REALLIFE STUDY GROUP
“Becoming the
Gift”
ICEBREAKER: What is your favorite Christmas memory or
tradition?
CONFESSION: May the gifts God placed
in me be activated, emerge and multiply today.
Just like Mary, though not His Son, God has chosen me to conceive His
wonders in me. Not only has God placed
gifts in me but He is inviting me to become a gift. I choose to give myself away. As Mary said, “Be it unto me according to thy
word.”
DEFINITION: GIVE
1.
Capacity
to bend or alter in shape under pressure; elasticity. Plastic
pots have enough give to
accommodate the vigorous roots.
2.
Ability
to adapt or comply; flexibility, resilience.
There is no give at all in your position.
3.
To
grant, to bestow, to impart, to transfer possession voluntarily and without
expectation of reciprocity or remuneration.
OUTLINE: 20 Facts About the Perfect
Gift....The Gift in You
1.
Can
come in small packages or small gift-wrapped boxes. Christ came as a baby, not a man.
2.
Requires
TLC; you have to love the gift to receive its benefit.
3.
Can
come with messes in the midst of messes, the gift may create some messes as it
grows and may be developed by messy parents or coaches as it becomes a
message. (cf. Proverbs 14:4)
4.
Must
be protected; Herod is jealous and wants to destroy the gift. The gift must be guarded.
5.
Can
come in ripped packaging so don’t judge me.
You don’t know what I may grow up to be or do (swaddling clothes).
6.
It
may not arrive or emerge in my best timing (traveling for census while
pregnant).
7.
With
no strings attached, Mary made mistakes....Even lost Jesus, but God didn’t take
Jesus back and He doesn’t take your gifts back either.
8.
If
you make room for the gift, the gift will make room for you. There was no room in the Inn. If you confess me before men I will confess
you before my father in heaven.
9.
Wise
men will seek the gift that you allow to be conceived in you.
10. The gift will attract gifts (gold,
frankincense, myrrh)
11. God will put the gift in the spotlight (star in
the east) even if no one else recognizes it.
12. The gift will become a bread maker,
breadwinner, bread in Bethlehem (the house of bread).
13. The last to usually get the news will be the
first to know (shepherds). It may
surprise you who is first to recognize your gifts.
14. The gift is your claim to royalty (King Jesus
lives in me).
15. The gift may emerge or become evident after a
long period of drought and hopelessness.
It had been 400 years since the last Word concerning the Gift.
16. The gift may one day be your salvation,
deliverance.
17. God will choose and place stewards around the
gift to cultivate it and who he chooses may also surprise you....Joseph the
builder, Mary the teenager.
18. There are people waiting and praying for the
gift (Simeon, Anna).
19. As the gift develops people will be amazed
(elders, priests, doctors of the law).
20. Your gift (baby) makes my gift (baby) jump
(John the Baptist in his mother’s womb began to leap when the pregnant Mary
walked in the room).
TEXT: Luke 1 & 2
STUDY GROUP QUESTIONS:
1.
Just
like a prenatal baby, the gift in you must grow and develop. The baby begins to show long before it is
born and fully grown. Describe a gift in
you that has just begun to show, become evident or emerge? (In your case maybe the gift has always been
there, it has just lain dormant.)
2.
Who
in your family or in your life are your gifts most like?
3.
Like
pregnancy, the process of becoming a gift can be a very tumultuous, emotional
and stretching experience. How have your
gifts stretched you?
4.
The
Magi, otherwise known as the wise men, came looking for the gift of the Christ
child. Who in your world is looking for
or needs your gifts?
5.
If
a prenatal baby, named John the Baptist, could be sensitive enough to recognize
that greatness had just walked in the room when Mary, who was carrying baby
Jesus in her womb, arrived, how much more should we be able to perceive the
greatness God has placed in people? Name
somebody in your life that has validated your gifts and challenged you to
develop your gifts.
6.
What
one thing will you do this week to keep your gifts sharp?
PRAISE & PRAYER REQUESTS:
ACTION POINT: This week I will become a gift to my family,
my friends, my co-workers and maybe even my enemies by giving the gift of
__________. (Patience, time, listening,
forgiveness, humor, honesty, service, encouragement, constructive feedback,
kindness, understanding, compassion, mercy, honor....)