Knowing Jesus,
making Jesus known
making Jesus known
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Web manager Simon Ford
Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.”
Rev 22.13
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.”
Rev 22.13
EDGE Autumn 2006 - Water Walking 2…
Welcome
Throw out a roll of toilet paper and ask each person to take as much as they need, but don't tell them what it is for.
When everyone has what they feel they need get them to tear each sheet into squares at the perforation. Now for each square they have they must share one fact about themselves. Or you might choose to get each person to reveal something they are ‘feeling’ or thinking about for each square.
Worship
Invite people to pray really simple words of praise after they listen to a song. Play a track from an appropriate worship CD – (play it as loud/quiet as necessary) – then continue to praise
Word
Read out the story that John Ortberg tells
Sometime after Florence, my paternal grandmother, died, my grand-father called my mother with an unusual offer.
"Kathy," he said, in his heavy Swedish accent. "I was going through some of Florence's things in the attic when I came across a box of old dishes. I was going to get rid of them, but I noticed that they're blue— you're favorite color. Why don't you take a look at them, and if you want them, they're yours; otherwise, I'll give them to the Salvation Army."
So my mother went through the attic, expecting to find some run-of-the-mill dinnerware. Instead, when she opened the box, she was looking at some of the most exquisite china she had ever seen. Each plate had been individually painted with a pattern of forget-me-nots. The cups were inlaid mother-of-pearl. The dishes and cups were rimmed with gold. The plates had been handcrafted in a Bavarian factory that was destroyed during the Second World War, so they were literally irreplaceable.
Yet my mother had been in the family for twenty years, and she had never seen this china before. She asked my father about it. He had grown up in the family—and he had never seen it, either.
Eventually they found out from some older family members the story of the china. When Florence was very young, she was given this china over a period of years. They were not a wealthy family, and the china was quite valuable, so she only got a piece at a time for gifts—' confirmation, graduation, or a birthday.'
Why had my parents never seen it?
Whenever Florence received a piece of china—because it was so valuable, because if it was used it might get broken—she would wrap it very carefully in tissue, put it in a box, and store it in the attic for a very special occasion. No occasion that special ever came along. So my grandmother went to her grave with the greatest gift of her life unopened and unused.'
Then my mother was given the dishes. She uses them promiscuously—every chance she has. They have finally made it out of the box
What are people’s responses to the story?
Why the two different responses to using the china?
For the person who hides a precious gift what are they fearful of?
(broken, not liked, lost, not admired)
For the person who uses the gift what are they fearful of?
(never seen, the gift is not enjoyed, the desire of the giver is thwarted!)
Which one is better? (One leads to stagnation, one leads to growth)
Each one of us has been given a gift: the gift of life: time, talents, opportunities etc…
What do we do with it?
How do we sometimes seek to protect it?
How do we sometimes use it?
Peter chose to take hold of the opportunity and get out of the boat… but the other 11 chose to become “boat potatoes”!
Look at Exodus 3 and 4: in what ways did Moses want to be a “shepherd potato”?
Can people identify the thoughts of Moses as he tried to get out of serving God?
e.g. in Exodus 3:11 (– he doubts his gift: am I important?)
Look also at Exodus 4 verses 1,10 and 13
Are these similar things to what we think?
Jesus has given you a gift or life to live for him.
Does fear, comparison or potato like tendencies stop us from getting out of the boat?
Witness
Be honest with each other about how you have become a boat potato?
How different things are stopping you fully using the gift that God has given you
Pray for each other
Pray that you will each grow in your Christian faith!