Summary: I once heard a line about Thanksgiving Dinner:<br> “The meal isn’t over when I’m full; it’s over when I hate myself.”<br> Hopefully, you’ve had enough appetite restraint this week to maintain some self-esteem. But when we read the final chapter of 2 Samuel, the themes of when something is over and how we see ourselves will collide in one last thorny, challenging, and ultimately beautiful story about God and David. Is it possible that David’s greatest accomplishment was what he didn’t do?<br> <br> DOWNLOADS<br> SEE IT // BE IT<br> (WEEKLY COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE)<br> Title: Rise and Reign: “Let us fall into the Hand of the Lord” //<br> Scripture: 2 Samuel 24<br> ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out.<br> SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes<br> This week we concluded our journey through I and II Samuel. This has been a journey through the rise and reign of David. And while the main character of this journey has been David, the subject has been God. In these two books (really one book with two volumes), we have learned a lot about God—who He is, what He values and what He desires. We’ve watched God interact with characters like David, Samuel and Saul and in the end we, through their lives, have learned lots about our own lives and relationship with God. This week, we finished this journey by looking at a mysterious passage in II Samuel 24. Here God’s anger burned against Israel because of a census that David had taken across the land. As a king, David begins depending on his own strength, might and mastery. This kind of mastery mindset threatens to keep David from radical dependence on God. Thankfully, in David’s repentance, he learns to engage the divine mystery rather than lean on his own mastery. As he does, he finds that true security comes not from the things he can count but in the one he can count on. And this is really what the entire story of I and II Samuel is really all about. It’s about trusting God with all that we have, instead of trusting in what we have—a lesson that all of us need to hear as we move toward this Christmas season. In David’s words, “Let us fall into the hand of the Lord.”<br> THE MAIN THOUGHT keep this in mind as you facilitate discussion.<br> Release human mastery to engage divine mystery<br> SEE IT – Questions 10-15 minutes<br> Picture (What is the story saying?): What stood out to you most from Jon’s sermon this week? Why? How do you reconcile the anger and mercy of God? Does the anger of God disturb you or challenge your thinking about God? Why or why not? What did David learn about God in this story? How did counting the people turn them into numbers instead of names? What inherent danger does this create? What was God’s response? How does David respond to God’s judgment?<br> Mirror (Where am I in the story?): Where do you tend to rely on your own might and mastery? What do you tend to count in order to find your own security in life? Your bank account? Your retirement fund? The people who work for you? How can these things lead to a false sense of security in your life? How have you tried to manage and manipulate these things in order to expand your own kingdom rather than God’s kingdom? Where have you seen this kind of posture lead to misusing those things?<br> Window (How does the story change how I see those around me?): What does it look like to truly trust God? How does this change the things you are counting? How might you move from counting your things to making your things count? Where might you need to lean into divine mystery instead of your own mastery in order to live this way?<br> BE IT – Practice<br> At Grace each week we use the ideas of Worship, Word, and Wonder to guide our Sunday morning experiences. This week we want you to use these ideas to guide you...
