Reality Binge Week 4 : Amazing Race

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Amazing Race

sermon guide

Note to leaders: before you start, ask if anyone did the “What would life look like in 10 years” exercise from last weekend’s sermon and, if so, offer the opportunity to discuss it.

Mike talked about our desire to know God’s will and plan for our life.

What questions about your life are you asking right now?

Mike shared three key principles from Joseph’s story that relate to hearing from God, living in his will and waiting on him to move.

1. God does have a plan for our lives, and he has a much better view from above.

Have someone read Genesis 39:19-21.

Have you had an experience when you felt you were wronged or being treated unfairly, yet you felt the Lord was with you? What did you learn from it?

Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold into slavery and 30 when Pharoah put him in charge of things. During the 13 years between those events, Joseph went through some very hard experiences, some wild-ride times. Joseph could have lost sight of any hope that God really cared about him at all or had anything good in mind for him; nevertheless, Joseph was faithful, obedient, worked hard and did the right thing. Mike pointed out that God’s will is very much about WHO YOU ARE, your character.

Have you ever had one of those days, one of those weeks or one of those decades? Did you doubt where God was in that time? How did you keep the faith?

God sees the whole picture. He has a bigger canvas in his mind, and whatever we’re seeing is just a little snapshot that fits into the plan that God is lovingly unfolding for our lives. God does have a hope and a future for your life.

Sometimes we forget that the same God who said, “I have plans to give you a hope and a future” also said, “In this life you will have trouble.”

2. God is always with you…working in the dark.

Have someone read Genesis 39:2, 21, 23 and Psalm 121:4-5.

Christian Reger spent four years in a very dark place: the infamous concentration camp Dachau. He was imprisoned there by the Nazi’s from 1941 to 1945. His crime? Simply being a passionate follower of Jesus. He wrote:

“Nietzche said that a man can undergo torture if he knows the WHY of his life. But here at Dachau, I learned something far greater. I learned to know the WHO of my life. He was enough to sustain me then and is enough to sustain me still.”

God has not abandoned or forgotten you. He is the WHO of your life, working behind the scenes in whatever your “dungeon experience” is right now. He is committed to working all things together for good, for those who love him. You can trust God; he is with you in the dark.

What spiritual disciplines can help you keep God at the center of your life?

3. God’s plan is to have the right person in the right place, for his right purposes.

Have someone read Genesis 45:3-8.

When has God used a difficult trial of your own in someone else’s life?

Think back over Joseph’s life. In what specific ways had God been preparing Joseph for this assignment? How did Joseph’s submission, confidence, and trust in God grow?

Application

Mike shared the things we can do each day to live like Joseph:

Engage in daily surrender to God

Be honorable in whatever circumstance you’re currently in

Let God lead you through this Amazing Race

Never lose hope in the God who never sleeps

Which of the four steps is the biggest struggle for you and why?

WRAP UP & PRAYER

Have each person share their prayer requests. Ask someone to type them up and share the list with the group. This week spend time daily praying for your group.

Spend time praying for each other.

This week at night pray, giving God all your burdens and say “God, I may not know all the specifics, but it feels so good to be in the hands of the One who does.”