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What
is NOOMA?
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An English phoenetic spelling of the Greek word pneuma, which is
commonly translated as spirit or breath. Pneumatology refers to the study of spiritual
beings, particularly the interaction between humans and God.
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Short films touching on issues that we care about and that we want to talk
about. It’s a format that’s there for
us when we need it, as we need it, how we need it. Concise and to the point, 10- to 14-minute DVDs tackle topics
like forgiveness, discipleship, and unconditional love, making biblical truths
vivid and relevant for today’s generation.
Nooma 001 I Rain
** The filming of
Rain, the first NOOMA, began on September 11, 2001, the same day as the
World Trade Center attacks in New York City.
1.
“Do you ever have one of those moments...like...if you could just freeze it?
It’s so beautiful.”
If
you could freeze a moment from your life, what moment would that be?
2.
“I look up and I notice clouds. And then it starts to rain. It
always rains, doesn’t it?” “When the
rains come. It’s not like they might. They do. It rains in our lives … a lot.”
What
are some of the storms in your life? Is it raining in your life right now? Do you think God
intentionally puts us through trials? Why or why not? Isn’t there an easier way
for us to learn?
3.
Read Matthew 7:24-27. What does this passage tell us about the storms of life?
24 "Everyone
then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who
built his house on rock. 25 The
rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it
did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And
everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a
foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The
rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell—and great was its fall!"
4.
“God says amazing things like, ‘When you cry out to me, I listen.’ He even
says, ‘I cannot ignore the cries of someone who is afflicted.’”
Have
you ever felt like God failed to come through for you? Looking back, do you
still feel the same?
5.
The Psalms speak about crying out to God. Read the following Psalms—34:17,
55:17, 72:12, 84:2, 88:1. What do you learn from these words?
Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready
to rescue you. Psalm
34:17 (MSG)
Evening, morning, and noon, I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice. Psalm
55:17 (NIV)
For He will rescue the poor who cry out and the
afflicted who have no helper. Psalm
72:12 (HCSB)
I long and yearn for the courts of the LORD; my
heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
Psalm 84:2 (HCSB)
O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry
out before you. Psalm
88:1 (NIV)
6.
“There’s this false, twisted idea out there among religious people that
somehow you’ve got to have it all together to have a relationship with God.”
Do
you ever act like everything is okay even when it isn’t? Why do we do this?
7.
“God says to us, ‘When you come to me, come to me with all your junk, with
all your problems, come to me all messed up and let me take care of it.’”
What
does your junk look like? Is it stopping you from crying out to God?
8.
“The storm is all my son knows. He sees no reality beyond the storm. What he
doesn’t realize is that, as his dad, I would do anything to get him home.”
Do
you have anyone in your life that you would do anything for? Do you think
that’s how God feels about you?
9.
“I stop. I kneel down, and take him out of the pack. I pull him close to my
chest, and I wrap my arms around him. I hold him tightly against my heart. And
for the last mile of our walk, the entire time, I bend over and whisper into
his ear, over and over again, ‘I love you buddy. We’re gonna make it. Dad knows
the way.’”
When
you’re going through a really tough time and things seem hopeless, do you still
trust that God knows the way and that you’re going to make it?
10.
Read Deuteronomy 1:31. What does this passage teach us about our Heavenly
Father?
31 and in the wilderness, where you
saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as one carries a child, all the way
that you traveled until you reached this place.
11.
What do you think God is whispering to you right now? How does His presence
comfort you?
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Nooma 002 I Flame
1. “Song of Songs gives
us a series of pictures of the relationship between a man and a woman—the joy,
the struggle, the complexity.”
Why is love so complex?
2. Read Song of Songs
2:7—What does the author mean by this statement?
7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or
the wild does: do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!
3. “You
know, whatever this is, it’s so good, it’s so beautiful. And, we can’t do
anything to mess this up.”
Do we treat the concept of
love the same as the author of Song of Songs? Is love this sacred, beautiful,
and mysterious thing?
4. “We
tell someone we love them, and in the same breath, talk about loving a pair of
pants.”
Do
you think the word ‘love’ loses its meaning when we use it for so many things?
Does it affect our understanding of what real love is?
5.
Read Song of Songs 4:7. This talks about “raya” love. This means friend or companion.
Why is this love so important?
7 You are altogether
beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
6. Read Song of Songs 8:7.
This uses “ahava” love. This love refers to an emotion that leads to a
commitment; it’s more than temporary urges. Why is this love so important?
7 Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the
wealth of one's house, it would be utterly scorned.
7. Read Song of Songs 1:2.
This uses the word “dod” for love. This refers to the sexual, physical element
of love. Why is this element so important?
2 Let him kiss me with
the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine,
8. “One flame burning by
itself will never be as bright as all three together.”
How many relationships have
you seen where all three flames were burning together?
9. “When
you separate the flames, it can never really satisfy. It’s like living outside
of how God wired you to live.”
Do you think it’s possible
to be satisfied without all three flames?
10. “Love
is two people coming together and giving all of themselves to each other,
forever.”
What does it mean to you to
give all of yourself to another person? Are you giving everything you’ve got?
11. Read 1 Corinthians
13:4-8. What does this passage teach you about love?
4 Love is patient; love is
kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist
on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for
prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will come to an end.
Nooma 003 I Trees
1. “How is
it that our world can be filled with such beauty and such order and such good,
and yet at the same time filled with such heartache and such pain?”
How do you feel
about the world? Do you think the world is getting better or worse? Why do you
think that?
2. “God
says, ‘You can live how you want, or you can live how I created you to live.’
It’s almost as if God says, ‘It’s your choice.’”
What does it
mean to live how God created you to live? If we believe God’s way of life is
the best way to live, why is it so hard for us to do it?
3. “Maybe the truth of the Adam and Eve story, maybe
the greatest power of the story, is not so much that it happened, but that it
happens.”
Do you believe
that the Bible’s story of creation is not just something that happened, but
actually something that’s still happening? Are we faced with the same choices
as Adam and Eve?
4. How can we
help God take care of the world? Are you helping out?
5. “So what happens is we end up falling into this
belief that, somehow, we’ll just start over.”
Do you think
what we do today matters for eternity? Are the choices you’re making now
shaping you into the kind of person you’ll be forever?
6. “I need a
God who’s now. I need a God who teaches me how to live now. I need a faith
that’s about today, that helps me understand the world that I live in today.”
Does your faith
help you understand the world we live in? Does it make your life easier or more
difficult on a day-to-day basis?
7. “God’s
fingerprints are all over our world. Or maybe it’s his world and they’re our
fingerprints.”
What are some
places in the world where you see God? Are you leaving some of your own
fingerprints on the world? What are they?
8. What does it
mean to be partnering with God in making this world the kind of place He
intended it to be? Are you partnering with Him?
9. Read
Revelation 22:2. What does this passage tell you about our lives? What does it
tell you about our God?
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the
water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the
Lamb 2 through the middle of the
street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of
fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the
healing of the nations.
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Sunday, August 19, 2012
Nooma 004
I Sunday
1. “For years I went to
church, because you’re supposed to.”
Have you ever attended a
church service out of a sense of duty or because you think you’re supposed to?
2. “A lot of times I
find myself looking around thinking, ‘Is this what God had in mind?’”
When it comes to church,
what do you think God has in mind?
3. READ Matthew 23:1-7.
What does this passage say to you?
1 Then
Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 "The
scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; 3 therefore,
do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do
not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and
lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift
a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make
their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best
seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to
have people call them rabbi.
4. “Jesus says to them,
‘everything you do is about appearances…’”
How much time do you spend
worrying about what other people think of you?
5. READ Matthew 23:13. How
does this passage convict you?
13 "But
woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the
kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going
in, you stop them.
6. Barna Research tells us
that, since 1991, the number of people who don’t attend church has grown 92
percent to over 75 million Americans. Why do you think this is? What can we do
about it?
7. Sometimes we have to ask
why we do what we do. To keep our family happy? To avoid feeling guilty? Does
God need us to attend a church service once or twice a week? Why or why not?
8. READ Isaiah 1:2-3. What
does this passage teach us? What parallels do you see today?
2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O
earth; for the LORD has spoken: I reared children and brought them up, but they
have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's
crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.
9. “The Scriptures
remind us that God doesn’t want the empty rituals. God wants our hearts.”
How do we know that God has
our hearts, and that we’re not just going through the motions?
10. “God
can’t stand it when we put on a religious show and then we ignore the poor and
the broken and the marginalized and the oppressed.”
Have
you been part of the show? What issues in our world today do you think God
really cares about? What are you doing about them?
11. “Church is not a
building. Church is people. People whose hearts are beating more and more like
God’s.”
What does it mean for our
hearts to start beating more and more like God’s? How could this change the way
the world sees Christianity?
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Sunday, August 26, 2012
1. Why is silence so hard to deal with?
2. Do you ever surround yourself with noise intentionally? Why do we do this?
3. Do you wish God’s voice was louder in your life? Does all the noise in our lives make it harder to hear God?
4. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Why does Jesus promise us something it seems we really don’t want?
5. When is the last time you spent some time in total silence?
6. Psalms 4:4 “Tremble and do not sin when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent” Is that why we like noise, so we don’t have to look at our lives?
7. Do you always need someone around you? If yes why is that?
8. Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
9. What are some things in your daily life you could change to eliminate some of the noise?
10. Is it possible you’ve been looking for God in the winds, fire and earthquake when he’s been waiting to talk with you in the silence?
11. Why do we fill our time with so many activities and neglect time with God and time with our families?
12. When was the last time you sat together as a family without the TV, radio, iPod, or other
device causing a distraction? Try it and see what happens.
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Sunday, September 2, 2012
1. We always want something don’t we? Something that would make us happy, right? What is it for you?
2. Do you feel like you often don’t get the things you really want?
3. Do you feel like God’s denying you these things or maybe like he’s not even listening to you?
4. James 1:17. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing.
5. Have you ever been mad at God for not giving you what you’d asked for?
6. Is it okay to question God?
7. Have you ever felt like God did come through for you? If so, how?
8. If you got everything you asked for in life, do you think you’d be happy?
9. Jeremiah 29:11-14. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.
10. Do you see your life as part of a bigger picture, a larger story?
11. Have you ever felt unsure about an important decision in your life and trusted God to lead you in the right direction? How did that turn out?
12. ‘Sometimes you have this sense of, “God if you just give me this, then I’d be okay. Then my life would be okay.”
13. Do you believe God is good? Always?
14. Luke 11:11-13. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? IF you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
15. So when you find yourself standing at the kiosk, asking, ‘Why can’t I have what I want?’ may you believe that God is good, and that right across the street he has something better.
Interesting side note: The entire wall of kickballs seen in the film was donated to inner city elementary schools.
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Sunday, September 9, 2012
Nooma 007 I Luggage
1. What kind of wounds do you have?
2. How have your wounds shaped who you are today?
3. Romans 12:19. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
4. Have you ever really gotten revenge? If so, how did it make you feel afterwards? If we take
revenge when we get hurt, do you think it’s like saying to God, “I think I can handle this better
than you”?
5. Proverbs 15:3. The LORD sees everything, whether good or bad.
6. Whatever wrong was done to any of us, God saw it, it was like God was right there. If
God’s right there when people get hurt, why do you think he doesn’t step in to stop it from
happening? Do you trust that God is ultimately going to take care of everything?
7. “You know what, you don’t understand. What they did to me is so horrible, I will never forgive
them. I can’t forgive them for what they did.” But what if God said that? What is God’s
forgiveness of us so crucial to our forgiveness of other?
8. “Sometimes forgiving is remembering and some people are going to keep returning to their
vomit, and we don’t have to be there when they do.” Can we forgive somebody without being
able to be around them? Do you have people like that in your life?
9. Do you believe forgiveness is really more about the one forgiving than the one being forgiven? Does that view on forgiveness make it easier to forgive?
10. “Forgiving is an action, it’s something you do.” Are there people you need to forgive? If
someone you need to forgive died before you made amends, what kinds of regrets would you
have?
“So may you forgive as you've been forgiven, may you give to others what’s been given to you, may you set someone free and find out that it was you, and may you do it today, because you might not have the chance tomorrow.”
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Sunday, September 16, 2012
Nooma 008 I Dust
1. “I want to be the kind of person who does the right thing. And I don’t just mean the big things where right and wrong are obvious and easy, but I mean the small things. The subtle, unnoticed things.”
Why are the “small and unnoticed” things such a big deal?
2. “A disciple doesn’t just want to know what the rabbi knows. A disciple wants to be like the rabbi and wants to learn to do what the rabbi does.”
Have you ever thought about Jesus as your rabbi?
Would you consider yourself a disciple?
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:25-31 (NIV)
3. “So different rabbis had different sets of interpretations about how they lived out,
and understood, and interpreted the Scriptures.”
Have you ever thought about your faith as being an interpretation?
Is it okay to have different interpretations of the Scriptures?
4. “If they’re fishermen and Jesus calls them to be his disciples, then they’re not following another rabbi; and if they’re not following another rabbi they’re not the best of the best. They didn’t make the cut.” What message was Jesus sending us by not choosing the best of the best?
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (TNIV)
5. “It’s like a movement of anybodies and he calls them – the JV, the B team, the ‘not-good-enoughs.’ He calls them to be his disciples and they change the course of human history.”
What impact are Christians today having on the course of human history?
6. “Now, I always assumed that Peter doubts Jesus. But Jesus isn’t sinking! Who does Peter doubt? He doubts himself. He loses faith in himself that he can actually be like his rabbi.”
How big of a role do your insecurities play in your life?
Do they ever affect your faith?
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:19 (NASB)
7. “Faith in Jesus is important, but what about Jesus’ faith in us? I mean he must have faith in us because he leaves it all in the hands of these disciples.”
Do you believe that God believes in you?
8. “Jesus has faith that you can follow him and that you can be like him.”
What does it mean to be like Jesus? Can you do it?
“May you believe in God. But may you come to see that God believes in you. May you have faith in Jesus. But may you come to see that Jesus has faith that you can be like him. A person of love and compassion and truth. A person of forgiveness, and peace, and grace, and joy, and hope. And may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, Jesus.”
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
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Sunday, September 30, 2012
“My older son says, ‘It’s just the strangest thing, I don’t know, I don’t know where it came from, do you know where it came from?’”
1. Do you ever act unnatural when you’re doing something you know you shouldn’t be doing? Why do you think we do this?
2. Have you ever gotten busted for something you’d done? If so, what was it?
“You know that moment, like when your junk catches up to you?
It’s like maybe not that day, maybe not the next day, maybe not for a while,
but give it enough time, it always finds us.”
3. Do you think it’s possible to keep something secret and never get busted for it?
“So my boy stands there in front of his mom, frozen.
And then he turns, and runs upstairs.”
4. What are ways you avoid dealing with your junk?
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow.
Galatians 6:7 (TNIV)
5. Do you have people around you who are struggling with something and keeping it to themselves? If so, are you having a hard time figuring out what to do? What are your options?
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
“It’s like he has this choice, does he continue?
You know, does he grab the covers and pull them back over his head and keep hiding?
Or does he just let himself lie there totally exposed and vulnerable?”
6. Do you have anything in your life you’re hiding, something you’re ashamed of?
Are you ready to deal with it?
“I sit on the edge of the bed holding my boy with the covers pulled back repeating,
‘There’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you less.’”
7. Do you have people around you that could never do anything to make you love them less?
Is this really how we should feel about all other people?
Nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life or death, not angels or spirits,
not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below.
Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Romans 8:38-39 (CEV)
“Whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve been, whatever you will do, I mean,
God loves you and God always has, and you can’t change that.”
8. Do you believe, deep in your heart, that God loves you no matter what you’ve done or will do?
“May you stop hiding under the covers. May you let God pull the covers back. May you embrace him. May your whole life become a response to the truth that you’ve always been loved, you are loved, and you always will be loved. And may you know, may you know deep in the depths of your soul, that there’s nothing you could ever do to make him love you less.
Nothing you could ever do to make God love you less.
Nothing you could ever do to make him love you less.
Nothing. Nothing.”
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Sunday, October 7, 2012
1. If God can help people find things on sale, then why doesn’t God spend time on things that seem more important like earthquakes, or famines, or sickness and what do you believe about God’s involvement in our daily lives?
2. When you think about God, when you hear the word ‘God,’ what images come to mind? What or who has helped shape the images that you have?
Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
3. For many people their concept of God is built around a God who’s outside of everything, a
God who essentially is somewhere else, a God who made the world but then stands back and
watches it from this other vantage point, a God who’s there, and then from time to time comes
here. Where is God?
4. Why do you think people, including some writers of the Bible, use human physical references
like hands, feet, eyes, and he to describe God, when other Scriptures state that God is a spirit
and has no form?
“When I think of God, I hear a song. Jesus is like God in taking on flesh and blood, and so in his
generosity, in his compassion, that’s what God’s like. In his telling of the truth, that’s what God’s like. In his love, and forgiveness, and sacrifice, that’s what God’s like. That’s who God is. That’s how the song goes.”
5. Are God and Jesus compassionate, truthful, loving, and forgiving or is God compassion, truth, love, and forgiveness?
6. “The song is playing all around us all the time; the song is playing everywhere, it’s written on our hearts, and everybody is playing the song. See, the question isn’t whether or not you’re playing a song, the question is, ‘Are you in tune?’”
7. What does it mean for you to be in or out of tune with the song? Are you in tune? There are people who talk as if they know everything about being a Christian and yet they can seem way
out of tune. And then there are others who would say they don’t know much at all about the Christian faith, and yet they can seem very in tune with the song.
8. Can you believe in God and be out of tune with the song? Does it work the other way around?
9. What is more important to Jesus: what we believe or what we do?
10. Do you believe that if you live the way Jesus taught us to live, being in tune with the song, that you “will have life in its fullest”?
John 10:10 - I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.
“May you come to see that the song is written on your heart, and as you live in tune with the song, in tune with the creator of the universe, may you realize that you ARE in relationship with the living God.”
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Sunday, December 30, 2012
“I was meeting with my counselor recently and somewhere in the course of our time together we were discussing some issue in my life and I asked him, ‘Is it normal for people to…’ and he immediately interrupts me. And he says, ‘Is it normal for who?’ And I said, ‘Well, is it normal for people to…’ and he interrupts me again. And he says, ‘Wait, wait, we’re not here to talk about other people, are we? We’re here to talk about you and who you are and what the next right thing is for you to do. So the better question is: is it normal for you?’”
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go,
for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
Genesis 32:22-27 (NIV)
“In the ancient Near East your name was more than just words. Name was identity.
Your name was reflective of your character, your substance, I mean the very fiber that made you, you. Your name told who you are.”
2. What is your name? Have you ever thought of your name as a reflection of who you are?
“We each have this unique path, a calling, a life that God has given us; and Jesus invites us to be our true selves
and yet we get sidetracked, we get distracted, we get hung up on how we’re different from her or we aren’t like him
and we end up asking the wrong questions.”
3. Do you have the sense of a unique path in your life? If so, what is it? Are there ways in which you tend to get distracted from “your path” because of what others do, say, or think?
After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.”
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know.
You’ve got to know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now:
When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.”
He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
And then he commanded, “Follow me.”
Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple Jesus loved following right behind.
When Peter noticed him, he asked Jesus, “Master, what’s going to happen to him?”
Jesus said, “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you? You — follow me.”
John 21:15-22 (MSG)
“You and I have pasts, families we come from, things we’ve done, mistakes we’ve made,
and where we’ve been and what we’ve done has shaped us into who we are today. So we have to embrace our story, our history. You don’t have to be proud of it, but you must claim it because it’s yours.”
4. What do you think it means for people to claim their own history? Have you claimed yours?
“We have limits. There are all sorts of things we aren’t.
There are all kinds of people that we aren’t.
Maybe this is why Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself.
How could I ever love and embrace someone else when I’ve never
come to terms with who I am and then who I’m not?”
5. What are some of your limits? Are you okay with your limitations or do you still sometimes wish you had the abilities and circumstances of others?
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30 (TNIV)
“Some people live their whole lives according to the expectations of others.
Whether it’s authority figures or family members, it’s as if there’s this script that has already
been written by someone else and all they’re essentially doing is just acting it out.”
6. Are there things in your life that you do because it’s “expected” of you? If so, do these things get in the way of you doing what you really feel you should be doing?
“There’s this moment by the side of the river as the sun rises and Jacob faces this man
who has asked him the question, ‘What is your name?’ and Jacob answers him, ‘I’m Jacob.’
He’s struggled and he’s been broken and he’s done pretending. He isn’t trying to be Esau or anyone else; Jacob has wrestled and overcome. Jacob is ready to be Jacob.”
7. Do you think you could live in a way where you’re not comparing yourself to people who have more than you, who look different than you, or who can do things you can’t? Do you think you can ever fully be you if you don’t?
Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
Job 5:2 (TNIV)
“We need to be saved from all the times we haven’t been our true selves.
All the times we’ve tried to be someone else.
All of the lies we’ve believed about who God made when God made us.
All the times we’ve asked the wrong questions:
‘What about him? What about her? What about them?’
And we’ve missed the voice of Jesus saying, ‘You, follow me.’”
What would it look like for you to completely trust Jesus when he says, “You, follow me”?
May you do the hard work of the soul to discover your true self.
May you find your unique path, the one God has for you.
And in the process, may you find yourself comfortable in your own skin.
Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen
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Sunday, August 26, 2012
Nooma 005 I Noise
1. Why is silence so hard to deal with?
2. Do you ever surround yourself with noise intentionally? Why do we do this?
3. Do you wish God’s voice was louder in your life? Does all the noise in our lives make it harder to hear God?
4. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Why does Jesus promise us something it seems we really don’t want?
5. When is the last time you spent some time in total silence?
6. Psalms 4:4 “Tremble and do not sin when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent” Is that why we like noise, so we don’t have to look at our lives?
7. Do you always need someone around you? If yes why is that?
8. Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
9. What are some things in your daily life you could change to eliminate some of the noise?
10. Is it possible you’ve been looking for God in the winds, fire and earthquake when he’s been waiting to talk with you in the silence?
11. Why do we fill our time with so many activities and neglect time with God and time with our families?
12. When was the last time you sat together as a family without the TV, radio, iPod, or other
device causing a distraction? Try it and see what happens.
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Nooma 006 I Kickball
1. We always want something don’t we? Something that would make us happy, right? What is it for you?
2. Do you feel like you often don’t get the things you really want?
3. Do you feel like God’s denying you these things or maybe like he’s not even listening to you?
4. James 1:17. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens. He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing.
5. Have you ever been mad at God for not giving you what you’d asked for?
6. Is it okay to question God?
7. Have you ever felt like God did come through for you? If so, how?
8. If you got everything you asked for in life, do you think you’d be happy?
9. Jeremiah 29:11-14. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.
10. Do you see your life as part of a bigger picture, a larger story?
11. Have you ever felt unsure about an important decision in your life and trusted God to lead you in the right direction? How did that turn out?
12. ‘Sometimes you have this sense of, “God if you just give me this, then I’d be okay. Then my life would be okay.”
13. Do you believe God is good? Always?
14. Luke 11:11-13. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? IF you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
15. So when you find yourself standing at the kiosk, asking, ‘Why can’t I have what I want?’ may you believe that God is good, and that right across the street he has something better.
Interesting side note: The entire wall of kickballs seen in the film was donated to inner city elementary schools.
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Sunday, September 9, 2012
Nooma 007 I Luggage
1. What kind of wounds do you have?
2. How have your wounds shaped who you are today?
3. Romans 12:19. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
4. Have you ever really gotten revenge? If so, how did it make you feel afterwards? If we take
revenge when we get hurt, do you think it’s like saying to God, “I think I can handle this better
than you”?
5. Proverbs 15:3. The LORD sees everything, whether good or bad.
6. Whatever wrong was done to any of us, God saw it, it was like God was right there. If
God’s right there when people get hurt, why do you think he doesn’t step in to stop it from
happening? Do you trust that God is ultimately going to take care of everything?
7. “You know what, you don’t understand. What they did to me is so horrible, I will never forgive
them. I can’t forgive them for what they did.” But what if God said that? What is God’s
forgiveness of us so crucial to our forgiveness of other?
8. “Sometimes forgiving is remembering and some people are going to keep returning to their
vomit, and we don’t have to be there when they do.” Can we forgive somebody without being
able to be around them? Do you have people like that in your life?
9. Do you believe forgiveness is really more about the one forgiving than the one being forgiven? Does that view on forgiveness make it easier to forgive?
10. “Forgiving is an action, it’s something you do.” Are there people you need to forgive? If
someone you need to forgive died before you made amends, what kinds of regrets would you
have?
“So may you forgive as you've been forgiven, may you give to others what’s been given to you, may you set someone free and find out that it was you, and may you do it today, because you might not have the chance tomorrow.”
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Sunday, September 16, 2012
Nooma 008 I Dust
1. “I want to be the kind of person who does the right thing. And I don’t just mean the big things where right and wrong are obvious and easy, but I mean the small things. The subtle, unnoticed things.”
Why are the “small and unnoticed” things such a big deal?
2. “A disciple doesn’t just want to know what the rabbi knows. A disciple wants to be like the rabbi and wants to learn to do what the rabbi does.”
Have you ever thought about Jesus as your rabbi?
Would you consider yourself a disciple?
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:25-31 (NIV)
3. “So different rabbis had different sets of interpretations about how they lived out,
and understood, and interpreted the Scriptures.”
Have you ever thought about your faith as being an interpretation?
Is it okay to have different interpretations of the Scriptures?
4. “If they’re fishermen and Jesus calls them to be his disciples, then they’re not following another rabbi; and if they’re not following another rabbi they’re not the best of the best. They didn’t make the cut.” What message was Jesus sending us by not choosing the best of the best?
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (TNIV)
5. “It’s like a movement of anybodies and he calls them – the JV, the B team, the ‘not-good-enoughs.’ He calls them to be his disciples and they change the course of human history.”
What impact are Christians today having on the course of human history?
6. “Now, I always assumed that Peter doubts Jesus. But Jesus isn’t sinking! Who does Peter doubt? He doubts himself. He loses faith in himself that he can actually be like his rabbi.”
How big of a role do your insecurities play in your life?
Do they ever affect your faith?
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:19 (NASB)
7. “Faith in Jesus is important, but what about Jesus’ faith in us? I mean he must have faith in us because he leaves it all in the hands of these disciples.”
Do you believe that God believes in you?
8. “Jesus has faith that you can follow him and that you can be like him.”
What does it mean to be like Jesus? Can you do it?
“May you believe in God. But may you come to see that God believes in you. May you have faith in Jesus. But may you come to see that Jesus has faith that you can be like him. A person of love and compassion and truth. A person of forgiveness, and peace, and grace, and joy, and hope. And may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, Jesus.”
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
Nooma 009 I Bullhorn
“As I get closer, I hear the words ‘sin’ and ‘burn’ and ‘hell’ and ‘repent.’ And then I hear the word ‘Jesus.’
And he’s got all these pamphlets, and he’s quoting these Bible verses about the anger and wrath of God,
and how if I don’t repent, I’m going to pay for it for eternity, and how I might die, I might die tonight!
This might be my only chance!”
1. How do you feel about people like bullhorn guy?
2. Are people like bullhorn guy hurting the general perception of Christianity?
What things other than bullhorn guy negatively taint the perception of the Christian faith?
“I mean, that’s why so many of us are so fascinated with Jesus, because he never stops insisting that God really, really loves us exactly as we are. I mean, isn’t that what draws you to him?”
3. What draws you to the message of Jesus?
“Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”
Jesus answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.’
This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one.
And it is, ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 (CEV)
“When Jesus is asked, ‘What’s the most important thing?’ Jesus’ response is to love,
love God with everything that you have and then love those around you in the same kind of way.
Jesus doesn’t separate loving God and loving others. For Jesus, everything hangs on these two. And so the defining mark of a Christian is love.”
4. What’s the most important thing in your life?
How does that line up with what Jesus said?
5. What does it mean to love someone with an agenda?
Is trying to convert someone to your religious beliefs an agenda?
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35 (TNIV)
“So a Christian is somebody who understands this, who understands that people with different
perspectives and different religious beliefs and convictions, they’re to be loved and respected,
because they’re made by God, and they’re sacred and they’re valuable and they matter.
God loves the world, so a Christian does too.”
6. Does God love people with different beliefs than you? As much as he loves you?
7. How do you feel about people with different beliefs than you?
8. Do you think it’s possible to scare people into loving God?
9. What are some general negative perceptions of Christians out there? Are the negative perceptions of Christianity caused by what we believe or how we’re living? Are you doing anything to change the negative perceptions?
“So may you see that how you love others is how you love God.
That’s it. That’s the way of love. That’s the way of Jesus.”
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Sunday, September 30, 2012Nooma 010 I Lump
“My older son says, ‘It’s just the strangest thing, I don’t know, I don’t know where it came from, do you know where it came from?’”
1. Do you ever act unnatural when you’re doing something you know you shouldn’t be doing? Why do you think we do this?
2. Have you ever gotten busted for something you’d done? If so, what was it?
“You know that moment, like when your junk catches up to you?
It’s like maybe not that day, maybe not the next day, maybe not for a while,
but give it enough time, it always finds us.”
3. Do you think it’s possible to keep something secret and never get busted for it?
“So my boy stands there in front of his mom, frozen.
And then he turns, and runs upstairs.”
4. What are ways you avoid dealing with your junk?
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow.
Galatians 6:7 (TNIV)
5. Do you have people around you who are struggling with something and keeping it to themselves? If so, are you having a hard time figuring out what to do? What are your options?
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
“It’s like he has this choice, does he continue?
You know, does he grab the covers and pull them back over his head and keep hiding?
Or does he just let himself lie there totally exposed and vulnerable?”
6. Do you have anything in your life you’re hiding, something you’re ashamed of?
Are you ready to deal with it?
“I sit on the edge of the bed holding my boy with the covers pulled back repeating,
‘There’s nothing you could ever do to make me love you less.’”
7. Do you have people around you that could never do anything to make you love them less?
Is this really how we should feel about all other people?
Nothing can separate us from God’s love – not life or death, not angels or spirits,
not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below.
Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Romans 8:38-39 (CEV)
“Whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve been, whatever you will do, I mean,
God loves you and God always has, and you can’t change that.”
8. Do you believe, deep in your heart, that God loves you no matter what you’ve done or will do?
“May you stop hiding under the covers. May you let God pull the covers back. May you embrace him. May your whole life become a response to the truth that you’ve always been loved, you are loved, and you always will be loved. And may you know, may you know deep in the depths of your soul, that there’s nothing you could ever do to make him love you less.
Nothing you could ever do to make God love you less.
Nothing you could ever do to make him love you less.
Nothing. Nothing.”
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Sunday, October 7, 2012Nooma 011 I Rhythm
1. If God can help people find things on sale, then why doesn’t God spend time on things that seem more important like earthquakes, or famines, or sickness and what do you believe about God’s involvement in our daily lives?
2. When you think about God, when you hear the word ‘God,’ what images come to mind? What or who has helped shape the images that you have?
Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
3. For many people their concept of God is built around a God who’s outside of everything, a
God who essentially is somewhere else, a God who made the world but then stands back and
watches it from this other vantage point, a God who’s there, and then from time to time comes
here. Where is God?
4. Why do you think people, including some writers of the Bible, use human physical references
like hands, feet, eyes, and he to describe God, when other Scriptures state that God is a spirit
and has no form?
“When I think of God, I hear a song. Jesus is like God in taking on flesh and blood, and so in his
generosity, in his compassion, that’s what God’s like. In his telling of the truth, that’s what God’s like. In his love, and forgiveness, and sacrifice, that’s what God’s like. That’s who God is. That’s how the song goes.”
5. Are God and Jesus compassionate, truthful, loving, and forgiving or is God compassion, truth, love, and forgiveness?
6. “The song is playing all around us all the time; the song is playing everywhere, it’s written on our hearts, and everybody is playing the song. See, the question isn’t whether or not you’re playing a song, the question is, ‘Are you in tune?’”
7. What does it mean for you to be in or out of tune with the song? Are you in tune? There are people who talk as if they know everything about being a Christian and yet they can seem way
out of tune. And then there are others who would say they don’t know much at all about the Christian faith, and yet they can seem very in tune with the song.
8. Can you believe in God and be out of tune with the song? Does it work the other way around?
9. What is more important to Jesus: what we believe or what we do?
10. Do you believe that if you live the way Jesus taught us to live, being in tune with the song, that you “will have life in its fullest”?
John 10:10 - I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.
“May you come to see that the song is written on your heart, and as you live in tune with the song, in tune with the creator of the universe, may you realize that you ARE in relationship with the living God.”
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Sunday, December 30, 2012Nooma 018 I Name
“I was meeting with my counselor recently and somewhere in the course of our time together we were discussing some issue in my life and I asked him, ‘Is it normal for people to…’ and he immediately interrupts me. And he says, ‘Is it normal for who?’ And I said, ‘Well, is it normal for people to…’ and he interrupts me again. And he says, ‘Wait, wait, we’re not here to talk about other people, are we? We’re here to talk about you and who you are and what the next right thing is for you to do. So the better question is: is it normal for you?’”
1. Why do you think we so often worry about what everyone else is doing, saying, or thinking? Should it matter to us what’s “normal” for everyone else?
That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go,
for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
Genesis 32:22-27 (NIV)
“In the ancient Near East your name was more than just words. Name was identity.
Your name was reflective of your character, your substance, I mean the very fiber that made you, you. Your name told who you are.”
2. What is your name? Have you ever thought of your name as a reflection of who you are?
“We each have this unique path, a calling, a life that God has given us; and Jesus invites us to be our true selves
and yet we get sidetracked, we get distracted, we get hung up on how we’re different from her or we aren’t like him
and we end up asking the wrong questions.”
3. Do you have the sense of a unique path in your life? If so, what is it? Are there ways in which you tend to get distracted from “your path” because of what others do, say, or think?
After breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
He then asked a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Master, you know I love you.”
Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.”
Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, “Do you love me?” so he answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know.
You’ve got to know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. I’m telling you the very truth now:
When you were young you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished, but when you get old you’ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don’t want to go.”
He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
And then he commanded, “Follow me.”
Turning his head, Peter noticed the disciple Jesus loved following right behind.
When Peter noticed him, he asked Jesus, “Master, what’s going to happen to him?”
Jesus said, “If I want him to live until I come again, what’s that to you? You — follow me.”
John 21:15-22 (MSG)
“You and I have pasts, families we come from, things we’ve done, mistakes we’ve made,
and where we’ve been and what we’ve done has shaped us into who we are today. So we have to embrace our story, our history. You don’t have to be proud of it, but you must claim it because it’s yours.”
4. What do you think it means for people to claim their own history? Have you claimed yours?
“We have limits. There are all sorts of things we aren’t.
There are all kinds of people that we aren’t.
Maybe this is why Jesus says to love your neighbor as yourself.
How could I ever love and embrace someone else when I’ve never
come to terms with who I am and then who I’m not?”
5. What are some of your limits? Are you okay with your limitations or do you still sometimes wish you had the abilities and circumstances of others?
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30 (TNIV)
“Some people live their whole lives according to the expectations of others.
Whether it’s authority figures or family members, it’s as if there’s this script that has already
been written by someone else and all they’re essentially doing is just acting it out.”
6. Are there things in your life that you do because it’s “expected” of you? If so, do these things get in the way of you doing what you really feel you should be doing?
“There’s this moment by the side of the river as the sun rises and Jacob faces this man
who has asked him the question, ‘What is your name?’ and Jacob answers him, ‘I’m Jacob.’
He’s struggled and he’s been broken and he’s done pretending. He isn’t trying to be Esau or anyone else; Jacob has wrestled and overcome. Jacob is ready to be Jacob.”
7. Do you think you could live in a way where you’re not comparing yourself to people who have more than you, who look different than you, or who can do things you can’t? Do you think you can ever fully be you if you don’t?
Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
Job 5:2 (TNIV)
“We need to be saved from all the times we haven’t been our true selves.
All the times we’ve tried to be someone else.
All of the lies we’ve believed about who God made when God made us.
All the times we’ve asked the wrong questions:
‘What about him? What about her? What about them?’
And we’ve missed the voice of Jesus saying, ‘You, follow me.’”
What would it look like for you to completely trust Jesus when he says, “You, follow me”?
May you do the hard work of the soul to discover your true self.
May you find your unique path, the one God has for you.
And in the process, may you find yourself comfortable in your own skin.
Every Day a Friday by Joel Osteen
Chapter 1 – Make Every Day a Friday
Happiness is a choice. It depends
on how my mind is arranged.
“Most people are as happy as
they’ve decided to be.” – Abraham Lincoln
Happiness is your right
(Declaration of Independence). Every
day is a gift from God.
State “I have plenty of
reasons to be happy right now.” Discussion
– What are yours?
Don’t let the turkeys get
you down. These are wasted days when we
worry, easily irritated and mad.
Scripture: “Set your minds
and keep them set on what is above.” Col 3:2
You have what you need
Keep the right perspective.
We all have something to be happy about. (see page 13)
Keep a song in your heart
The birds sing. They know a secret. They know their heavenly Father is in
control. Start each morning with a
smile and a song (rejoice).
Scripture: “Be happy and
rejoice and be glad-hearted continually.” Thessolians 5:16
Discussion - For how long?
The key to adversity
“If you complain, you will
remain.” Being negative you lose your opportunity for new growth, joy and promotion.
Put your hope back in the
Lord
Give yourself a pep talk
each morning. You can’t give God thanks
and stay down and discouraged. Thank
God for what he has already done for you.
Chapter 2 - Don’t Give Away Your Power
We can’t control our
circumstances but we can control our reactions. Be realistic that most days won’t go exactly as you planned. You are not always in control J
Scripture: “No one will take
away your joy.” John 16:22
Stop allowing negative people, disappointments, and
inconveniences to steal your joy! Put your foot down. Breathe in, breathe out, and move on.
When you allow someone else
to upset you, you are allowing that person to control you. Some people have a
calling in life to point out what others are doing wrong. They are constantly critical. RISE ABOVE THAT.
Discussion - Who is the most negative person in your life? Why are they negative?
When Jesus sent His
disciples out to homes He told them to speak peace over each person. AND “If they don’t receive it, then
the peace you are offering will come back to you.” Luke
10:5-6
Strength Under Control
When you encounter people
who are poisoned inside don’t let it rub off on you. Don’t sink to their level.
Scripture: “Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Matthew 5:5
Meek ≠ Weak instead Meek =
Strength under Control
The Law of the Garbage
Truck
Many people are like garbage
trucks. They run around full of
garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a
place to dump it. And if you let them,
they’ll dump it on you. So when someone
wants to dump on you, don’t take it personally. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move
on. Be careful to not carry around
their garbage.
Keep your lid on!
Emotions are Controlled
by Circumstances or Character
A small pot boils
quickest. If someone is rude, your
emotions will tell you, pay them back.
That doesn’t take any discipline.
When your strength is under control, when you’ve developed your
character, you realize, I’m bigger than this.
The truth is, these people may
never change, but you can.
Change for Good
Find out what is stealing
your joy. Discussion - What are you
allowing to upset you?
It is liberating when you
understand you don’t have to give away your joy.
Chapter 3 – Express
your Joy
Scripture: “God has
anointed You with the oil of gladness.” Hebrews 1:9
Tap into that joy and don’t hide it. Studies have proven that a smile on your
face is good for you and everyone around you.
Our bodies respond mentally and physically to a smile. Just start with a smile and you’ll see
happiness and peace start in the people around you.
Personally, I try to deal with irritating people and
situations by “Killing them with kindness”.
This is amazingly successful.
Too many people drag through the day with long faces. The Bibles says to be sober-minded, not
sober-faced. You receive what you
project.
Discussion – What is your normal day? Smiling our sour
faced? How do you get back to a more
positive attitude? What is your happy
place?
Smile by faith - God
is in control; everything is all right.
Make a habit of smiling.
“If you are not smiling, you’re like a person with a million
dollars in the bank and no checkbook.”
Smilers are workplace winners. As a hiring manager, having a positive attitude in the interview
has often been a consideration in selecting an employee.
We are Christ’s ambassadors. If we’re to represent God properly, we should do it with joy,
enthusiasm and a smile.
When things are difficult, smile by faith.
Chapter 4 – Bloom
where you are Planted
You may work around a bunch of weeds, but that doesn’t stop
you from blooming. Wherever you are,
know that God has put you there for a reason.
(very true!)
Be grateful for where you live, who you’re are married to,
the business you are in.
You can’t fight your way to Happiness. We think “if I could just ________________,
I would be happy.
Discussion: How would
you fill in the blank? How can you word
this into an opportunity or gratitude?
Take Responsibility
This approach takes away your excuses
and puts the responsibility to be happy on us.
Tell yourself “I have the power to enjoy this job”, “I’ll have a great
day”, “I’ll be productive, “I’ll bloom right here where God has planted me.”
Be Faithful where you are
When you pass that test of blooming where you’re planted and
keep a good attitude even when you don’t feel like it, and stay calm when you
don’t get your way, and honor authority even when you don’t agree, you are
sowing a seed for God to take you where He wants you to go.
Have you ever thought God may have you somewhere on purpose
so you can be a good example? Why don’t
you try a different perspective?
God will use you for the Good of Others
Sometimes God will ask us to put up with things to help
another person. Where are the people unselfish enough to say “God I trust in
You”.
Scripture: Paul states “I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances. I know what
it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content
in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in
plenty or in want.” Phillipians 4:11-12
Discussion: Share a
time where God put you in a situation to help another person.
You are Responsible to
People, NOT for them
You cannot change people, only God can. We are responsible for encouraging others,
for guiding them further along. But we
are not responsible for their choices.
Some people don’t want to be happy.
If they want to be a weed, they can be a weed, but I am a flower.
When you bloom in the midst of weeds, you sow a seed to
inspire and challenge the people around you to come up higher.
God will show up
Get rid of your excuses.
Quit waiting for things to change.
Sow a seed and be happy right now.
When you’re in difficult times remember: Either God is doing a work in
you or He’s using you to do a work in someone else. As long as you’re in faith, where you are is where you’re
supposed to be.
Chapter 5 – Enjoy the
journey
Life is not about getting to a destination. It’s about how we live along the way. It’s easy to become so goal-oriented and so
focused on our dreams that we overlook the simple things we should be enjoying
each day.
Discussion: You receive
an invitation to meet the President at the White House. You are very excited for this special
opportunity. Your son’s basketball team
won their division and keeps advancing.
The state championship ends up being on the same day as the
invitation. What would you do?
You can’t live off your big events because after you savor
them for a moment, God will birth a new dream in your heart. The common regret from people who have made
it to the top was that it was at the expense of their families. Slow down and enjoy the journey.
Every day, tell your spouse, your children, those who mean
the most to you, how much you love them.
Focus on what is truly important
Understand that when you come to the end of your life, most
likely there will still be work to do at the office. Your in-box will still be full.
Your work will never be finished.
Invest in those you love the most – time, money, attention and
love. Don’t take work stress home; the
whole house will tense up.
ZigZag through life.
You still arrive at the same place but you get to enjoy all the sights
along the way. Appreciate and enjoy the
great things God has placed in your life.
“For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” – Lily Tomlin
Discussion: God gives
us a sunrise every morning. Do you ever
enjoy it? He gives us stars every
night. Do you ever look up and
appreciate them? Do you ever call
family or a friend to talk about nothing?
Some things you can’t get back
Your children will
be home for only so long. Take time for
the people in your life. Don’t rush out
of the house without giving your spouse a hug.
Don’t be so busy that you can’t go on that date with your child. Make
memories together.
You are living in tomorrow’s good old days. Don’t take now for granted. Don’t just show up. Be involved. Be engaged.
Slow down and enjoy the simple things
I almost always
preferred just swimming at a hotel pool over most vacation activities. I remember swimming in a salt water pool
(with fish!) and another trip where my Dad taught me how to dive.
Discussion: What are
some of your favorite simple things and memories?
Value what matters to you
If you have people to love in your life, you are rich. If you can talk to your family about
nothing, you are rich.
Take more walks in the park. Look at the stars at night and think about God’s goodness. When
you wake up in the morning, don’t just drink your coffee. Sip it and say, “Ahhhh”. Ignite that moment. Slow down and enjoy the journey.
“It’s not life that is short, it’s that we wait so long to
begin.”
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