22nd Feb Sermon Discussion - “The Gift of Grace”

1. (i) Give a token gift (e.g a bar of chocolate or packet of sweets) to ONE of your cell members. (As a leader, do this as a random generous act with no strings attached, as a demo of unwarranted grace). Ask a few of your members present to guess why this person received the gift (as this is a warm up question, do not let this sharing drag).

(ii) Wrap up this question by making mention how this illustrates in a small way last Sunday’s sermon is on “The Gift of Grace”. Unlike prizes that we work for, be it being best student, fastest in 100m dash etc, God’s grace is freely given to all.

2. Read John 1:14-17 (NIV) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Although God has freely given us His grace, we do find ourselves “blocking or hindering” God’s grace. Ps Melvyn shared the 3 enemies of God’s grace and how you can find victory :

(i) Legalism – Regain the joy of freedom
(ii) Condemnation – Receive the revelation of God’s love
(iii) Pride - Respond with bold humility

Discuss in your group, what you understand by the word “enemy”. Asked each member of your group to share a word or a picture to describe (i) Legalism, (ii) Condemnation or (iii) Pride. Can you share with your group now how this blocks off God’s grace for a student / someone working.
[Possible scenarios for a student: (i) Legalism: Attending tuition or remedial classes for fear of not doing well, yet not paying attention during the extra lesson. (ii) Condemnation: Have very few friends so feel lousy and small. (iii) Pride: Good in certain subject or sport and don’t see the need to trust God as you trust your own intelligence or training more.]

(3) (i) Which of the 3 enemies of grace do you find yourself facing everyday ?

(ii) Is there someone you can be gracious to this week (e.g a classmate, teacher, parents etc). What is a Gift of Grace that you could give to him/her?