REALLIFE STUDY GROUP

“Why Am I Here?” Part 2

 

ICEBREAKER:  Besides the people in your life, name one thing it would be hard to do without.    

 

CONFESSION: I am here....

Because God loved me and willed it so

Because God saw my existence as an answer to a problem in the earth

Because God believed my presence would add value to my world

Because God longed for fellowship with me

Because God ordered my steps before I was conceived

Because God felt this world would have been incomplete without me

Because God wanted to use me to bless someone in my life

Because I am the fulfillment of one of the dreams of God    

 

OUTLINE & DEFINITIONS: 8 Principle Attitudes of Christ

1) The Principle Attitude of HUMILITY

Definition: Humbleness, a modest view of self

 

God’s way is always the best way.

The low way is always the high way.

The principle attitude of servitude.

 

2) The Principle Attitude of COMPASSION (mercy)

Definition: Sympathetic pity and concern for the needs and pain, sufferings and misfortunes of others.  The ability to sympathize, relate to, or feel the pain or weaknesses of another

 

We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.  He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin.  (Hebrews 4:15 GWT)

 

For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.  (Hebrews 4:15 AMP)

 

3) The Principle Attitude of GRATITUDE

Definition: The quality of being thankful, a readiness to show appreciation

 

Then He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass; and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and blessed and broke the loaves and handed the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  (Matthew 14:19 AMP)

 

And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you.”  (Matthew 26:27 AMP)

 

Thanksgiving is not just a holiday; it’s the holy way of living.

Gratitude, gratefulness, is a contagious attitude.

Gratitude attracts favor.

 

4) The Principle Attitude of HONOR

Definition: High respect and esteem, to prefer another over self

 

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.  (Exodus 20:12 KJV)

 

Jesus always honored His Father, he always honored His mother, He always honored governmental authorities.

 

5) The Principle Attitude of GENEROSITY

Definition: The quality of being plentiful and lavish in giving

 

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.  (John 3:16 AMP)

 

Generous compliments, generous encouragement, generous mercy, generous charity, generous service, generous patience

 

6) The Principle Attitude of DETERMINATION

Definition: Firmness of purpose, resoluteness, the ability to endure or persevere

 

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  (Hebrews 12:2 KJV)

 

Jesus never gave up.  He refused to quit.  “I can’t” is not in His vocabulary.

 

7) The Principle Attitude of OBEDIENCE

Definition: Compliance with an order, request or law, or submission to the authority of another

 

And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross!  (Philippians 2:8 AMP)

 

If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.  (John 15:10 AMP)

 

Obedience and love are synonymous.  If you love me, obey me. 

 

8) The Principle Attitude of GOODNESS

Definition: The quality of Virtue (valor, merit), moral excellence or perfection

 

The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works [the entirety of things created].  (Psalm 145: 9 AMP)

 

The good man, from his inner good treasure, flings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his inner evil storehouse, flings forth evil things.  (Matthew 12:35 AMP)

 

I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His [own] life for the sheep.  (John 10:11 AMP)

 

I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me.  (John 10:14 AMP)

 

A good man eats good from the fruit of his mouth, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.  (Proverbs 12:2 AMP)

 

You are good and kind and do good; teach me Your statutes.  (Psalm 119:68 AMP)

 

It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.  (Psalm 119:71 AMP)

 

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.  (Isaiah 1:19 AMP)

 

But by doing good deeds (deeds in themselves good and for the good and advantage of those contacted by them), as befits women who profess reverential fear for and devotion to God.  (1 Timothy 2:10 AMP)

 

TEXT: Philippians 2

 

STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:

1.    What things in common to all believers did Paul use to begin his appeal in Philippians 2:1 and why do you think he started out that way?

2.    What do complaining and faultfinding have to do with keeping pure and uncontaminated from the world? 

3.    How does the world see grateful uncomplaining believers?

4.    Of the eight attitudes listed above which one is most challenging for you?

5.    Give an example of how the circumstances of life might humble you?

6.    What problem did God put you on the planet to help solve?

 

PRAISE & PRAYER REQUESTS:

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ACTION POINTS: As a result of this RealLife study, this week I am going to....