Group Guide
Ice-Breaker:
How was your Easter? What did everyone do?
Discussion Questions:
Have someone read Acts 3:1-26 aloud.
- Often in life we can experience unmet expectations; a gap between what's ideal and what's real. Sometimes that gap can be frustrating, but other times it can actually be a good thing. In Acts 3 we see an unmet expectation in the lame man that was looking for a temporary solution to his problems. He asked Peter and John for money, and they heal him instead. That's the first gap Clayton shared between our IDEAL and God's REAL. Our ideal is often a shallow, immediate solution, while God's real is a deep, eternal transformation. When we make secondary things primary in our lives, we will always be disappointed. How often might we look for secondary things that will never satisfy us or solve our problems? What are some examples of this in your life?
- Next, our ideal is blessings from the Kingdom, while God's real is the reigning of the KING. This is the 2nd gap Clayton discussed between our real and God's ideal. We want all the things the King can bless us with without really having to submit to him. Many have bought into the culture's lie that humbling ourselves to Jesus' reign will suffocate us. So we, instead, pursue selfish ambition, self fulfillment, self realization, self discovery, and self destiny. But Jesus said that if we DENY ourselves we will find true life. David said in Psalm 16 that every good thing comes from the Lord and that there is joy and freedom found in his law. Do you ever find yourself buying into this lie, that following Jesus is restrictive? How do you know if you're truly experiencing freedom in Christ?
- The problem is, just like the lame man that was looking for a handout, we are often trusting in an OUTCOME instead of a PERSON. Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the days of Daniel. When they were threatened with death in the fire, they said that God WILL rescue them, God COULD rescue them, but if he doesn't they still would not bow to an idol. Even if God didn't give them the rescue they wanted, they still chose to trust him. That's what it looks like to trust a person instead of an outcome. How do we develop this "even if" kind of faith? Have you ever chosen to exercise this kind of faith in God when things didn't turn out they way you had hoped and prayed?
- Sometimes our lives don't work out the way we thought they would, and sometimes we don't get the answers to our prayers that we expect. Sometimes we are left with a gap between our ideal and God's real. We still go through trials, we still get sick, we still experience pain. Clayton shared this quote by Charles Spurgeon: “The Christian grows rich by his losses, he lives by dying, and becomes full by being emptied.” What does this quote speak to you?
- The bottom line is, your IDEAL just doesn't compare to God's REAL. If our lives are all about what we want, how we want it, when we want it we will never be satisfied. We will live shallow, empty lives. God's real is always ideal. Are there some areas of your life you've chosen your way or what you think is best over God's best? Is there anything you haven't fully surrendered to him?
Prayer Topics:
- That we would always trust God's real over our ideal.
- That when there is a gap between our ideal and God's real, we would choose to trust him.
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