SERIES TITLE
Fearless
series overview
The world today can be a scary place, but it doesn’t have to be. All too often fear is what holds us back. So, what can we do about it? Join us as we learn how to lead FEARLESS lives of grace, faith, and generosity.
sermon TITLE
Fearless Grace
weekend in review
Guest speaker Albert Tate unpacks Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus invites us to bring him into the dark and inappropriate places in our lives so we may leave them behind and find true wholeness in him.
WARM UP
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. You can talk about whatever you’d like, but here is a potential question to get the conversation going.
- Who is the last person (or group of people) you shared with about what Jesus has done in your life? How did that go?
DISCUSSion
- Read John 4:1-6. Culturally Jews couldn’t stand Samaritans. They looked upon them as scoundrels and disdained them as mixed-breed Jews. Yet Jesus chose to go to Samaria and reveal who he is to the people there. Are there people you avoid or go around? What would it look like for you to engage with them instead?
- We need to know what it is like to do life with people who don’t live, look or vote like us. Do you feel this has been your experience at church?
- The Samaritan woman knew what it was like to be empty and longing for more. Have you found yourself in a similar season, when you were aware of being empty and longing for more?
- Where do you need God to open doors in your life? What are the parts of your life where you know you need more?
- Read John 4:7-13. God knows all our secrets, our problems, our hurts, our struggles, the areas of our lives marked with shame, bitterness, failure, defeat, insecurity, bitterness, self-righteousness, arrogance, envy, selfishness…the dark areas, the inappropriate parts of our lives. He calls us to bring these to him. What keeps us from doing so?
- Have you ever felt like you were the only one going through something? Maybe you come to church and pretend everything is ok or you are prone to falling into the comparison trap. What if you would bring it all to Jesus and honestly lay out before him the things you struggle with? Why do we tend to defend our disfunctions?
- When you are in the midst of hard circumstances and waiting on God to move, how can you fight hopelessness and remember the King still has more moves in your life?
- How did Jesus balance non-judgmental compassion with uncompromised truth in his relationship with the woman? How can we do the same in our relationships with others?
- What desires or longings do we often look to the world to satisfy today, when the ultimate fulfillment will only be found in Jesus?
application
- Why do some people continue to let their past condition prevent them from experiencing joy in relationship to Jesus now? How could you encourage a person like that? Reach out to someone in your life that needs that encouragement.
- Where are you tempted to look for satisfaction in life besides Jesus? This week spend time in prayer, bringing these needs to God.
WRAP UP & PRAYER
Share prayer requests and spend time praying for each other
Thank God for coming to us in our brokenness and embracing us just as we are. Ask him to lead us to reach out to others in the same way with the message of love and hope in Jesus.