Review: Genesis 1:26-28: Describe the image we are created in. What is the analogy I used for this? (Marriage and Creating a family…Child is a product of the loving relationship between father and mother…much like we are a product of the loving relationship within the trinity!)
Key Scriptures: 2 Samuel 7:1-16, Hebrews 10:22-23
Activity: Scene 17 in “The Prestige”. Secrets are my life. How to build a lack of trust and faithfulness. The trick becomes his life. His own wife doesn’t even know who he really is. Wears the beard in public to maintain the image. Keeps more secrets than he reveals till he makes the all encompassing statement that secrets are his life. Make reference to telling his wife that he loves her and her ability to tell whether or not its true. Describe how she feels when its true or untrue.
-What kind of impact does “Freddy’s” changing have on his wife? Why?
-The continued performance of Alfred hurts his wife. Why is that? Deceit, secrets, misunderstanding.
-Wants to know about his bad day but he can’t even tell her that.
-How does Sara feel at the end of the scene?
Small Group #1: Pass out the survey sheets. Instruct the students to rate the likely hood they would trust these events to happen on a scale of 1 (not happening) to 10 (definitely happening).
-The Sun will rise in the morning.
-Your car (or parents’ car) will start when you turn the key.
-Your alarm will go off in the morning.
-A friend will hang out with you when you ask them to.
-A parent will pick you up on time.
-A friend will keep a promise.
-Your favorite sports team will win a game.
-Your friend’s movie recommendation will be accurate.
-You buy a new CD from your favorite band without ever hearing on of the songs on it.
-Which of these did you rank a ten? Why?
-Which did you rank the lowest? Why?
-What makes one of these occurrences more trustworthy? (They’ve happened again and again…never failed or have failed very infrequently.)
-Which of these is the most risky to trust in? Why? (Some have a higher cost to trust in…cost you money in the cd is bad, make you late if your alarm fails or car doesn’t start, costs us pain and disappointment if a parent or friend lets us down, cost life if the sun doesn’t rise)
Back in Large Group: Ask for some of the responses.
-We have a hard time trusting in things that have burned us before. If every time a friend suggests a movie, you hate it, you aren’t going to take the recommendations. If you’ve been late a few times because your alarm didn’t go off…you are going to be paranoid and check it 10 times before you let yourself relax and fall asleep.
-In the same way, if something is proven true, we are more likely to trust in it. If your favorite band has put out 4 great albums, you’ll likely buy the fifth whether you’ve heard a song or not. They faithfully produce good music.
-There are also things that are more risky to trust in. I have a friend who almost always says no when I ask him to do something. He almost always has other plans or just doesn’t feel like it. I know what you’re thinking…he doesn’t want to even be friends with me…but he does. He invites me to hang out with him which I accept. But for some reason its almost always inconvenient for him when I ask…so what do I do? Stop asking…sometimes its hard being rejected. So do I stop asking because it’s a waste of time or because it hurts wondering why he never wants to hang out when I ask him?
-In the same way, trusting in the promise of a friend or parent has risks. They could end up not keeping their promise which makes us feel low or uncared about. So many of us have stopped trusting in promises of friends, parents, pastors, etc.
-How many of you have seen a TV show or movie where the main character has just come out of a poor relationship and meets a new person. Even though this new person has done nothing wrong, the main character does not trust them. The story continues as the main character tries to let go of past hurts and learn to trust again. Usually, the new person gets fed up trying to win their trust and gives up. The story almost always ends when the main character learns the errors of their ways and grovels at the feet of their new love, professing that they trust them and that they are sorry for holding the sins of their former love against the new.
-It’s a classic story. It’s behind almost everything. Everyone pays for broken promises. Someone who claims to be worthy of trust is usually someone we run from because we just haven’t seen it in our own lives.
-This is probably why God as a faithful father is emphasized throughout scripture.
-One of the reasons I love the Bible so much is because there are people like me in the Bible. The Bible is not a bunch of people who live lofty lives void of sin and insecurity. David is a great example. He is someone who is described as “after God’s own heart”. Yet we know he made a serious mistake in having an affair. He also had some serious insecurities. Lets look at a story of a house to discover the faithfulness of God.
Small Group #2: 2 Samuel 7: 1-16:
V3: Wants to build a house for God. Didn’t make sense to have a nice place when God didn’t.
-V7Israelites were a mobile people. The purpose of the tent was so that God could be with the people. God was mobile too!
V9: Look at what I’ve already done from you…took you as a shepherd and made you a king.
-Gone with you wherever you’ve gone.
-Cut off all your enemies.
-Classic Covenant: Same form (Identifying himself as the God who blessed David…just like prior to the ten commandments God said, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.)as the ten commandments when God made a covenant with Moses. God is making a new covenant with David.
V11: Lord will establish a house for you! Not you for me…
V14: I will be his Father and he will be my Son.
-I will punish when he does wrong
V15: but my love will never be taken from him.
V16: Your house and your kingdom will endure forever.
-What are some reasons why David would want to build a house for God based on what we know from this passage?
-What was the point of God’s dwelling being in a tent? Did that scare David? Why?
-How did God remind David of his faithfulness?
-How do you think David felt about God’s promise?
-After this speech, what number 1-10 would David give based on the likelihood it would be kept?
- I feel like maybe David is a little scared as to whether or not God will stay with him. Building a house for God may be what God deserves. But I think there’s a bit of an ulterior motive here. David feels like building God a permanent structure will ensure that he’ll never leave.
-God sees this insecurity and makes a covenant with David. He says in more words that he’ll never leave David. Funny, that’s God’s response to a building project. God says “what are you worried for? I’m not going anywhere”. Not only was God not going anywhere but he had major plans to prosper David and his family. Through that blessing came Jesus, and Jesus of course is a blessing to all humanity!
-Key Phrase: “I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him.”
-I know this doesn’t flow too well..but this is an overwhelming theme in our lives and I feel like I’d be doing disservice not to mention it. We have such a hard time trusting in God because we’ve been so burned by people. And we have a hard time seeing God as a faithful father, because our earthly fathers have been anything but faithful. When God says, “I’ll never leave you!” We say, “I’m not sure about that…I’ve been left before.”
-Just like the typical movie a mentioned earlier…we are the main character and God is that other person that has to pay for the mistakes of the former love. We ascribe to him, so many traits that are not his. His nature is a faithful father…and he reveals that throughout the scriptures. And here through David.
-God sees the insecurity of David and he reveals his faithfulness. He asks David, “When have I ever failed you?”
-Let’s look at David’s response to God’s promise: 2 Samuel 7:18-29: 28=Trustworthy.
-Sounds like a Psalm doesn’t it. Here is a psalm. Psalm 145:10-14.
-Unlike Freddy in the Movie Clip, God doesn’t change. Unlike others in our lives, he will never leave us and he always keeps his promises. He is our Faithful Father.
-Watch this clip “Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus”: Write or Drawl what your thinking or feeling during this video…or simply close your eyes and pray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km63bQinoJk&feature=related
