08/09/2024
“SEASON GREETINGS!”
Please use the questions below as a guide for your devotions this week, and/or for your group meeting if you belong to a small group. You might not get through all the questions – that is Ok – but I pray that they will help you grow in your faith and in your understanding of the Bible.
If you would like me to visit your group, then please let me know – contact Lesley on 0445333430 or admin@plettmethodist.co.za to set up a visit. If you are not part of a group, and would like to join one, then contact Don on 0834129877 and don@prism-ic.co.za
Theme: “Season’s Greetings!”
Start
In the natural cycle of life, we pass through four seasons each year: Spring,
Summer, Autumn, Winter. Using the seasons as a metaphor for your spiritual
life, what season do you believe you are in? Why?
Getting into the Word 1
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 and John 15:1-16
1. When reading Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, focus on the rhythm in each verse, and how each sentence is a presentation of opposites, i.e. born … die, plant …uproot etc. Do you find this pattern helpful in describing a cycle of life? How does it make you feel?
2. What is the “burden God has laid on men” in verse 10?
3. What does it mean to “set eternity in the hearts of men” in verse 11?
4. John 15: 1-16 contains a powerful image of the relationship Jesus believes God (Gardener) has with all of creation, and that Jesus (the vine) has with us (the branches). What does this image say to you?
5. If vine branches are human lives, what pain would be associated with pruning? What tools would be used? What fruit grown?
6. Jesus repeats remain in me, love, and bear fruit. How are these words connected? What is the fruit that will last in verse 16?
7. How do the verses 9 and 12 tie together? How is love the essential dynamic of the Christian life? How does your relationship with Jesus change once you start practicing his example of love?
8. What is the link between obedience and prayer in verses 7, 16?
Thought for the week ahead:
As a branch of the vine, what type of fruit best describes your life now? How will you be fruitful for God this week?
God bless,
Tim.
1 Study this week from NIV Serendipity Bible for Groups: 1998; Zondervan; pgs. 921, 1504