CELL VALUE -  Jesus at the centre, Everyone growing, Making Jesus known

AIM – To assess the values we hold.

WELCOME  (Focus – You to Me, Approximate time 15 minutes)

What has been the most disappointing present you have received? Why?

WORD  (Focus – God to Us, Approximate time 30 minutes)

Read  Luke 12 v. 16-21

Question – What do you think this is teaching us about the way we manage our possessions and finances?

Question – Do you believe that everything belongs to God anyway and we are just caretakers of all we have or do you believe it’s yours to do what you want with?

Question – What is your view on the statement, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive?’

Question – How close do you think you are of falling into the same trap as the man in the parable? 

Give opportunity for people to receive prayer on any financial issues that may have arisen.

WORSHIP  (Focus – Us to God, Approximate time 15 minutes)

List the three things you value most and offer them to God in one of the following ways.

1)    Write on toilet paper and flush down the toilet;

2)    Write on balloons and pop;

3)    Write on paper and either burn or shred.

Thank God for these things  - for the way He has blessed you with them;

-          for the ways you can bless others with them;

-          for enabling you to see them as blessings.

WITNESS  (Focus – Us to others, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Think of a way your group could give –

e.g. Each bring an item you are not ready to let go of and allow it to be taken to the charity shop;

      Donate items for a hamper to give to someone.

Bible Reading

Luke 12 v.16-21

 ¹⁶And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. ¹⁷He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

 ¹⁸"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

 ²⁰"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

 ²¹"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

CELL VALUE - Everyone growing

AIM – (incl Ministry) To be set free from the things that stop us fulfilling our potential in God

WELCOME  (Focus – You to Me, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Why not play a game or two of Jenga (wooden brick tower)?

WORD  (Focus – God to Us, Approximate time 30 minutes)

Comment

We’re thinking about the idea that as Christians, Jesus has set us free, but we still allow certain things to hold us back. We can be trapped behind metaphorical walls made up of lies & wrong ways of thinking.

Questions

• What kinds of things might make up these walls? (eg. Fear, disappointment) Just ask for ideas at this stage not personal experience. As people give answers build a wall together using Jenga bricks (or lego, duplo etc if you prefer).
• Do you admit that there are things that hold you back from reaching your potential in God & fully experiencing freedom?
• Can you identify what the walls are made of for you? Give people the opportunity to share these, but don’t insist.
• Why might we not want to be free? (false sense of security, become vulnerable etc)
• What would be great about being completely free?

Read:  2 Corinthians 10:4-5 and

“Your freedom will be the result of what you choose to believe, confess, forgive, renounce & forsake. No one can do that for you.” Dr Neil T. Anderson (Freedom in Christ)

• How do we get free?
• How do we stop believing lies that we’ve lived with for years?
• How do we stay free?

(Read truth from Bible, speak it out loud, listen to people that speak truth & are a good influence on us, confess sins a.s.a.p., make small daily decisions to begin to live out our freedom, be accountable to someone)

Read: 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 again as you Watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1qgx95SFds a demonstration of what will happen to the walls that restrict us.

WORSHIP  (Focus – Us to God, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Ask everyone to stand up. Listen to Tim Hughes’ Holding Nothing Back (track 4 on album of the same name). Turn it up good & loud. As its playing, invite individuals to read aloud Galatians 5:1, shout out prayers that declare freedom & demolish your tower in which ever way you see fit! (Give my apologies to your neighbours!)

WITNESS  (Focus – Us to others, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Use  2 Corinthians 10:4-5 to pray for people that you know (perhaps people who are doing Alpha) who have not yet found the freedom that Jesus has for them.

Bible readings (Please use bibles if possible)

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (New International Version)

⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Galatians 5:1 (New Century Version)

 ¹ We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong. Do not change and go back into the slavery of the law.

CELL VALUE -  Jesus at the centre

Community

Everyone involved

Everyone growing

Making Jesus known

AIM – Giving our Cell Group and ourselves to God in the New Year

WELCOME  (Focus – You to Me, Approximate time 15 minutes)

What do you remember about the new millennium celebrations?

WORSHIP  (Focus – Us to God, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Light a candle and place it in the centre of the group

Read together Lamentations 3:22-26 from the Message

Lamentations 3:22-26 (The Message)

 ^22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
   How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
   He's all I've got left.

 ^25-27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
   to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
   quietly hope for help from God.

Ask the group to meditate silently about the New Year and God’s promise to be faithful. Then going around the room ask people to say ‘I’m sticking with God because.................’ You could go around the group a few times if people are up for it.

WORD  (Focus – God to Us, Approximate time 30 minutes)

This activity would be most effective if all the group is given a SWOT sheet within the week before the Cell meeting. (at the end, don’t forget to delete as appropriate!)

Read  1 Corinthians 12:18-27 

Use the SWOT analysis to form your discussions. (This is all meant to be encouraging so please keep it positive)

You may find it helps to wrap your discussions around the ‘Cell Values’ if you are doing a group analysis.

(Cell Values are listed at the top – though you should have a laminated card)                                                                                            

Finish by praying for your group and each other for the next year.

WITNESS  (Focus – Us to others, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Do you have anyone interested in Alpha? Pray for those who are beginning the course and for Rachels Cell group who this time are running and leading each week. (if you can, think of a way of being creative in the prayer time)

Bible Reading

1 Corinthians 12:18-27 (New Century Version)

^18-19 If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But truly God put all the parts, each one of them, in the body as he wanted them.²⁰ So then there are many parts, but only one body.

 ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the foot, "I don't need you!"²² No! Those parts of the body that seem to be the weaker are really necessary.²³ And the parts of the body we think are less deserving are the parts to which we give the most honor. We give special respect to the parts we want to hide.²⁴ The more respectable parts of our body need no special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it²⁵ so our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other.²⁶ If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor.

 ²⁷ Together you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of that body.

SWOT Analysis for Cell Groups

(SWOT =strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

You can do this SWOT looking at the Cell as a group or looking at individuals within the group or both.

If looking at the Cell as a group ask people to make a note in each box eg the strengths of the group.

If looking at individuals people are to write 1 strength for each member etc.

This activity would be most effective if people prepare before the meeting.

 For our Cell group we are looking at the cell as a group.

For our Cell group we are looking at each individual in the group (delete as appropriate)

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

CELL VALUE -  Jesus at the Centre, Everyone Growing

AIM – To reach a fresh appreciation of who God is

WELCOME  (Focus – You to Me, Approximate time 15 minutes)

What is the one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?

WORSHIP  (Focus – Us to God, Approximate time 15 minutes)

Read aloud each of these passages of Scripture: Job 42:2, Jer.32:17, 27, Matt.19:26, Luke 1:37.

Give everyone a pen and a piece of note paper and ask them, first, to write down each of the Scripture references at the top.  Now ask them to write a prayer to God about something that seems impossible, but which they would love to see happen. Ask them to keep it with them for as long as it takes. Whenever they have doubts, they can look up the Scriptures and be encouraged again, and say the prayer again. Warn them, however, to be prepared for God to change what it is they are asking for.

WORD  (Focus – God to Us, Approximate time 30 minutes)

Read  Ps.139:7-10 (Try to use bible – scriptures printed at end if needed)

Comments

God is an infinite being, not in anyway limited by anything in time or space, yet He is not only above and beyond us but He is also “present at every point of space with the whole of His being.” (from Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology) This means that He cannot help but be fully and wholly present with us every moment, yet it doesn’t always feel that way.

Question

Can you think of a time when it seemed as if God had left you?

How do you look upon that time now? Had He left you?

Read 

Num.23:19-20

Comment

Because God is infinite, He is without limitation or defect. It is impossible for Him to encounter an obstacle or to be contaminated by anything. To be without limitation or defect is to be perfect. Because God is perfect, He cannot improve or deteriorate, therefore, He cannot change, since change always involves improvement or deterioration. Because He cannot change, He has absolute integrity. He won’t promise something one day and then, the next day, withdraw His promise simply because He’s not feeling well, or is in a bad mood, or has heard some nasty rumours about you.

Question

Are there times in your life when God seemed to say one thing and then do another?

Was there a time when you felt that God had offered you something, then changed His mind?

Are there times when you have felt disappointed by God?

What do you think God would say to you now about those times?

Read

Ps.139:1-4

Comment

“He knows things immediately, simultaneously, exhaustively and truly.” (From Henry Thiessen’s Lectures in Systematic Theology)

“He knows everything I have done, everything I could have done, everything I will do and everything I could do. Not only that, but His perception penetrates to the most minute motivations of my heart and the most hidden, unconscious knowledge of my mind. He knows all the consequences of every purpose under heaven. He has never been shocked or discovered anything. His knowledge is absolute, unacquired, without limitation and without defect.” (from the author)

Question

In what ways does the absolute knowledge of God comfort you?

Are there any ways in which it makes you uncomfortable?

WITNESS

Read Rom.5:8.

Ask the group to think of one or two of the very worst sinners they have ever known and to pray for that person or those people to know the love of God.

Read 1John 4:9.

Ask the group to pray for all those who will come to the Christmas Fayre, that they would be impacted in a new way by God having sent His only begotten Son into the world.

Bible readings (Please use bibles if possible)

Job 42:2: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”

Jeremiah 32:17: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing to hard for You.”

Matthew 19:26: But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Psalm 139:7-10:                                                 Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I Make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.

Numbers 23:19-20:                                            God is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent.

Has He said, and will He not do?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Behold, U have received a command to bless;

He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

Psalm 139:1-4:                    O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up;

You understand my thought afar off.

You comprehend my path and my lying down,

And are acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word on my tongue,

But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.

Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:9: In this the love of God was manifested towards us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

All Biblical quotations taken from NKJV.