| Resources for Lifegroup Leaders |
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| Online Series |
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| Tough Sayings of Jesus
by Faye Reynolds.
This 10 week study looks primarily at the Sermon on the Mount and the difficult teachings of Jesus that we need to wrestle with in our discipleship journey.
(This study keys off The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. If someone wants to get the book, they can go deeper. If not, she has quotes from the book for discussion. This study prompts a lot of discussion, but you are not going to resolve some of these difficult passages. I separated the guys and girls on the study involving sex. — Milt)
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Images of God
A ten week study on the images of God taken from the Lord's prayer and how these images can be distorted by our human understandings.
(This is basically a study of Theology—Who is God? However, she takes common pictures that we have of God and shows how they may distort our view of God. I found this to be very interesting. I can’t remember a better group than the night we talked about God as Father. We couldn’t believe how our images of our earthly fathers had messed up our theologies so badly. — Milt)
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| Images of God |
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| Online Series |
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| A Cultural Look at the Parables of Jesus
by Faye Reynolds.
Jesus told his teaching stories to a people living in a specific time within a specific culture. Kenneth Bailey has lived in the Middle East for many years and through his writings, gives new appreciation to the cultural background behind the Parables of Jesus. This course will look at some of these insights that infuse the parables with fresh meaning and implications for our lives. This is a ten week course.
(This one has information from a scholar in the Middle East. I think it is Lebanon. Anyway, he offers some background every week that you have never heard of and helps you make an application. He leads you to see the overwhelming theme of grace in the parables. I really changed my view of some passages. The last study was exceptional. – Milt)
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How to Love Someone You Can’t Stand
By Milton Jones
This very important biblical study will help you remove the darkness
that has begun to creep into your life and restore the joy that we all
need. How to Love Someone You Can't Stand will help you deal
effectively with impossible relationships and give you a new outlook on
the outside world.
(I know that I wrote it, but I still like it. This study just works so well in groups. Everyone has a person that is driving him crazy or not getting along with them. This book tells you step by step out of Romans 12 what to do about it. Even if you have done this one before, it will work again. We always have new people messing up our lives. – Milt)
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| How to Love Someone You Can't Stand |
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| Facing Your Giants |
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| Facing Your Giants
by Max Lucado
One of our other goals this year is to deal with the thorns in our lives. People in your groups are carrying a lot of burdens. I wanted to have a least one curriculum this year to help us start facing and dealing with our life dominating problems. It’s by Max Lucado. Nobody writes like Max. This is one of his better
ones. It is a good Bible study about David. And the applications are
about dealing with our problems.
(So I’m recommending this one for all our groups. I’d love it if each group would do this one. I really think we need this one. – Milt) |
Learn It, Live It
If your group is wanting to move away from just being a Bible study and becoming an action group, I recommend the Learn It, Live It series. There are about eight different series including Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Gifts, Prayer, Christian Character, and Fruit of the Spirit. I found the Bible studies needed a little help to make the group dig and discuss. But the applications were really insightful. Here is how to make it work. On one week have the Bible discussion (Learn It). Then at the end of the group time, vote for one of the various applications (Live It). Do the application on the following week. Sometimes you will have to go somewhere together to live it.
(This study series (I have done all but one) totally changed our mentality from a discussion group to actually practicing what we preached. I have tried to do this with other series, but have rarely had the success that I had with Learn It, Live It curriculum. If you need to order it, contact Bill Lawrence at church. — Milt) |
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| Learn It, Live It |
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