Disciplined LiSTeNeRs in Marriage

Connect: In one minute or less, tell us about a marriage that has influenced you greatly (either positively or negatively).

Surrender: Break up into groups to pray for the marriages in our church that they might be strong like triple-braided cords. Husbands and wives could pray together. Couples could pray for one another. Single people could pray for married people they know. ETC.

(Remind people of how much time you have set aside for this).

Grow:

Do you think marriage is in crisis in our society? Why or why not?

For you, what is the hardest part of weaving the spiritual into your marriage relationship?

Read Ecclesiastes 4:7-12
Ask the singles in the group if anything stood out to them (about marriage or relationship in general) from the passage on Sunday.

Ask the married people which word picture stuck out to them the most.

Work v. 9
Walk v. 10
Warmth v.11
War v.12

One verse 9,

Practically speaking, what do you think it means for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church?

It is easy for you to ask for help when you are overloaded? If not, why not?

On a scale of 1-10, how easy is it to recognize when your spouse is overloaded? How can we be more attentive to our spouse’s overload?

On verse 10,

Read Galatians 6:1. What do you think Galatians 6:1 would like in a marriage relationship?

On verse 11,

Why do you suppose God specifically tells husbands to love their wives and wives to submit/honor/respect their husbands?

Men tend to value respect over love. Women tend to value love over respect. In your experience, have you found this to be true?
What have you learned about living out these principles of love and respect?

On verse 12,

The world’s system works against marriages in many ways. Which one concerns you the most?

If you were the Devil, what would you do to unravel Christian marriages?

What are some ways that you have found to weave Jesus into your marriage relationship?

Thoughts:

Pick several; of questions that you think will best meet the needs in your group. Start with simpler questions and work toward the more difficult ones.

Do not let the single people sit this one out. If they don’t answer the questions, reframe the question specifically for them. They might not be married, but as objective observers they must have some ideas on it.

Develop:

Should you try the blessing chair this week? This is a great way for people to learn to exercise their spiritual gifts (through prayer).

Last week, I tried the blessing chair (put someone in a chair and have the group lay hands on and pray for God’s blessing). It took awhile for the group to decide who should be in the chair, but I am glad I waited the group out, b/c the person who ended up there really needed focused prayer from the group.

Share:

How are the outreach ideas coming? Both of my groups have ideas and we are working on them, but we don’t have dates settled yet. This is the week to start firming up those plans. If you run out of time, perhaps some people would stay after and work on the outreach stuff with you?