Tuesday July 9, 2013

Jesus Challenge:

Make a time to pray together as a cell for each of the people who came to your gospel event. Pray that God would continue to work in their heart to bring them to himself.

Contact each person that came to the event with the view of finding out their response to the gospel event and their thoughts regarding the gospel challenge which was presented. Make sure you take the opportunity to invite them along to church or to another event. Consider inviting them to participate in a Christianity Explained course for regular, organised follow up.

Contact the church office for more details about how to run a Christianity Explained course or if you would like the office to run a course for you.

 

Read 1 Thessalonians  4:13-14

Death has a horrible sting to it, doesn’t it? Anyone who has lost someone they love to death knows the sting of death. Whether we are believers or not, death hurts us. But here in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 we are told not to grieve like the rest of mankind. We are not told to avoid grief. We are not told to pretend that we don’t feel any grief. Grief, sadness and loss are a normal part of facing the death of someone we love. We are told not to grieve in the way that the world does. Why are we told this? It’s because the world has no hope. Christian grieving is meant to be filled with hope because we know that God will bring the dead with Christ when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. While we are saddened by the death of a loved one, we are expectant and hopeful that this loved one (presumed to be Christian) will be with us again when we are together with Christ.

 

What a great comfort and blessing for those who are grieving the loss of believing friends and family. At some point in the future Christ will return and bring the dead in Christ. Together we will all be together with Christ for all eternity. Death, for the Christian is not the end. Death has no sting. Death has not claimed the victory. In Christ Jesus we have the victory and we have life eternal.

 

Prayer:

Use the space provided to add your own prayer points.

Adoration:

 

Confession:

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray that our cell groups would be growing in depth of maturity, in understanding of the Word of God and in commitment to the Lord and to each other. Pray that these groups would be reaching out to others and making disciples for the Lord Jesus Christ.

¥ Pray that we would see our church and other churches reaching out into the community with the good news of Christ Jesus. Pray that many would come to salvation by faith as we faithfully preach the Word and live it out.

 

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. Do you fear dying? Why or why not?

2. What hope do you have in death?

3. How can we bless those who are suffering the loss of a loved one?