Jesus Christ Is Enough // Wait! What? (Heb. 4:1-13)

Introduction

Christianity has a long history of being misunderstood, even by Christians! It's all too easy to make it about Jesus PLUS something (good works, moral living, religious activities, emotional experience…). But the book of Hebrews claims that when we add anything to Jesus, we're actually subtracting. It holds up Jesus Christ – fully God, fully human – as the promised Deliverer. The One who alone saves us from our sinfulness and restores our relationships with God, others, and creation. Its message, the message of Christianity, is really quite simple: Jesus Christ is enough!

Ice Breaker Questions

Here are some possible ways to get a conversation started:

1. What is your favorite Girl Scouts cookie?

2. What is one goal for the summer?

Getting Started

1. Open up with some prayer – some possible prayer topics:

• God would lead your time of discussion.

• That we would each be reminded of the rest we can have in God.

• We would rest in knowing that God knows us fully and yet still loves and delights in us.

• We would see Jesus as the author of Hebrews describes Him.

2. Read Hebrews 4: 1-13

Discussion Questions

1. We all have ups and downs with our walk with the Lord. What does your life look like when you are not experiencing the rest of God? What are the ways you can move yourself back into that rest? (i.e. journaling, music, prayer, walking, etc.)

2. What does your life look like when you are walking well with the Lord and are living in His rest? What routines do you keep? How do you behave/react to life?

3. God never designed us to walk this life alone and we need other people to walk with us and help us see where we fall short. Who are the people who walk with you closely enough to tell you when you are not striving for God’s rest? What do you risk by not having those people?

4. It can often to be so hard/feel weird to intervene if someone is struggling. How do we grow our ability to do this in a loving way? What is at stake if we leave it alone? How would you like that person to bring it to your attention?

5. Our culture is constantly in a rush and always moving from one thing to the next in an anxious hustle. How is this message encouraging to our culture? How do we best help them here such a crucial message? Who is someone that needs to hear this message?

Closing Prayer

Prayer can often be somewhat of a weird time, and we understand it can be awkward to pray out loud, but as your group grows in comfortability ask people to pray out loud. Prayer is a very effective tool the Holy Spirit uses to draw our hearts closer to God. It is also a time you as a group can come together and come before the throne of God and make requests and just experience Him.

Some suggestions:

• Ask if there are any prayer requests.

• Pray that we would go about our week resting in Christ.

• Pray for a new/renewed understanding of who Jesus is.

Personal Spiritual Practice

This section is for anyone that wants some practical steps to try throughout their week. They are not required, but maybe a great way to reinforce what has been discussed during group. Maybe this could even be a way to check in either during the week or the next time you meet as a group.

1. Meditation: Take 15 minutes each day and just sit and meditate on who Christ is and the rest he offers you. This not a time to empty your mind or think of the laundry that needs to be folded (mine right now), but to just think on who Jesus is. Use Hebrews 4:1-13 as assistance on what you could meditate on.

    

   2. Slow Down: A great book on slowing down is “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”. One of the recommendations he makes for slowing our lives down is to “put our phones to bed”. SO, I would encourage you this week to do so and put your phone away an hour before going to bed and not looking at it until an hour after you wake up.

Next Week’s Passage: Ephesians 6:1-3