Living in Harmony

Week Three Living in Harmony

Connect: 7:00-7:20

§ Make sure everyone understands the covenant/guidelines for the group (last week you were to have created them).

§ Can you think of a time when you saw people who were “not on the same page” get “on the same page?” (from disharmony to harmony)

What made the biggest difference in this case?

Surrender: 7:20-7:30

Humility seemed to be Paul’s answer for disharmony in the church.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14 KJV)

Read together Philippians 2:1-11

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV)

We all want the kind of exaltation Jesus enjoyed, but few of us are interested in the humility that preceded it.

Open your hearts to God in prayer using this passage as a guide.

If anyone has a specific prayer request regarding something for which they need humility, the group can pray about that too.

Grow: 7:30-8:00

§ What about the premise of the message: “Sharing God’s peace with the world depends on our ability as Christians to be in harmony with one another?”

What scriptural support is there for or against this idea?

§ Romans 12:16 says “do not be proud.” This could be written “do not think the high thoughts.”

What “high thoughts” do you have about yourself that trip you up from time to time?

§ Philippians 2:6 says Jesus didn’t see equality with God as something to be grasped; this led to Him coming to earth as a man to save us. Jesus also did not grasp the kingdoms of the world when offered them by Satan.

What are you grasping for that may not be within God timing for you to have right now?

Are you holding on to something that you need to let go of?

§ Is there something in your life right now for which you need to eat some Humble Pie?

In what ways is putting on humility like putting on clothing (1Peter 5:5)?

What are some practical ways that we can cloth ourselves in humility this week?

§ Humility doesn’t mean you can’t set boundaries with people. Humility does mean letting people take advantage of you all the time. Talk about what should be done if people make it a pattern of taking advantage of your humility.
Develop: 8:00-8:15

Did group members invite others to join you for group this week? If so, what happened?

Is there someone in the group who shows initiative? Ask them to help you with a portion of the meeting next week.

If the group discussion was particular fruitful, you could have the group pray for each other about needs that arose during discussion or…

Let the group know you would like for them to pray for each other. Let the group know how much time you have set aside for this. Take requests (keep this moving along) and pray.

Share: 8:15-8:30

Ask the group to start thinking about outreach ideas the group can perform together before Christmas. Ask them to think about people they hope to lead to Christ and ways the group might be able to help that person.

To end the meeting, you could pray and ask God to lead your group in this regard.