Hating and Clinging

Preparing for Sampler
You should provide some food/refreshments for this first sampler meeting. Try to create a fun, party atmosphere.

Give people a chance to chat before the meeting, but start as close to 7:00 as you possibly can to set the tone for future weeks.

Connect: 7:00-7:20

Tell us about the place where you were born and something noteworthy about it. Keep your response to 1 or 2 minutes.

As the group leader, you go first to model how you want them to answer the question. Set the expectation that everyone is to share something.

Surrender: 7:20-7:30

Recap: On Sunday, Bruce spoke about hating evil and clinging to good (Romans 12:9).

Have someone read 1 Corinthians 14:20, “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.”

Ask if someone would lead the group in prayer regarding the contents of this verse.

A prayer of surrender to be simple concerning evil and mature adults about that which is good. You might give people a chance to meditate on the verse before you pray.

If no one offers to pray, you can pray.

Grow: 7:30-8:00

Paul warned the Romans about teachers who did not have the Roman’s best spiritual interest in mind. He told them to stay away from these teachers. Then he applauded their obedience to the truth.

Ask someone to read Romans 16:19
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

Let’s brainstorm together and get as many ideas out there as possible then we will come back and talk about some of them more in-depth. Try to involve everyone in this part of the discussion.

What are some things that should be part of our game plan of “becoming wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil?”

Example: applying Bible to our lives, praying against evil in our lives, spiritual disciplines like solitude, fasting, etc.

Let’s look at the list we came up with. Which do you see as most important for you? Why?

Bruce spoke about “potential evil.”
Food can be evil if you struggle with weight issues
Alcohol, if you struggle with restraint
Unfiltered computer for some people.

These things are not evil or wrong for everyone but may be wrong for you.

Can you think of other potential evils?

Develop: 8:00-8:15

Take some time here to explain how the group will be going forward.

Each week we will…

Take a few minutes to get to know each other better (connection).
Recognize the Lord’s presence in our meeting and surrender ourselves to him (via prayer, reading scripture, listening to a song, and other ideas you might come up with).
Discuss the message/scriptures we heard on the previous Sunday (we will do this for the next four weeks and decide as a group whether to continue this or choose another method for spiritual growth).

If you missed the Sunday message, you can download/listen to it on the website or check out pastor Vinnie’s weekly blog email for a recap of the message.

End the meeting after 90 minutes; if you want to stick around after we break that is fine.


On some weeks, we will…

Ask for people to take on more and more ownership of the group (bring snacks, help with various aspects of the group meetings, use your spiritual gifts, help champion a particular value in the group like fellowship, discipleship, ministry, outreach, worship)
Spend time discussing and praying about how as a group we might reach out to those who are outside of God’s family.

Before Christmas, we will come up with our own outreach idea and either 1) implement it ourselves, or 2) implement it with another small group or ministry, or 3) invite the whole church to help us.

This group will meet from now until mid-December. We will take a break during the holidays and decide before the holidays whether or not we would like to reassemble in January.

Next week, we will talk about what values we expect to be present in this group and draft a simple covenant to guide our group.

If you will be attending the group, let me know later tonight or before the next meeting. If you want to wait until after next week’s meeting before you commit to the group that is fine too.

Remind people where and when you are meeting next week. You might discuss if 7:00 pm is the best time to start. If so, remind them you aim to end at 8:30 so it is important for people to be there before 7:00 so that you can start on time.

Share: 8:15-8:30

Feel free to invite someone to join you next week.

If you still have time, you might break the group up into twos and threes and have them pray for each other.

Bruce talked about clinging to that which is good. The imagery for clinging to that which is good is that of pounding or joining one metal to another.

What good things has God brought into your life that you would like to cling to (patience, more family time, love for His word, etc)?

Tell someone in your small group about this and pray with them for a few minutes before we go.

If you can’t think of anything to share, take a moment and pray that this group will be a healthy one that bears fruit spiritually in our own lives and bears fruit in reaching out to outsiders.