Global Emphasis Sunday
Opening
Consider starting group by asking for people to share what stood out the most from Sunday’s sermon. Have they spent any time with Jesus asking how they need to respond?
Overview
As people who follow Jesus, we are called to give up our lives to share the gospel with others. Most of the time we ignore that calling. We choose comfort over calling because we have become selfish. We start to believe that comfort is what God wants for our lives. We care more about what we gain in this life than in the next life. We have to question our motives: is it the comfortable preservation of our own lives or our calling to proclaim the gospel?
When we understand we must lose our lives in order to gain them, we can embrace our vital calling to go and make disciples of all nations. We are each either a zealous goer or a zealous sender. We are expected to get involved in God’s work in this world. God has not saved us to sideline us in his greatest calling.
Discussion Questions
- What next step is God directing you toward?
- How do you know if you are a sender or a goer?
Practice
Matthew 16 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Read this passage aloud and invite your group to spend five minutes in silence, inviting the Spirit to speak. Ask the following questions, making space for people to answer aloud and discuss with the group if they want. Plan to allow for 2-3 minutes of silence between each set of questions.
What cross have you picked up in following Jesus? How has that transformed you to be more like Jesus?
What cross is Jesus inviting you to pick up? What holds you back from doing that?
How are you attempting to save your own life instead of letting it go? What compels you to do that?
Closing
Pray for each of you to proclaim the love of God everywhere you go, whether that is into your workplaces and neighborhoods or around the world.