem. Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
(Explain: The word “workmanship” literally means a poem. You are God’s masterpiece, His poem! As a composer or poet crafts their masterwork, so did God compose and craft you.)
What other labels in the Bible do you know of that God calls you that you love?
TAKING IT HOME
1. What areas of pain in your life show glimpses of purpose? Write down ways your journey can become an encouragement to someone else. If willing, share 1-2 with the group.
Be willing to be vulnerable and share first as a leader.
2. When our identity is found in who God says we are rather than in our highs and lows, our successes and failures, or our desires, affections, or shortcomings, we experience the freedom we were meant to enjoy. Read this list of phrases that tell the truth about who God says you are:
I am a child of God. (John 1:12)
I am a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am a friend of Jesus. (John 15:15)
I am created by God to do good. (Ephesians 2:10)
I am free in Christ. (Galatians 5:1)
I am chosen and loved. (1 Thessalonians 1:4)
I am the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14)
I am not ruled by fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)
I am forgiven. (Colossians 2:13)
I am God’s possession. (Titus 2:14)
I am free from the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:24)
I am a light in the world. (Matthew 5:14-15)
I am secure in him. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
I am loved by God. (1 John 4:10)
(There are MANY more labels that God gives us so feel free to do your own word study. A fun thing to do might be to write each of these down on a name tag and give it to each member in the group)
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are given a new name. What new name would you like to be called?
Whom do you know that has labeled themselves with something that keeps them from Jesus? How might you engage them? Which of God’s labels do they need to know about?
Need additional encouragement? Click the link above or youtube Hosanna Poetry “I have a new name” https://youtube.com/watch?v=0SmoCwrqqkE