Jesus First: 40-Day Challenge · 8 of 41
Day 7: Talk it over
No new reading today. Take the week to someone else.
This week you read:
- Day 1, Psalm 73: Honest about it
- Day 2, 1 Samuel 16:1-13: God sees what we can’t
- Day 3, Matthew 23:23-28: Jesus saw it first
- Day 4, Revelation 2:1-7: Busy, and far away
- Day 5, Revelation 3:14-22: He is still knocking
- Day 6, Luke 19:41-48: He wept
If you meet with a friend or a group
- Recap the week. Take turns retelling one of the passages in your own words. Which one stayed with you, and why?
- Name what you are carrying. What have you felt this week about the church, about God, about yourself? Say it honestly. Nobody needs to fix it.
- Share one “I will”. What did you try to do, and what happened? If you did not do it, say so. What got in the way?
- Ask the hard question together. If our disappointment is a taste of what God feels, what does that change about how we look at the church?
- Pray together. Keep it short and honest.
For whoever is leading: receive what people say about the church without defending it, and without piling on. Let the passage do the teaching rather than explaining it yourself. If someone’s answer drifts away from what the passage says, gently bring the group back by asking, “Where do you see that in the passage?” Two things to keep in mind every week. If someone describes something in their church that is not right, such as abuse, manipulation or false teaching, the counsel in this class to stay does not apply to them; encourage them to talk about it with someone they trust. And if someone has felt numb or hopeless for a long time, gently encourage them to get help beyond this group as well.
Talk it over
Today there is no new reading. Take what you have read and done this week and talk it over with someone. Pick whichever fits.
Scripture quotations are from the Open Translation Bible (OTB), used under CC BY-SA 4.0.