Group Guide

April 16th, 2023

This Week's City 7:

7. How can I trust that the Bible is still God’s Word today? I trust the Bible is still God’s Word today because Jesus rose from the dead proving He was God and said His words would never pass away. Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the writing of the Scripture, determined the canon of Scripture and protected the copying of Scripture so that we might know Him and worship Him to this day.
(Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Revelation 22:18-19)

Ice-Breaker:

How important (or overlooked) is gratitude in our society? How frustrating is it when people are ungrateful or even take advantage of you?

Discussion Questions:

Have someone read Luke 17:11-19 aloud.

When Jesus encounters 10 lepers on His way to Jerusalem, He is moved with compassion for them and heals them. But this healing encounter went a little bit differently than previous ones. He doesn't touch them. He doesn't even say, "You're healed." He simply tells them to go show themselves to the priest. The priest in those days acted kind of like a medical examiner. If someone was healed or if their condition had improved, they would have to confirm that with the priest so he could officially deem them cleansed. So Jesus was telling them to go show the priest they were healed BEFORE the healing took place. Then, as they went, they were healed. OBEDIENCE brings BLESSING to our lives. The Bible is FULL of if/then statements. If we obey, if we call out to Him, if we come to Him, if we ask, seek, knock, God has promised to do all sorts of things. If we do nothing, if we disobey, doubt, go our own way, He’s promised nothing… except maybe death, destruction, pain, penalties, separation from Him. If Jesus says to do something, do it. How often do we expect God to bless us or answer our prayers, giving no thought at all to our obedience to Him? What has Jesus told you to do that you're not doing?
The first takeaway from Sunday was that we are all lepers... spiritually speaking. We ARE the lepers in the story! Leprosy in scripture is symbolic of sin, and there are many parallels. Leprosy starts out as a small spot that grows and festers until it takes over the whole person, condemning him to separation, isolation and death. Like leprosy, sin is progressive and alienates you from God. It takes you down piece by piece. It was also a disfiguring disease, leaving those who suffer from it looking hideous and scary. But what we fail to realize is that this is what we look spiritually. Our disease was incurable; our situation hopeless; our lives miserable. Jesus offered our only chance for deliverance. And mustering what hopeful faith we had, we begged the Master to heal us. And now, because of what Christ did for us, we've gone from hideously disfigured to "holy and blameless, without a single fault." What kind of emotions does this stir up in you? How important is it for us to never forget just how much our Savior has delivered us from?
When the one leper was healed, he immediately praised God. The leper knew he could not achieve wholeness on his own. He took no credit, but gave God all the glory. It was only by the grace and power of God. And when he recognized what God had done, he wanted to tell the world about it. What are you doing to make God's name known? How much credit do you take for things, even if it's unintentional, instead of giving God glory?
Next, he fell at the feet of Jesus and worshiped Him. WORSHIP brings INTIMACY with God. The Samaritan had started off at a distance but ended up at the feet of his Savior. Worship is important because it reestablishes our relationship with God on its proper terms. It resets our hearts. It's about humbling yourself before God, bowing the knee, acknowledging that He alone is great and we are not. It's about vocalizing and recognizing the truth of the gospel and that we are nothing apart from him. How engaged are you when we worship together on Sundays? Are you uninhibited in your worship? Or are you distracted? Are you a hand-raiser? Are you ever preoccupied with what others might think of you if you were to sing out loud or lift your hands in worship? What would "taking a step forward" in worship look like for you?
Finally, he THANKED God. We are often called in scripture to give God thanks. The Word of God provides a full list of reasons to be grateful. God is thanked for His deliverance, for loving us and being faithful, for hearing our cry, for safe arrival after a long journey, for other believers and for the testimony of their faith, for the gift of salvation that enables one not to sin, for delivering us from our tendency to sin, for the spiritual gift of being able to address God, for resurrection hope, for testimony, deliverance and victory in the midst of persecution, for other believers, for those who respond to God’s Word, for being able to serve others for God and for His attributes. Those are just some of the reasons we have for thanksgiving. Notice that this list has absolutely nothing to do with things, or possessions. Should we be thankful for that stuff? At the very least! But the cry of our hearts, the overwhelming gratitude we should be feeling, driving us to our knees in worship should be the simple truth of the Gospel and that He has brought us out of darkness into His glorious light. Let's spend the rest of our time vocalizing just how thankful and grateful we are for all God has done in our lives.

Prayer Topics:

That we would be obedient to Jesus.
That we would be quick to give Him glory and credit.
That we would live lives of gratitude in worship.

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