In today’s story, we read about ten lepers who cried out to Jesus. They wanted Jesus to heal them. So Jesus looked at them and told them to show themselves to the priests. On the way, God healed the lepers. Only one of the ten came back to thank Jesus.
What is something you want healing from? It could be physical, relational or mental and emotional. What is something you want healing from?
If God told you to do something bizarre like show your cut to your mom and you will be healed before you get there, would you wrestle with doubt? Talk about why we sometimes wrestle with doubt!
We have all experienced healing. You may not consider your healing as miraculous. God is no less involved in a minor cut than he is with a paralyzed woman instantly being able to walk. Why do we think God is only involved in the miraculous healings?
Growth Tip
I think there is an element of faith in our healing today regardless if it is miraculous or not! If a doctor gave you a prescription you either believe the doctor instructions will get you better or you don’t. You either follow the instructions or you don’t.
Trust God’s instructions for healing!
Prayer Requests
At the end of your discussion, go around the group and ask for prayer requests.
Here is what we want you to learn today; Always look to God! You know, with the Coronavirus still happening, I think this story will help us get some perspective. There are some huge questions. Like, why did God allow this to happen? How does God feel about everything that is going on? Is he taking a back seat, or is he on the front lines? To be clear, I don’t think that this story will give us all the answers, but it will provide us with clues.
About the Story
The nation of Israel has left, and they have been wandering in the wilderness for a long time now. Now just before this story takes place. The people have complained about no water, and Moses hits his staff twice on the rock, and water gushes out! After this, the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that the Israelites were approaching on the road through Atharim. So he attacked the Israelites and took some of them as prisoners. Then the people of Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will hand these people over to us, we will completely destroy all their towns.” The Lord heard the Israelites’ request and gave them victory over the Canaanites. The Israelites destroyed them and their towns, and the place has been called Hormah ever since.
No matter how unfortunate your circumstances might be. You can always look to God!
There is so much for us to learn from this short story. Most importantly, Always look to God! In scripture, we see God’s love for humanity. Over and over again, God rescues people from a difficult or dangerous situation. But, in this story, we see God actually causing the difficulty. God sent the snakes, which at first glance seems to be the opposite of rescue.
This can be hard to make sense of and understand. Have you ever played with a friend who’s parents never corrected his or her behaviour? If you probably didn’t enjoy spending time with him or her.
We all need correction. Remember, Israel was complaining about God’s instruction. They were talking poorly of God and Moses. So God used the snakes to correct them. This seems kind of harsh, but imagine if Israel was left to complain and self-centred. I think it would have been cruel not to correct Israel. So, in a way, God’s correction for us is part of his compassion. He intervenes so that we don’t continue to hurt ourselves and others. Now when I say correction it is not to say that our freedom to choose has been taken away. He corrects the Israelites through reminders, encouragement, and sometimes difficult circumstances.
At the beginning of the episode, Bradon noted that this story could help us gain some perspective on what is happening today, specifically with the Corona Virus.
Sometimes, bad things happen because of bad choices we or others make and sometimes bad things happen that seem to be completely unrelated to our behaviours. Like the Corona Virus, a tornado or family member gets sick.
I am not sure why God allowed this to happen, but what I do know regardless of why he allowed it to happen, my response will always be the same. I will always look to God! We can trust God because he has proven his Character to be loving, compassionate, and faithful, His Character is consistent. It does not change.
We know from the stories in the bible and through our own life experiences, that God is not taking a back seat. God is experiencing all these world events and his heartaches with all the pain and difficulty he sees. Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Instead of why did God allow this to happen? Perhaps we should be asking, will I trust God during this situation? Each person will need to answer that question for themselves.
In this story, God did not take away the snakes but gave people a means to receive healing from snake bites. As we look to God, as we go to him, we will find healing and restoration in a lot of areas of our lives. What I can’t say to anyone is what God will heal you or anyone else of. Unlike this story, today, there is no bronze snake on a pole to look at so we can be healed.
The story around the Corona Virus is still unfolding. The very best thing you can do is to Always Look To God!
In this story, the Israelites complained about having to go to the Red Sea. They spoke poorly of God and Moses, their leader. God sent a snake plague. As a result of the snakes, the people repented. God did not take away the snakes like the people requested but healed them from snake bites. At God’s direction, Moses built a bronze snake and put it on a pole. The people were healed when they looked at the pole with the snake.
Bradon said, “God’s correction for us is part of his compassion.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
Regardless of what is going on in life, you can always go to God. How do you feel knowing that you can go to the God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, creator of the universe, and will welcome you with love and compassion?
What are the difficult things in life for you right now? Share these concerns with your group then reflect on this question. Will I trust God in this situation?
Growth Tip
Having a daily quiet time with God is incredible. Create a regular habit of spending time with God in prayer and bible reading.
When life gets hard, this habit of meeting with God becomes life-giving. There is literally nothing like spending time with the all-powerful creator of the universe.
Well, when you put it that way. It sounds like an obvious thing to do. I would suggest attaching it to a habit that already exists. Maybe a meal, a morning routine, or an after school or work snack.
That’s a great idea. Spend time with God. You won’t regret it.
Prayer Requests
At the end of your discussion, go around the group and ask for prayer requests.
Always worship God only. Now you may say to yourself well who or what else would I worship? Essentially worship is expressing how great God is. Now telling someone or others how great something or someone is good. Trouble comes when we fail to keep God number one in our worship. It’s not good when we express how much higher things or people are than God. Difficulties will arise when we forget to worship God altogether.
About the Story
Today we will hear the final story in the Daniel series. Daniel is now an older man, probably in his 80’s. Daniel is currently serving under King Darius. Darius liked Daniel, and it kind of sounds like they became friends before this story took place.
Also, Darius made a lot of changes within the kingdom. He divided the empire into 120 provinces, each with a leader. Daniel and two others were in charge of these provincial leaders. Darius noticed how well Daniel did in his role and made plans to promote him to be in charge of the entire empire!
We need to put 10% of the effort of what we usually give to receive praise from others and put all that energy into worshipping God!
Always worship God only. King Darius and his leaders could have avoided a lot of difficulties if they had never agreed to the law. The law stated that people could only worship and prayed to the king!
You may not think that you are looking for others to worship you, and that is probably true, but I would like to challenge your thinking. We tend to want others to see the best in us, and so we share stories, images, or videos that show the world how great we are. When exchanging stories around the campfire, at work or school, we tend to leave out the fails and highlight the stories that show everyone how great we are. Or, maybe we are praised with the amount of knowledge we have, or how funny we can be, or how encouraging we are, or how successful we are, and then we work hard at those things people praise us for being.
In my opinion, we need to put 10% of the effort of what we usually give to receive praise from others and put all that energy into worshipping God! Imagine how different life would be. We would probably be a lot less cynical, angry, anxious, and a lot more at peace, confident in our relationship with God and place in this world!
Always worship God only. In today’s story, a bunch of King Darius’ leaders convince him to sign a law. This law will have people only worshipping and praying to the king for 30 days. Daniel continues to pray to God three times a day. Even though the king doesn’t want to, he has daniel thrown into a lion’s den. The next morning the king checks Daniel and praises God because Daniel is unharmed by the lions.
What social media platforms do you use? Who do you highlight in your posts?
How do you seek praise from others? Do you make people laugh, show your skills or smarts, be super kind and loving, make yourself pretty or handsome, tell stories? How do you seek praise from others?
At the end of the story, King Darius announced to the world how great God is. This is a form of worship. What are some ways that you worship God that don’t include singing?
Growth Tip
Have you ever noticed on social media that nobody shows their whole self? You don’t ever see a picture on Instagram of a person who just woke up and looks awful or a selfie of a person with broccoli stuck in their teeth. People show photos and videos of themselves that tell the world how great they are.
So here is my challenge to you, share photos, videos, and stories that express how great God. Maybe you are not even in the picture or post at all. Do it for a week and see how making posts like that makes you feel and then talk about it with friends or family.
Prayer Requests
At the end of your discussion, go around the group and ask for prayer requests.
Here is the key point today! Learn from others, follow God with humility. There are many harsh lessons in life that don’t have to be difficult if we are willing to learn from others. We can learn from anybody. Sometimes we learn from their mistakes, and other times, we learn from their wisdom and good decisions.
About the Story
In today’s story, we are going to learn from someone’s pride and arrogance. This person had gotten to the point where they did not put God first and his pride prevented him from having a good relationship with God. Arrogance is a serious issue that can destroy your own life and hurt the people around you! That is why we must learn from others so that we can follow God with humility.
Today’s story is the 5th story in the book of Daniel, and you can find it in Daniel, chapter 5. There have been many years that have gone by since our last story, and there is a new King. His name is Belshazzar, which is very similar to Daniel’s Babylonian name, Belteshazzar. Daniel remained in this latest King’s service, but now he was much older.
We need people in our lives that can remind us of our place in this world.
Learn from others, follow God with humility. King Belshazzar did not learn, or perhaps he ignored the lessons from Nebuchadnezzar. We need people in our lives that can remind us of our place in this world. Last week we learned that God is the greatest, which means we are not the greatest.
We are not horrible humans with no hope. God made us in His image, which makes us pretty awesome, and in all of creation, there is nothing like a human being. God made us unique and special as a species and as individuals, but we are also dependent on him. We can not live well apart from him. We cannot have the life God created us for if we are arrogant. To live the life, He made us for; we must follow God with humility.
Learn from others, follow God with humility! King Belshazzar did not learn from the king before him and he had a very tragic end!
In today’s story, King Belshazzar had a massive party with his friends, where there was a lot of drinking and worshiping false gods and idols. During the party, a hand started writing on the wall. Daniel came and told the king what it meant and that because he was not humbly following God, the kingdom would be divided and given to someone else. That same night the king was murdered, and the kingdom was given to Darius the Mede.
Name three people that follow God with humility, one you know personally, one you know about like an author or speaker, and one from history. All of them must be people who follow God with humility.
What is something that you are looking forward to doing? Is it in line with following God with humility?
Our reasons we want something will reflect our humility or arrogance. Name two things that you want and talk about why you want them?
Growth Tip
Let me give you some advice. Plan things that are in line with following God with humility. Doing this will impact the activities you do with your friends, the type of parties you plan, the movies you watch, and even what you talk about with others.
Prayer Requests
At the end of your discussion, go around the group and ask for prayer requests.
Tell everyone that God is great. You may not have as big of an audience as Nebuchadnezzar had but tell as many people as you can! Learn from this story don’t be proud; the Lord will humble you, instead of humble yourself and announce to everyone how great God is.
My wife had severe back pain for many years. After prayer, she experienced healing. It was incredible. People would come up to her and ask how she was doing, and she would proudly explain to them that God healed her and that God did a miracle. She felt a little awkward telling some who dismissed the healing, but she would insist that it was God who healed her.
We all have a reason to tell others why God is so great. What is your reason?
Discussion Episode | Tell Everyone that God is Great
Be like King Nebuchadnezzar, Tell Everyone that God is Great. Today we heard about how he told his whole kingdom through a message that God is great and above all. He learned this lesson in a very difficult way. A dream predicted he would go crazy and live like a wild animal eating grass like a cow. When his sanity returned, he wanted everyone to know just how great God is.
What is something great about God that you have experienced?
King Nebuchadnezzar was incredibly conceited and proud. He enjoyed bragging about how great he was. He did not give God the credit that he deserves. It is easy for us to see others as proud and self-focused. It’s more difficult to see it in ourselves. Is there anything you are proud of that you don’t give God enough or maybe any credit for?
We typically don’t think of hard times as discipline from God. Yet in the bible, particularly in the Old Testament, we read stories of hard times as God’s correction or discipline for people. Is God trying to get your attention through a difficult situation? If so, take some time to reflect and pray. Invite others to speak about the situation and give you some advice.
Tips and Tricks for leading a discussion
Some times it can be scary to answer a question and vulnerable. Show everyone that it is a safe place by answering the questions vulnerabally.
Growth Tip
On my phone I have the Youversion bible app. It is awesome. You can find it on google and apple app stores. It gives you the entire bible plus a ton of other features. I will put a link to it in the show notes.
A couple of features that I like are the pray feature and finding your friends there and seeing what they are reading and how they are growing. It’s called the youversion bible app. It’s very popular and you will be able to find it if you do quick search in the app store.
God will rescue us, and even if he doesn’t, we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up. I love this response from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Regardless of what happened to them personally, they were determined to honour God even if that meant death for them. What does God do? He rescues them!
the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t… we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up. Daniel 3:17-18
God loves to rescue us. It gives him great joy when we honour him and for him to rescue us! Don’t ever underestimate God’s ability and desire to rescue you. And, honour God, put him first; he deserves it, He is the Greatest!
Sometimes we need rescue from situations that were beyond our control like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Other times we need to be rescued from our own poor decisions. Regardless of your situation, make it your aim to honour God and trust in his response.
There have been times when I have asked God to rescue me, and he did, like when I was lost at the fair. Other times God did not respond the way I thought he should, and I was not rescued. I had to choose to honour God still or to walk away from him. God can rescue us; will you honour him regardless like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
