Courageous and Compassionate

Here's the link to the Sermon: Courage and Compassion

Reading: Amos 7

1. Take a few minutes to recap on what Amos has taught us so far.
2. Verse 1 - what is a vision, and what is it not?
3. What do the visions in verses 1-7 show about God's judgement?
4. What does this teach us about prayer - can you make God change his mind?
5. Discuss the meeting with Amaziah. What does this show of Amos' character, attitude and behaviour, and what should we learn and apply from it? 
   
   

An Active Faith

Here's the link to the Sermon: The Real Deal

 

Reading: James 1:22-25

 

1.    What is the difference between believing and doing?

2.    What is the consequence of professing faith but ignoring God’s word?

3.    The truth of the Bible is useless until it is obeyed (AW Tozer). Discuss this statement.

4.    What are the things our society believes are acceptable that God does not. How should we deal with these issues?

5.    Like many passages we discuss, this one is easy enough to talk about in general, however our verse for the year strikes at the very heart of our personal faith and our priorities – it challenges us with words like obedience, commitment and discipleship. In the sermon we mentioned a number of things, and there is an excerpt pasted below. Take a look at the excerpt, perhaps add other bullet points in, then discuss how important our individual attitude is when it comes to examining ourselves and why we should regularly examine our own lives:

So we need to be people who respond to God’s instructions. We need to examine our own lives. How? Well let’s be practical:

·        Is there a sin you need to confess? 

·        Do you need to stop ignoring a problem and admit it as such? God does not expect you to be perfect but He does want you to be honest.  We need to admit when we have fallen short of God’s standard. In what ways is God calling you to change your course? 

·        Is God pushing you to change a certain attitude or behaviour?

·        Does He want you to reach out to someone, to forgive something they’ve done wrong, or simply to give of yourself to show kindness?

·        Is God calling you to step out in faith?  Perhaps He is calling you to use your gifts more?

·        Maybe He wants you to mend a relationship?

·        Are you praying regularly with others in our church?

·        Perhaps He is calling you to make regular worship a priority…

The real test of a believer is how we respond to what God tells us to do.  The real test of faith is not what we say, but more what we do in response to what God says.

Devastation at the hand of God

Here's the link to the Sermon: God disciplines... 

 

Reading: Joel 1

1. Verse 1. What do we know about Joel? e.g. where did he live, who did he minister to, what did his and his father’s name mean? Does any of this matter?
2. Verse 2, why do you think Joel started off addressing the elders?
3. What do you make of a God who would deliberately bring such unpleasantness and damage to people?
4. Discuss how Deuteronomy 28 fits in with this?
5. How had these people messed up? What was their sin? (verse 12 gives a clue)
6. What is an idol?
7. How does all of this apply to us today?

Prayer for Sierra Leone Mission

1. There is so much corruption among public officers in the country and that is causing distrust and poverty. Pray that God transforms the leaders and civil servants of the nation.
2. There have been so many situations of rape (sometimes of children as young as 7 yrs.) and violation of women and children sexually in Sierra Leone is rampant of late. Please pray for the victims and that God may have mercy on us and heal the hearts of men.
3. Pray for the recent flood victims in Freetown and other places in the country (over 10,000 households); especially for innocent children. 
4. Pray for the people affected by ebola, because some of the aid do not seem to be reaching the actual victims but to those who are not directly affected and can afford far more than the poor affected, especially orphans and widows.
5. Pray for Samuel Mansaray of Brama Church, who has not been keeping well in the past month, thanks to the Friends of Sierra Leone for their financial aid for his hospital bills.
6. Help us pray against the recent spate of ritual murder allegedly sponsored by politicians seeking to gain or maintain power.
7. Pray for the right choice of leaders in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion Sierra Leone which is due in February next year. Elections can sometimes be a divisive issue in the Connexion over here.
8. Pray for God's provision of funds to complete Bethesda before February 2016. God has been so faithful to this project. His provisions are always forthcoming.

Pearls, fish, fire: old and new...

Here's the link to the Sermon: The Old with the New 

 

Reading: Matthew 13 : 44-52

1. Verses 44-46:  whilst this looks like an obvious picture of giving up everything to follow Christ, discuss and consider some of the ways that “selling everything” will impact our lives, what are the obvious and not so obvious costs of following Christ.
2. Verses 47-49: a passage we might not want to dwell on! However discuss: a) what it is that makes righteous people righteous, b) what is hell? c) How should  this picture affect us in our everyday lives, living alongside ‘unsaved’ people?
3. Verses 51-52: this was dealt with in the sermon. How should the church adapt to meet society? What responsibilities do all Christians have in this area and how should we work and live together as a church family to effectively live and enable each other to live for Christ. [Clarification: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22]

Why Are You Heading Naked Into Battle?

Here's the link to the Sermon: Heading Naked in to Battle? 

Reading: Ephesians 6:10-18

1. Discuss who the enemy is; what is the enemy’s aim and what are his tactics? (verse 18)
2. What’s our aim in the battle? (verse 18)
3. Discuss each of the items of armour described and why they are important to us. (verses 14-17)
4. Spend some time in discussion about prayer, and the result neglecting prayer (verses 18 &10)
5. Take time to pray as a group…