01. Before You Lead
For the best experience in leading your small group, it’s very important to preview session seven of the video and, if possible, follow along in chapter seven of the book, Living in the Presence of Christ. Familiarize yourself with the session outline and gather the necessary materials.
02. Session Outline
- Introduction (4 minutes)
- Welcome and Opening Prayer (1 minute)
- Talk About It (3 minutes)
- Video Teaching (36 minutes. You will want to present this recording in one session. Dallas Willard’s talk is the first 26 minutes.)
- Video Discussion (12 to 15 minutes)
- Closing (3 minutes)
03. Introduction
Welcome participants to the study and briefly pray. Ask if anyone has a question from last week’s lesson and reflections. Introduce the overall theme for this week: “Blessing and Commitment.”
Ask the following: “Describe a time when you have received a blessing from another person that had a healing affect on your soul.”
04. Video Teaching
Show the video segment for this session. Students may wish to have a notepad and pen or pencil for taking notes.
05. Video Discussion
Following the video presentation, explore the topic further by allowing the group to consider the following questions.
- How would you explain the difference between a blessing and a curse?
- What do you mean when you say to another person, “God bless you.”
- Have you ever had the sense of God looking right at you, personally?
06. Closing
Divide the students into pairs and ask them to bless each other with the Aaronic Blessing.
The Aaronic Blessing
“The Lord bless you and keep you
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24–26
Close with a time of prayer. Lead in a slow reading of Dallas Willard’s paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer.
Dear Father, always near us,
may your name be treasured and loved,
may your rule be completed in us,
may your will be done here on earth
in just the way it is done in heaven.
Give us today the things we need today,
and forgive us our sins and impositions on you
as we are forgiving all who in any way offend us.
Please don’t put us through trials,
but deliver us from everything bad.
Because you are the one is charge,
and you have all the power,
and the glory too is all yours—forever.
Which is just the way we want it!
07. Additional Reading
Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 2006.
Published by InterVarsity Press as Living in Christ’s Presence. Copyright (c) 2013 by Jane Willard, John Ortberg and the Dallas Willard Center. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved. For permission to reproduce or otherwise use content from the video(s), please contact permissions@ivpress.com.
This permission does not apply to any part or selection of copyrighted matter from other sources that are found in the Work. It is your responsibility to determine the source of material and to get copyright permission for material from other sources.
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