Last night in our Sr High 2Twenty Youth Service we did something unique. Instead of having a typical sermon, we watched one of Rob Bell's "mini-movies" from the Nooma series called LUMP, which talks about the "junk" we often hide in our lives. Then we broke off into small groups for a time of discussion and Bible study relevant to the topic of the video. It actually went really well. I even decided to post the discussion guide that we created for our small groups. Some of the questions were taken from the booklet that came with the purchase of the Nooma series, while others were ones we came up with ourselves. If you choose to watch the video (which I recommend), just know that it lasts about 10 minutes.
HERE'S OUR DISCUSSION GUIDE WE CREATED:
Question #1 – Have you ever gotten busted for
something you’ve done? If so, what was
it?
Question #2 – What are some ways that you avoid
dealing with the “junk” in your life?
Question #3 – You
don’t have to answer the first part of this question out loud, but make sure you think about it:
- Do you
have anything in your life that you’re hiding or something that you’re
ashamed of? If so, are you ready to
deal with it?
- Here’s the portion of the question that you can
answer out loud: Instead of hiding something that you’re ashamed
of, or that you regret, what’s the best thing to do about? What are the results of continuing to
hide it?
*Let’s see what the Bible has to say about these
things:
James 5:16 – “Confess your
sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The
earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful
results.”
- This verse tells us there is freedom and power when we confess the things we’re trying to hide. When we confess to God, He forgives us. When we confess to another person who is spiritually strong, they can help by to keep us accountable so that we don’t keep getting tripped up by the same thing over and over again.
Romans 8:38-39 - And I am
convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor
life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our
worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s
love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed,
nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God
that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Question #4 – Is it difficult for you to believe that
God loves you no matter what you have done in your life? Why or why not?
Question #5 – How can that truth (the fact that God
loves you no matter what) help to change the way that you live?
Remember this quote from the video: “May you stop
hiding under the covers. May you let God
pull the covers back. May you embrace
him. May your whole life become a
response to the truth that you’ve always been loved, you are loved, and you
always will be loved.”
