These notes are designed to be a resource as you lead your Life Group each week.

REAL MAN WEEKEND – October 25-27
This is a great opportunity for the guys in your Life Group to get connected. Getting away for an entire weekend together facilitates connections that typically take months to realize. You can sign up online using your credit card, mail in your registration, or drop it off at the church office with your deposit during the week. Just write “Attention: Men’s Weekend” on your envelope. Cost ranges from $155-$199, depending on which rooms are chosen. There are also two special discounts on standard rooms: a “4 Friends” option and a “Father/Son” option. Chris Brown will be our speaker.

MAKE PLANS FOR YOUR SOCIAL & SERVICE PROJECT
Check our Community Service website for some options: northcoastcommunityservice.org You can also check out the Leader Tools page for Social ideas. lifegroups.northcoastchurch.com/suggestions-for-socials

LEADER TIP FOR WEEK #3
Your group time together is valuable! The key? Making sure you find time to hear from everyone in your group and make sure they feel valued and heard. Check out this 60 second clip from Pastor Dave Enns to hear more. >>> youtu.be/_PnpYc58iTM

GAME SUGGESTION
Optional: Start group with a short game. 10 Things in Common: Split everyone into pairs (or 3s) and hand each pair a piece of paper. Each pair is responsible for finding 10 things they have in common with one another. Remember to tell everyone easy cop-outs aren’t allowed, like “we both have hands”. Once they find 10 things they have in common, they share their discoveries with the group.

COVENANTS
Remember to turn in your signed Life Group Covenants. Email it to your Life Group Admin, turn it in by mail, or drop it off at the office or at the Info Booth on your campus by Sunday, October 6.

ATTENDANCE
Submit your group’s attendance online at northcoastchurch.com/attendance. If you’re not sure how to post attendance, you can check out the guide here. Don’t forget to let us know of any roster updates that you know of, or changes to your meeting day, time or location for the Fall quarter when you submit your attendance.

While this week’s sermon touched on politics, remember to keep specific political persuasions out of your Life Group discussions. The focus should be on how as followers of Jesus, how we represent Him as we speak with people about things we’re passionate about, or where we disagree. If the discussion takes a political turn, gently remind your group that we exist to minister to everyone who wants to know Jesus, regardless of political party.

Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything you heard for the first time, caught your attention, challenged or confused you?

Discussion Note: If your group is new or you have a lot of new members, here’s a “Getting to Know You” question you can use: “How many siblings do you have and what was your place in the birth order of your family? From your perspective, what are some of the advantages of your place in the birth order?”

1. What images, ideas or mental pictures did you have of heaven when you were in grade school?

Great question to have everyone answer.

In what ways has your image of heaven changed over the years?

Additional Question:
How often do you think about heaven?
How much does your thinking about heaven affect how you live your life?

2. Chris talked about how we promote or display our passions for things that interest us. Politics aside, what is something that you’re passionate about now or have been at some time in your life?

This question should be helpful in getting to know your group members better especially if you have new members.

Was there anything your parents or primary caregivers were really passionate about (besides politics) like a sports team or a hobby when you were growing up? If so, how did you relate to their high level of passion?

Additional Question: Were you caught up in their passion for whatever it was or did you find it kind of weird and wanted nothing to do with it?

One of the results of living in a country that enjoys as much freedom as we do is the right to have different opinions. We can be passionate about a sports team, health, finances, business and our political affiliations. We are free to express our opinions, but as followers of Jesus we need to be careful to do so in a way that is respectful and loving. How could the following verses help shape how we communicate with those we disagree with?

James 1:26-27 – ²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

How we talk says a lot about our walk with Jesus. Our walk with Jesus should make a difference in how we live, not just how we talk.

James 3:9-12 – ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Kind and gracious speech should be reflected in all interactions with those we agree or disagree with.

Proverbs 15:1 – A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Our tone of voice and choice of words has a lot to do with how people receive our message.

Psalm 19:14 – May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

In any area we’re passionate about we should strive to make sure our speech and motivation is pleasing to the Lord.

Which of these is the most challenging for you to remember? Explain why you picked that passage.

Additional Question:

• • When you’re with someone you know holds a different opinion on an area of passion for you, what’s your normal approach to discussing that topic – try to convince them you’re right, try to avoid discussing it, ask them lots of questions, listen well, or other?
  • When someone approaches you to talk about an area they are passionate about but in which you don’t have much interest in, how do you usually respond? How do you feel or what do you think during this kind of conversation?

As Christians we hold dual citizenship – we’re citizens of a specific country and citizens of heaven (see Philippians 3:20). We are called to live out our earthly citizenship in a way that reflects our heavenly citizenship. What insights do you see in Romans 13:1-7 about how we are to conduct ourselves as citizens of the United States, no matter which political party is in the majority?

Note: Paul wrote this passage during a time of Roman rule over Israel. The Jews had no say in what the Roman government did and didn’t do. Our current political system allows us far more involvement in the political process than the Jews and early Christians had.

Philippians 3:20 – But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 13:1-7 – Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ² Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³ For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴ For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

⁶ This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷ Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Additional Passages: 1 Peter 2:13-17; Romans 12:17-19

How could you reconcile Paul’s teaching here about our citizenship responsibilities with the response of the Apostles to governmental authority in Acts 4:18-20 and Acts 5:25-29?

Additional Question: Can you think of any modern examples of people who have stood up to ungodly or unjust actions? Possible answers include Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and William Wilberforce.

Acts 4:18-20 – ¹⁸ Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! ²⁰ As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 5:25-29 – ²⁵ Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” ²⁶ At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them. ²⁷ The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” ²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

As we heard from Chris this weekend, we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) which means we all have intrinsic value and worth. Many people struggle with believing they are valuable to God and loved by Him. What do you learn about our value and worth from the passages below?

Psalm 8:1-9

¹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

In this passage we see how much God regards mankind.

Psalm 139:13-18

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

This passage talks about God’s involvement in our creation.

Given the teaching in these passages, why do you think Christians still struggle with this?

Additional Question: What hinders Christians from experiencing the value and worth that God provides?

Have you ever struggled with your value and worth?

Additional Questions:
What did you do to address your struggle?
Would it be a concern if someone never struggled with their value and worth?

How could you use the passages above to help someone who is struggling to understand their value and worth?

Additional Questions: Can you think of any other passages that would help people understand their value and worth?

Additional Passages:
John 15:9-17 – Jesus no longer calls us servants but friends.
Ephesians 2:10 – we are God’s handiwork, created for good works

Which point from this weekend’s message or Life Group study is most important for you to remember?