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Broken Cisterns

broken cisterns

Ready to Dig Deeper? Here are some additional resources to help you get more out of Sunday's message!

Watch It Again

DEEPER Questions

Go through these questions in your LifeGroup or on your own to Dig Deeper into
Sunday's message

 

1. Rodney opened this first sermon of 2021 with a story from pastor Francis Chan. What impact did this story of a groom adopting a special needs girl as his daughter during his wedding ceremony have on you? How does this make you think of your relationship with God the Father differently? 

2. Where the people of the Old Testament turned to other gods, like Baal, to worship instead of the one true God, today we're more likely to turn to things like self-love when it comes to trying to fill ourselves up with things other than God. What are some of the "cisterns" you try to fill up in your own life? Share with the group if you're comfortable. Why do you turn to these things to fill you? Do they ever keep you satisfied? 

3. The message that drives the Gospel is not a bunch of have-to's. If New Life is a church that preaches religion above love, we've failed as a church. Have you been in places where Christianity (or a different set of beliefs) felt like a bunch of have-to's? What was that experience like? Why does a relationship with Jesus feel different than that? 

4. Rodney touched on how he thinks it was the grace of God in his life that the cisterns he turned to would leak dry after a while. Why do you think he characterized these losses as the grace of God? Have you ever experienced a cistern leaking dry in your life? Where did you turn when the water ran out? 

5. Do you believe the Gospel isn't "I have to", it's "I get to?" Why or why not? 

 

DIG INTO Scripture

Read and meditate on Sunday's Scripture to find deeper meaning and connection to God

Jeremiah 2:1-3, 5, 11-13; 3:19-20; James 


Israel Forsakes the Lord
2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,
“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”

5 Thus says the Lord:
“What wrong did your fathers find in me
    that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.

“‘I said,
    How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
    a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
    and would not turn from following me.
20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
    so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

 

LEAVE THE BUILDING 

Take what you learned on Sunday and apply it to your life 

  • 2020 was a rough year in many ways. Now that we're in 2021, what are some cisterns you tried to fill up in 2020 that may have leaked dry? Why did you turn to those things last year? How can you turn to God, instead of those cisterns, this year? 
  • Take a hard and honest look at your relationship with God this week. Is it a relationship of "I have-to's," or does it look more like "I want to?" 

 

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