Group Guide

January 8th, 2023

This Week's City 7:

1. Who is Jesus? I believe Jesus is God because Jesus said He is God and proved it by rising from the dead and appearing to His disciples, His brother James, 500 others at one time and Paul.
(Mark 3:21; John 8:58, 10:30-33, 14:9-11; Acts 9:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:2-3; James 1:1)

Ice-Breaker:

Did you ever go to youth group lock-ins when you were a student? What about as a youth volunteer or leader? Love it or hate it?

Discussion Questions:

Have someone read Luke 12:13-34 aloud.

It's amazing how much the Bible has to say about money and riches. It is obviously an area of our lives that is very important and that God wants to speak into. We get our ideas of money from a lot of different places. When it comes to your life, what has shaped your ideas about money and how it should be spent? How often do you turn to scripture to inform you in the area of finances?
Jesus teaches in these verses about money and what it means to be truly rich. Any time Jesus says, "Once upon a time," you're about to get your mail read! So, we should be leaning into this message of Jesus and asking what he is saying to us through it. We all grow up wanting to BE rich. And we are! We are among the most wealthy people to ever exist. But Jesus says it's so much better than that. He wants us to BE rich in our relationship with God. After reading what Jesus had to say, do you want to GET rich or BE rich? Is it one or the other? Or both? How difficult is it to be both?
The first point from Sunday was "GETTING rich is DECEITFUL." In his story about the rich man in verses 17-19, he refers to "my" and "I" five different times. He thinks it all belongs to him. MY fruit, MY barn, MY goods. So many of us find our joy, meaning and purpose in our bank accounts, our clothes, our houses, cars and trips. Think about how much time and energy we spend on these things! How often do you think like the guy in Jesus' story about the barns? "One day I'll have enough and THEN I'll be ok!" But Jesus would say that life doesn't work like that. The man had spent a lot of time considering how he was going to enjoy his material possessions, but he never considered the state of his soul. What about you? How much energy do you put into your stuff and your money verses how much attention you give to your heart? Is there anything out of balance there?
The next point from Sunday was "BEING rich is ETERNAL." Jesus is trying to set us free from the lie of consuming and achieving. We must all embrace the truth that meaning and purpose in this life is only found in BEING rich in our relationship with God. Life is not found self-actualization, self-realization, advancement or worldly pleasures. So if we want to truly be rich, we must steward our money and stuff and time for THE Kingdom instead of OUR kingdom. Can you say this is true of you? Do adjustments need to be made? Can you say that, like Paul, you are content whether you are well fed or hungry? What is the key to contentedness?
When you make something PRIMARY that was designed to be SECONDARY, you will always feel EMPTY. C.S. Lewis said it this way: "When we put first things first, God multiplies the second things. When we put second things first, we lose not only the first things, we also lose the second things." We must take our eyes off our stuff. If we, instead, turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full into his wonderful face, the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. How have you found these things to be true in your own life and experiences? What do you need to do in order to make sure Jesus is your primary focus?

Prayer Topics:

That we would look to scripture for wisdom.
That we would not make getting rich our focus.
That we would long to BE rich.
That our eyes would be focused on Jesus.

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