Take time to READ this CHAPTER 9: p142-176

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REFLECT | 'What is going on in our life right now?’

Discuss

• Did you manage to implement the ONE THING you said you were going to try this week? Why/Why not? (Not supposed to be condemning, just an acknowledgement)

  How are you? What is going on for you this week?

ENGAGE | ‘How do we engage with what God is saying to us?

The rich and the kingdom of God Mark 10:17-31

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

18 ‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.”[a]’

20 ‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

• What is the man asking for in v17?

• Which of the 10 Commandments are missing from Jesus’ list in v19? Why do you think that is? (CLICK HERE)

• What was Jesus getting at In v21? Why might this relate to the above question?

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, ‘Children, how hard it is[b] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’

26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’

27 Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man, this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’

• What hope does Jesus comment here, give us?

28 Then Peter spoke up, ‘We have left everything to follow you!’

29 ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – along with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’

• Why is this story more than about money?

• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if there is anything in your life at the moment that is in the way of following Jesus more closely.

SIMPLICITY | Exercise 3

Papers

1.Go through all your papers and files and do the above exercise, but this time using some kind of a digitizer.

• You may want to buy or borrow a digital scanner, or simply use your smartphone.

• A surprising number of things around the house can be digitized, such as:

- Photos/photo albums.

- Most of what’s in your filing cabinet.

- Much what’s gathering dust on your desk.

- Almost all of what’s sitting in your “junk drawer.”

2. File or organize what you can’t digitize. • Pick up some filing cabinets, and/or plastic bins, and find a way to sort the leftover items you can’t digitize.

• This can be a tedious, time-consuming process, so you might want to give yourself more than week.

3. Remember to recycle.

INSPIRE | - 'How do we inspire each other to ‘TRY’ something this week? What opportunities are in front of us, that we can choose to explore?’

Discuss

• What ONE thing am I going to take the opportunity to do ‘TRY’ this week?

Go Deeper

Watch or listen to John Mark Comer