Creekside Community Church
Love Your Neighbor - Sermon 6 - Love Your Orphaned Neighbor
Creekside Community Church Love Your Neighbor October 14th, 2018 Jeff Bruce, Lead Pastor
Locations & Times
Creekside Community Church
951 MacArthur Blvd, San Leandro, CA 94577, USA
Sunday 9:00 AM
“God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6)
1. The Model for Orphan Care: God is a Father (John 17:24)
1. The Model for Orphan Care: God is a Father (John 17:24)
2. The Mandate for Orphan Care: God Cares for the Fatherless (James 1:27)
3. The Motive for Orphan Care: God Has Become Our Father (1 John 3:1)
For further thought and discussion:
Getting Started
1.What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2.Name one idiosyncrasy you received from your family of origin. What peculiar quirk or habit or personality trait comes to mind?
Getting Started
1.What was helpful to you in this week’s sermon? What didn’t you understand?
2.Name one idiosyncrasy you received from your family of origin. What peculiar quirk or habit or personality trait comes to mind?
Going Deeper
3.Read John 17:24. Why is it important that we see God as a Father even before creation? How does this reshape our view of God? Is it easy or difficult for you to speak to/of God as Father? Why? If it is challenging, what truths might be helpful to remember?
4.Read Job 24:9; Job 29:11-12; Psalm 10:17-18; Psalm 94:5-6; Proverbs 23:10-11. In what ways were orphans uniquely vulnerable in the ancient world? How are orphans uniquely vulnerable today? Read Psalm 68:5; Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:28-29; 16:11, 14; 24:17-22. How does God express his care to orphans? How does God express his care to orphans today (see James 1:27)?
5.Read Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:5. When did God decide to adopt us? What price did he pay for our adoption? What is our status now in God’s family? How do these gospel truths fuel and shape the way we care for orphans? How is God both our truest Father and our adoptive Father?
Application:
6.At the end of his talk, Jeff listed a number of ways we can show love to orphans. Which of these resonated with you? Why is it critical for us to understand that adoption isn’t the only way to care for orphans? What first steps could you take to help orphans in their distress? For more information on serving our neighbors in the Foster Care system, visit http://www.fosterthebay.org/.
7.What’s one way you can apply this passage this week?
3.Read John 17:24. Why is it important that we see God as a Father even before creation? How does this reshape our view of God? Is it easy or difficult for you to speak to/of God as Father? Why? If it is challenging, what truths might be helpful to remember?
4.Read Job 24:9; Job 29:11-12; Psalm 10:17-18; Psalm 94:5-6; Proverbs 23:10-11. In what ways were orphans uniquely vulnerable in the ancient world? How are orphans uniquely vulnerable today? Read Psalm 68:5; Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:28-29; 16:11, 14; 24:17-22. How does God express his care to orphans? How does God express his care to orphans today (see James 1:27)?
5.Read Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:5. When did God decide to adopt us? What price did he pay for our adoption? What is our status now in God’s family? How do these gospel truths fuel and shape the way we care for orphans? How is God both our truest Father and our adoptive Father?
Application:
6.At the end of his talk, Jeff listed a number of ways we can show love to orphans. Which of these resonated with you? Why is it critical for us to understand that adoption isn’t the only way to care for orphans? What first steps could you take to help orphans in their distress? For more information on serving our neighbors in the Foster Care system, visit http://www.fosterthebay.org/.
7.What’s one way you can apply this passage this week?