Good for Us

CONNECTION GROUP QUESTIONS
March 22, 2009

Opening:
Your five + minutes for announcements at the start of your meeting are INVALUABLE to keep people informed and involved. Tell them what’s coming up, recruit new volunteers, and involve them in serving within your group.

We’d actually like you to do things a bit differently at this meeting. One of the reasons we love groups meeting in homes is that this provides a natural connection to our neighborhoods.

Our hope is that our Connection Groups become our primary source for community outreach and service. Let’s talk about this tonight.

Digging Deeper:
Take a few minutes and brainstorm some outreach ideas for Easter-
* Is there a project you can take on?
* A family you can help?
* An agency you can volunteer with?

Give the following challenge: Whom can you invite to Connections this Easter?

What will it take to get your neighbor, a co-worker, a friend to church this Easter? Maybe all they need is a heart felt invitation? Maybe bringing them a meal would show them you really do care?

Easter is a natural season for reaching out to our community. If you get folks to Connections April 5 and 12 you can promise them an amazing service. We’ll also be handing out gifts to everyone who joins us. Not only that, but every new visitor who gives us their contact information also receives a gift card in the mail. So be assured- when you invite folks to Connections, we will go out of our way to show them our appreciation and love.

Closing:
Ask everyone in the group to think about who that person(s) will be. Share names and pray for them by name. Tell them you'll be asking for updates at in the coming weeks.

If you have time- talk about sex! Read 1 Corinthians 6 & 7
¹²"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."¹⁷But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. ¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

¹Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. ²But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. ³The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. ⁵Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶I say this as a concession, not as a command. ⁷I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Good for Her

Opening:
Let’s start with the assurance that His grace is enough. This subject may have brought up painful, shameful, difficult memories and emotions. Take time to discuss and process this as a group of loving and gracious people.

Digging Deeper:
Let’s jump right into Song of Solomon. Read the background to this book of poetry and them jump into chapters 1 and 2.

We are approaching this thematically. What emerges is the love story of a couple. From the perspective of asking, “What’s good for her?” we see many lessons emerge.

How is does he engage in WORD PLAY? Does this mean we all have to be poets? Women, help the husbands and young men to understand what good word play means. How can words build up or tear down a woman? Just how important are words to you?

How does he engage in CHORE PLAY? All right, he was a king and probably didn’t help out too much around the colonnade. But he does take an interest in the details. How can we help out with chores around the home, and help us to understand why this is so important to your sexual well-being.

Finally, we do see a lot of FOREPLAY in these poems. They had it bad for each other. Take this as an opportunity to discuss how a woman thinks about (or doesn’t think about) sex. Is there truth to sayings such as, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.” Feel free to discuss the questions your group raises. Focus on making it “good for her.”

Remember, keep bringing this back to biblical and experiential truths. Next week we’ll be getting into texts such as Ephesians 5, but feel free to go there now.

Closing:
Eat some apples and pray!

Good For Him

Opening:
The whole point of this is to get men and women talking about what is good in our relationships. So don’t split up! Single men and women and couples need to talk about this stuff. So here we go…

Digging Deeper:
Read Genesis 2:23-25
First, this is the most common trajectory for people- venture out, find a spouse, have kids. But, it’s not always the case. We will, however, focus on this trajectory. Discuss if necessary.

98% of men say they are visual. 25% of women say they are visual.
What do we mean by this?
Do you agree that men seem to be created as visual beings, and that this is even normal and good?
How has the visual tendency of men turned toward destructive and sinful things?
How can we turn this created norm toward good and glorifying things?

Let’s focus on the man-
Job 31:1 I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon a woman.

The break in the cup of men makes us long for visual arousal that can and often does lead to very harmful practices.
How can we make and live this kind of covenant? Share, discuss, debate.

Now the woman-
1 Timothy 2:9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety…

Discuss/debate how we can put this into practice.
Do you agree that it is a good thing for wives to be visually stimulating for their husbands?
What about the encouragement to “take care of yourselves?”
Why does this seem to matter so much to men?
Can this be mutually edifying?

Closing:
Can we get back to the place where we can be naked and without shame?

____
Genesis 2: 23-25
23 The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,'
for she was taken out of man."

24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Job 31:1 I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully on a woman.

1 Timothy 2: 9 I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety...

Was it good for you?

Message: It's not good to be alone...
March 1, 2009

Opening:
Have you ever experienced a profound loneliness? Not just a lonely moment, but a season of feeling deeply alone? What was that like, or what do you image that is like? Why do you think solitary confinement is so feared?

Digging Deeper:
We were made for relationships- a common theme here at Connections.
Read Genesis 1:26-31. Discuss the implications, and ramifications, of being God’s image bearers. What does this say about our purpose, our design, our relationships in/to the world?

Read Genesis 2:1-22. After the general account of creation God reveals more about his image-bearers, men and women. What is unique in our creation? How does this expand what began in chapter 1? What is the role of the man? What is the relationship between man and God?

Why is it not good to be alone? What are some GREAT ways that we seek relationship?
What are some NOT GREAT ways that we’ve sought connection?

Why must we seek what is different, yet “like” us? What is the balance between “like” and “different?”

Reflect on the creation of the woman. DON’T get in verses 23-25- we’re saving that for later!

Closing:
This isn’t about marriage- this is about seeking GOOD relationships with fellow image bearers. How can we pursue greater connection and deeper relationships with our fellow image bearers? Discuss and pray.