Lean In // 5 minutes
What’s an item you can’t live without?
Sample answers…
- My smartphone, tablet
- Navigation system
- Coffee maker
- My car
- My new boots, clothes
- Netflix
- Wireless internet
- Electricity
Leader Note: You many want to ask a follow up question here… “what was your life like before those things?” Transition your group by staying something like, “it’s funny how quickly our thinking can change. Once we have something in our daily life we can’t imagine a world without, when in reality we lived without these things and did just fine. Let’s see what this verse has to say about how our worship and thinking affect the way we live.”
Look Down // 15 minutes
What do you learn about a life of worship?
Sample answers…
- Worship starts with looking at God’s mercy
- Worship is living sacrificially
- Sacrificial worship pleases God
- There are types of worship that are true and types that aren’t
- It involves us looking and thinking differently
- Worship involves a renewing or resetting of our minds from the ways of the world
- It changes the way we see and think about things, enables us to see and learn God’s will
Look Out // 10 minutes
What are the “If I only” statements people make?
Sample answers…
- If I only could find the right person then I would be happy
- If I only had more money then I would be secure
- If I only had that job then I would feel powerful
- If I only had more friends then I would feel important and loved
- If I only lived in that neighborhood then I would be content
- If I only looked like them then I would feel valuable
Leader Note: Lead your group to see the ways that we depend on outside circumstances to change the way we feel about ourselves and how others see us. Jesus comes to offer us an entirely new way of thinking. A way of right worship that puts God in His proper view. A way of worship that completely flips our thinking on its head.
Look In // 20 minutes
Leader Note: In his message, Kenton challenged us to look through the following seven statements and identify which ones resonate personally with us. These statements represent the lies we believe in life that most often lead to a “What Was I Thinking” moment.
Lead your group through this next section by asking them to identify the statement or statements that they have or currently are holding on to. Each statement starts with a lie that is followed up with a truth statement that you’ll want to walk people through with care and grace.
Where are you living out these statements and what would it look like to allow God to transform your thinking?
1. If I find the right person, everything will be all right // Become the right person
2. My situation is unique // You are unique, your situation is not
3. It’s not right but it makes me happy…God wants me to be happy // If it is not right…it is not going to turn out right
4. If I only had ____________ I would be satisfied // Appetites are never fully and finally satisfied
5. I owe is better than I want // It is better to want than to owe
6. My secret is safe with me // Secrets leak
7. Sex will solve it // Sex will complicate it
Live It Out // 5 minutes
How would your transformed thinking affect others?
Leader Note: For instance, if we are living this way it will show in our lifestyle, how we treat people, teachers, coaches. It will impact our community.
Key Verse: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2
Key Thought: Reset your thinking
Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.