CELL NOTES 10/9/07

ICE BREAKER

Where do you exercise authority and where are you under authority? How do you feel about both those roles?

THEME

Are you off your trolley?

Reading Luke 16 : 10 – 15

SERMON OUTLINE

1) Quote from worker in supermarket

2) Jesus puts His finger on a lot of matters in a few words :-

Honesty and trust

What governs your life?

The role money plays for you

What you sneer at

What we value v. what God values

3) “My word is my bond.” We may applaud

this standard but it is easy to have a weaker integrity – insurance claims, the making and keeping of promises, etc. Jesus asks us if we are kidding ourselves.

4) This links with who is the boss of my life. What are the unseen drivers that determine my behaviour, attitudes etc? If it is money, or self-advancement in some way, sooner or later this will become obvious.

5) The Pharisees sneered at Jesus, because despite a respectable and religious image, their driving motive was money. We may well sneer as a defence mechanism when we are challenged by a person or teaching.

6) v15 is a challenging statement. It may well be true that the values which are popularly accepted actually leave us feeling uncomfortable, when we probe a bit. Jesus came to make us people whose values and hidden drivers revolve around faith, mercy, forgiveness and love. I need to get to know Jesus so well, that those values instinctively become mine. Naturally I will be far more self-centred.

7) Such a change of values involves a process. Alpha may well be part of that.

QUESTIONS OF APPLICATION

1) Read the passage. What strikes/challenges/encourages you from it?

2) Which of the issues Jesus raises do you find most challenging? Why? How may you respond to the challenge?

3) A recent article in “Cell UK Magazine” entitled “Freedom in a world of consumer idols” contains the following, If I look at every penny I spend, in what way is Jesus Christ Lord of my life at that point? What is your response?

4) What do you / have you habitually sneered at?

5) What masters pull at you for allegiance now? How do you deal with this in the light of your commitment to Christ?

6) What do you make of v15?

7) Who can you invite to Alpha?