CELL NOTES 23/11/09

ICE BREAKER

What were you doing this time last year, which still needs to be completed?

THEME 

Poor and generous

Reading 2Corinthians 8 : 1 – 9

SERMON OUTLINE

1) Are you generous, extravagant or stingy?

2) How would you describe Jesus’ ministry in a few words? Could you do better than v9?

3) In the midst of the pressures of life – will you choose to look at Jesus, and what He has done for you? See Psalm 34 : 1 – 7

4) Has what he has done really sunk in? Have you grasped it and been grasped by it?

5) Story of mime artist’s sketch, in which he climbs into the collection plate.

6) The Macedonians had got the message. See v5. Despite poverty, they were tremendously generous, because of the grace of God at work in them?

7) What would you choose as the essential marks of Christian living? See v 7 – in which Paul includes giving.

8) Story of business man who was converted, and changed radically.

9) As we age, attitudes to money can become more cautious and central in our lives. We may exclude that area of our lives from living by faith and obedience to the Lord.

10) So we need to be practical, to emulate the Macedonians and take v7 seriously. In considering your response next Sunday,

Give your self to Jesus

            Then do what he says – which may be via a quiet inner conviction, a more emotional desire to respond, or simply a whisper in your heart.

11) v9

QUESTIONS OF APPLICATION

1) Read the passage. What does God say to you through it, or via Sunday’s message?

2) Look at v9. How did Jesus become poor? How have you become rich? Does anything inhibit you from enjoying the riches He intends you to have?

3) What examples of generosity have you encountered that have inspired you?

4) What prompts you to be generous with your time, energy, and money? What inhibits you?