Tonight we will begin a series in our Life Group on Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God. Tim Keller is Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. This is a series I have long been look forward to and I pray that God will glorified in our study.
I first heard Keller preach on The Prodigal Sons back in February 2008 while listening to the sermons listed as part of The Vision of Redeemer series. As a result, I was eager to read the Keller’s book The Prodigal God when it was published last fall. The book exceeded my expectations and quickly became one of my favorite books. I passed my copy along to a good friend who also embraced the book.
Since reading the book I have been anticipating a study guide to go along with the book. In August, Keller and Zondervan delivered the study The Prodigal God: Finding Your Place at the Table. The six part study features a DVD and a discussion guide. We will be using these materials for our study.
I would also encourage you to download and listen to the sermons that Redeemer has made available related to Tim Keller’s book The Prodigal God from the series The Fellowship of Grace.
Sitting in Life Group right now discussing Jeff’s sermon last week on Consumed: Beyond Fear. (mp3 | study)
There is an illustration in the study about the fortune John G. Wendel and his family put together. A quick search in Google brought up this New York Times article from 1914.
We spent a lot of time looking at Matthew 6:24-30. Here is John Piper on serving God and money in Matthew 6:24:
How does a person serve money? He does not assist money. He is not the benefactor of money. How then do we serve money? Money exerts a certain control over us because it seems to hold out so much promise of happiness. It whispers with great force, “Think and acts so as to get into a position to enjoy my benefits.” This may include stealing, borrowing or working.
Money promises happiness, and we serve it by believing the promise and walking by that faith. So we don’t serve money by putting our power at is disposal for its good. We serve money by doing what is necessary so that money’s power will be at our disposal for our good.
I found this to be very instructive.
We also talked about the reaction that so many of us have when we get reconnected with old friends on Facebook. Jealousy seems to be a common theme.
I shared the story of reconnecting with Melissa Beiriger Hill on Facebook last week. I find what Melissa and Trey are doing in West Dallas to be so inspiring. What a great example of faithful service in the cause of Christ.
We looked at the explanation of the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:18-23. This lead us to 1 Timothy 6:6-19. Again, Piper comes to mind with Money: Currency for Christian Hedonism.
Voddie Baucham’s message on The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World is very relevant to this discussion. The world wants us to believe we are just accidents, here to consume. The Word of God has a very different message for us.
What do we do about…
- Retirement
- Care of widows/orphans
- Generosity
That’s all for now as we are wrapping things up tonight.
Drew Leaver and Rowland Forman led this breakout session during the Life Group Leadership Workshop today.
- 1 Timothy 4:16
- Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
- What is depth?
- The third dimension.
- Perspective or the sense of distance from an observation point: linear perspective in painting.
- The degree of richness or intensity: depth of color
- [Also referring to: Intellectual complexity; the penetration of an idea; the range of one's understanding; complete detail.]
Goal is to create perspective on what God is calling us to do. Add perspective, intensity, richness. There is more to this life.
- Remember people’s problems and prayers.
- Bring the idea of the night back to real life.
Tie it in to what the group is wrestling with in their own lives.
- Let it marinate.
- use the week to reflect and consider what the last sermon means for you. Let the passages and the big idea of the study sink in.
- Make it personal.
- Lead by example. Your group will only be as personal as you are, as deep as you area, and as authentic as you are. If you want them to make it personal, show them that you have.
Getting familiar with the Word of God
Rowland suggests:
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Spiritual showers, i.e. “Daily office”
See Ephesians 5 and the “washing of scripture”. Read the scriptures with assistance of a program. Discipleship Journal has some great Bible reading plans. The One Year Bible (NIV) is a great tool as well.
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Spiritual spa baths
Memorize and meditate on a specific scripture passage until you are living that passage. Let it marinate in your life.
How do you balance “pop-culture Christianity” answers with Biblical truth? Tie the lessons to people’s problems and prayers.
Here’s an idea: start the night talking about what God is doing in each other’s lives so that you can apply the lesson to each person. Get the community invested in each other.
Creating tension/uncomfort can be good.
Might want to prep the group earlier in the week with a selected scripture verse/passage or maybe an idea that relates to the lesson.
Sermon Based Studies are now know as Life Group Lessons. These will be posted the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. These are guides. Steal these ideas and personalize them for your group. Capture the problems and prayers of the group. Base the study on these needs.
Preview: In January 2007, there will be a sermon series that all Life Group’s will be asked to study.
As Dave mentioned in a recent email, we will begin a new study entitled “Connecting With God’s Family” on August 5. A study guide is available for less than $10, not bad for a six session study. We highly recommend that you purchase a study guide, although it is not required.
The guide is available at:
