Good day Community Group Leaders! Below is your Week #6 group material, also available at www.mccag.org by clicking on RESOURCES > SMALL GROUP LEADER RESOURCES Quick Reminders:
• Please begin to prayerfully consider whether or not your group will continue to meet after the ‘7AM-‐Wake-‐Up Call’ series concludes. We have wonderful group resources available for you to utilize, including RightNowTraining.org as well as on-‐site group resources (list is available on your resource page at our website.) Or, your group may enjoy doing Truth Search next. I look forward to speaking personally with you about this.
• If you have any video or pics from your group, please send them to me. We also hope to edit and use these to advertise groups next year. Email your video to me or get it to us on a jump drive or SD card, if possible.
• Be certain to revisit the individual/family missions discussion that you had last week in your groups. You will see details on this in your group materials.
• Thanks for continuing to complete your weekly reports. You guys are the best! Pastor Dwayne
WEEK#6 –‘MESSAGE NOTES’ SIDE OF BULLETIN INSERT Message Title: Decisions, Decisions
Accept that CHALLENGES are life’s standard operating procedure. At times, our challenges are SELF-‐INDUCED;
At other times, LIFE happens. Believe that God is WITH YOU throughout your hardship. Recognize that every challenge presents you with an opportunity to CHOOSE YOUR RESPONSE.
Your responses will PREPARE you for your roles in life. Your responses will POSITION you where God wants you to be. Your responses will PROPEL you into your destiny.
Will this challenge define me, or will it refine me?
WEEK#6 – REVERSE SIDE OF BULLETIN INSERT
MATERIALS NEEDED: Pencils/Pens/Paper Completed message notes bulletin inserts from Sunday See individual ORANGE activities for materials required.
WEEK 6 TIP: • Your group should be close to settling and scheduling your group mission/outreach plans this week.
Please be certain to include your group’s plans in your meeting report. GENERAL GROUP LEADERSHIP TIPS
• Sometime during your group meeting, please stop and mentally step back and look at your group. Just six weeks ago, some of these people didn’t even know one another. Quietly thank God for how he is working among your group members as they grow their faith and grow together. (You may want to invite the whole group to pause for a moment, reflect on this, and thank the Lord together.)
WELCOME/SNACKS 20 minutes
OPEN (Ice Breakers) 10 minutes Choose from these questions that are appropriate for all ages:
1. What do people do that bothers you and tempts you to be impatient? (Please do not use this an opportunity to let someone else in the group know that they are ticking you off!)
2. Do the “Two-‐gether Forever” three-‐legged race in the Orange material.
3. Briefly describe one of the most memorable dreams you have ever had.
ADULT INTERACTION OVER SUNDAY’S TOPIC/MESSAGE 30-‐40 minutes Choose from the following questions. Consider what will work best in your group. Be certain to refer to your notes from Sunday’s message as you facilitate your discussions.
1. Talk about a time when you truly wondered if God had forgotten about you. How did He show you that He hadn’t forgotten about you?
2. Thinking back to Sunday’s message, how do you feel about Joseph’s perspective that God, rather than his brothers, actually put him through the things he experienced?
Genesis 45:5b “it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you” Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being
done, the saving of many lives.” (NIV) How does God’s involvement in what happens to you make you feel about your own trials and challenges?
Romans 8:28 “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
If you believe this about God’s involvement, how might that change your attitude and relationship with God?
3. How might God want to use current challenges in your life to prepare your character for current or future roles you will fulfill in your life?
4. In what ways have you changed from what you were 13 years ago? What did God do during that time to mold your character?
Recall from Sunday that Joseph spent a combined 13 years as a servant and in prison before he was apparently ready to fulfill the role that God had in mind for him.
5. Can you think of a time when your response to a challenge or difficulty actually positioned you where God wanted you to be? Was God’s plan or involvement clear to you at the time?
6. Discuss why our responses to life’s challenges are so crucial to fulfilling our destiny. Sunday Quote: “Will this challenge DEFINE me, or will it REFINE me?” Share briefly about someone you know who allowed their challenges to define them instead of refine (or improve) them?
GROUP RESPONSE AND PRAYER 10-‐15 MINUTES WEEK 4 TIP: What’s said in the room stays in the room! Be careful to not put anyone on the spot to share. If people do share, invite others to pray a simple, conversational prayer in agreement with that person.
1. In what ways can you sense that the Lord is with you, as He was with Joseph, in the midst of a particular challenge you are facing? If you could ask God to do one thing to help you cope, what would you request?
2. Ask if anyone in your group has reached a breaking point of some kind (perhaps because of a betrayal, a job loss, a death, a divorce, a deep depression, or any other difficult situation.) If they are willing, ask them to briefly describe the situation and allow others in the group to lift that person up in prayer. (Be certain to focus on God helping that person respond as He desires, rather than simply asking God to change the circumstance.)
3. Have each adult do the “Quite a Character” exercise.
4. Revisit the “Cloud” response time on the bulleting insert from Sunday’s message.
MISSION MOMENT 10 minutes 1. Ask the group if anyone has taken any steps to investigate one of the mission opportunities you
discussed during last week’s group. Refer them back to the “Missions Advisor Catalog”. (Celebrate any steps taken and encourage individuals and families to step out in faith!)
2. Your group should settle and schedule your mission/outreach plans this week. Carefully distinguish this group event from the individual responses you just discussed in #1 above. (Please be certain to include your group’s plans in your meeting reports.)
QUITE A CHARACTER Take about 10 minutes to do this exercise on your own. The Bible’s account of the events of Joseph’s life is probably not intended to raise him up as a role model for us to emulate. (It’s mostly about the faithfulness and sovereignty of God to fulfill His plan.) Joseph’s story does reveal that he was a man of great integrity and character. What quality in Joseph’s character stands out the most to you?
Patience – as he sat in prison (falsely accused of assault) for more than two years
Intimacy with God – as he received the interpretation of dreams
Humility – as he gave God credit for the interpretations
Diplomacy – in relating to people
Wisdom – as he designed a solution to the famine crisis
Faithfulness – as he endured much suffering with patience and a sweet spirit
Which of these qualities do you most need/desire right now? Why? Take a few moments and ask God to speak to you. Pray a brief prayer and then wait in silence. Be patient. Give yourself at least 3 minutes to tune-‐in to God’s voice. Write down what you hear. Don’t try to analyze it at this point, just write whatever you think you hear from God. Might you be willing to share any of these thoughts with your group?
Week #6 – ORANGE Resources for Group Leaders and Parents Taking the Heat
MATERIALS NEEDED: Un-‐popped & freshly popped popcorn
Take some un-‐popped popcorn kernels and pass a few out to each child in your group. Ask them if they would like to have some popcorn. It obviously is not going to taste very good un-‐popped. Ask the group: What has to be done to popcorn kernels to make it tasty popcorn? (It has to be cooked, or heat applied to it). Have someone pop a bag of microwavable popcorn and bring it into the group. Let the children each sample some warm popcorn. Enjoy! Ask: What is different from the kernels they had seen before?
The popcorn had to go through a “terrible trial”...it had to be cooked! Explain that difficult times are often compared to going through heat. We sometimes refer to a trial as a “fiery” trial. God often uses hard times to make us more usable for His kingdom, like the popcorn becomes more usable (and tastier) after it has “taken the heat.” Explain that in the Bible, Joseph going through fiery trials. Yet, through all his trials, the Lord was with Joseph, and his difficult circumstances would work together to fulfill God’s good purposes. God blesses those who are faithful in difficult times.
"Two-‐gether" Forever
MATERIALS NEEDED: Cloth or belts to be used for several three-‐legged races. God was with Joseph in the pit, in Potiphar’s house, in prison, everywhere! He never left Joseph, even though sometimes Joseph had hard times that were not even his fault.
Do a “three-‐legged race.” Have the children pair up. Then make two teams of pairs, splitting the group evenly. (Parents can do this with their own children, as well.) Have the children stand next to each other. Using a belt or piece of cloth, tie their legs together. Then have all the pairs line up. Designate a finish line at the other end of the room. Have two pairs at a time race to the line and back. Then the next pairs will go. Declare a winner and try again if time allows.
Explain that God is always with us like our partners. Even if we fall down. Even if we don’t appear to be a “winner” every time, God is still with us!
God’s Embroidery
MATERIALS NEEDED: Sample of embroidery with the back exposed (or use the picture on this page); familiarity with “God’s Embroidery” story (included above). DIRECTIONS: 1. Allow only the back side of the embroidery sample to be visible to the children as you ask them to imagine what
you are creating. Invite their guesses. Ask them what it looks like from below. (A mess!)
2. One by one invite the children to walk up and peak at the artwork from your perspective. Ask them not to tell the other children until everyone has had an opportunity to see it from your perspective.
3. Finish by telling (or reading) the last paragraph of “God’s Embroidery” (included below).
God’s Embroidery
When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. From the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand. I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”
I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.” This I did, only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-‐drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”
Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?” The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.” Author Unknown
Pray: Ask God to give you His perspective on anything you are presently facing or anything from the past.
The Story of Joseph for Children DLTK's Bible Activities for Kids
Parents: Read this child-‐friendly version of Joseph’s story as your children color the accompanying page.
This is the story about a young man named Joseph. His father's name is Jacob, and they lived in Canaan from where his grandfather was from. Joseph was seventeen (old enough to drive a car these days), and he had eleven brothers; and only had one brother younger than him. Can you imagine having eleven brothers to play with, or fight with? Because Joseph was one of the youngest sons, his father spent more time with him, and he became very special to him. So Jacob had a special robe made for Joseph. (They didn't have jackets back then, so this was a very special jacket). It was very beautiful and had every color you could imagine in it. All of Joseph's older brothers saw this and they got very jealous. The word jealous means that Joseph's brothers disliked him because they thought his father liked him more, and because he got the special coat. They got so jealous they couldn't even say a kind word to him. One day Joseph had a dream, and he went to go tell his brothers. He said, "Guess what? Last night I had a strange dream. We were tying up bunches of grain out in the field when suddenly my bunch stood up, while all of yours gathered around and bowed to me." The brothers looked at each other in disgust, but Joseph continued. "Then I had another dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me." "Who do you think you are?" The brothers said. "Do you think that you are better than all of us? Do you think that we would ever bow down to you?" This made the brothers dislike Joseph even more. When he told his father about his dreams he said, "Those are strange dreams." But he thought carefully about what Joseph had told him. A few days later Joseph's father asked him to check on his brothers. They were in the fields quite a distance away. So Joseph went to find them. When the brothers saw Joseph in the distance, they made a plan to kill him. But when Reuben, Joseph's oldest brother heard this he said, "Let's not kill him, just throw him in a well out here in the field." He said this because he was secretly planning to come back and rescue Joseph when the other brothers had left. So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well. A little while later a group of people came by that were wanting to sell some things in Egypt. One of the brothers spoke up, "Why don't we sell him to these people, this way we never have to see him again, and we don't have to kill him." The other brothers liked this idea, so they sold him to the people who were going to Egypt. Unfortunately Reuben had been working and hadn't seen what happened. When he returned to the well he noticed that Joseph was gone. He had been sold to an important man named Potiphar, an assistant to the Pharaoh of Egypt.
The rest of the brothers took Joseph's beautiful robe and dipped it in animal blood and took it back to their father. When the father saw this he cried, "Some animal has killed my son." And he cried for many days, so much that nobody could comfort him. Now Joseph had started out as a slave, but the Lord was with Joseph and He helped him do everything right. So Potiphar made him his helper, and put him in charge of everything that he owned. The problem came when Potiphar's wife lied about Joseph to her husband, so Potiphar had Joseph put into jail. The Lord was still with Joseph in jail, and the warden put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. He never worried because the Lord was with Joseph and helped him do everything right. After Joseph had been in jail for some time a cupbearer and baker to Pharaoh had been sent there. One night each of them had a dream. They told their dreams to Joseph and he told the cupbearer that he would soon be let out of jail. "Please tell Pharaoh about me, and ask him to get me out of here." Joseph said. When the cupbearer was freed he forgot about what Joseph did. So Joseph stayed in jail for two more years. Until one day the Pharaoh had a dream, and nobody could explain it to him. The cupbearer then remembered what Joseph had done for him, and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. "Can you understand dreams?" Pharaoh asked. "I can't, but God helps me." Joseph replied. After Pharaoh had told him his dream Joseph explained, "God is warning you. There will be seven years when nothing will grow and there won't be any food for anyone." "What can I do?" Pharaoh asked. "God has shown you what to do. There will be seven years before the bad years that will be very good. So good that there will be extra food for everyone. So you should save a little bit of each years harvest, that way you will have enough to get you through the bad years." Joseph said. Pharaoh believed all that Joseph told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. People came from all countries to buy grain from Joseph, because the whole world was in need of food. Some of those people were Joseph's brothers. When his brothers came, Joseph recognized them, but they did not know who he was. (It had been over 10 years since they had seen him). The brothers all bowed to him because he was an important person. Just as he dreamed they would at the beginning. After a few meetings with his brothers he could not keep it in any longer and Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father alive?" But his brothers couldn't answer him because they were afraid. Then Joseph said, "Come here. I am your brother, the one you sold! Do not worry, and do not be angry at yourselves for selling me, because God has put me here to save people from starving." So his father, his brothers, and their families came to live in Egypt with Joseph, and they had all the food they needed.
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God was with Joseph and God is with Me, Too! “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now
being done, the saving of many l ives.” Genesis 50:20