Oct 18 2023 From Thought to Action: Chapter 2
Want to get this sent to your email every week? Sign up here!
Before we begin, remember…making disciples can be as easy as reading a chapter of The Four Priorities and discussing it with someone else. This blog series is designed to supplement your journey. Feel free to take what you need and leave the rest! And remember, please share this post with your disciple so they can subscribe, too!
KEY QUOTES from Chapter 2: What’s the Big Picture?
“Perspective is the main idea. God sees a different view than we do!”
“God’s bird’s eye view allows Him to see what you were like before trusting Christ, where in the growth process you stand now, and — most important of all — what you will be like in the future. He sees the beginning, the middle, and the end of your transformation all at once.”
“Even though the position of Christ in your life is secured, your condition still stinks.”
REFLECT: When we look at our problems, it’s easy for them to feel daunting and overwhelming. The same goes for when we look at God. It’s been said that when you have the right view of God, everything else falls into the right perspective. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with things in your life right now, maybe your perspective of God needs to be adjusted.
-
- Set a 5 minute timer and write down as many words to describe God as you can.
- Set another timer and write down as many stories of God as you can — stories from Scripture, from your life, or ones you’ve heard from others.
PRAY: We have a tendency to overcomplicate things – especially our prayers! One way to simplify your prayer life is to pick two phrases or truths from scripture and attach them to your breath pattern. As you inhale, think the 1st phrase. As you exhale, say the 2nd phrase.
INHALE: You are God
EXHALE: I am not
MEMORIZE: Take this week to memorize Isaiah 55:8-9 with your household. Write it on a sticky note to place on your car dashboard, your bathroom mirror, or wherever you will view it often.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
WORSHIP: Listen to this song called Bigger Than I Thought by Passion
TABLE TALK: Imagine walking through a city, looking at all the different heights of buildings and cars and people. Now imagine you’re in an airplane, does it look the same or different? When you look at an Oreo from above, it just looks flat and round. When you look at it from the side, you can see the different layers: cookie, cream, cookie. We see our lives from one perspective, but God has a different vantage point than us. What is big to us is different than what is big to God!
ASK: What can you (child) see that is different from what I (parent) can see right now? What do you think God can see that is different from what we can see?
TEACH: Go back to the Beachhead illustration in your book. While you read this portion of the chapter out loud, have the kids draw their version of it.
PLAY: Have some fun playing the game where you try to guess what something is from it being overly zoomed in. You can choose your own photos, or here is Jeopardy’s version of it! Another option would be to teach this object lesson using a Magnifying glass.
1. When you trust Jesus, He comes in and sets up a position in your life. That position is secure (John 10:28-30).
2. Jesus Christ will never leave nor forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5)
3. The Christian life is a process of growing for the rest of your life to become like Jesus (Romans 8:29) as you conquer your “Enemy Held Territory” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) through the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Your part of the process is to identify your enemy held territory, give it to the Lord, seek help to overcome it!
That’s it for Chapter 2!
Now…go! And make disciples!