Awesome Friends Ben Davis May 6th & 7th, 2017
Small Group Discussion Questions
A wesome Friends Ben D avis May 6th & 7th, 2017
Awesome Friends Main Idea If you want to have meaningful, lifelong, AWESOME friendships, it’s real simple: Be the friend that you would like to have.
Proverbs 18:24 “A man who has friends must himself BE friendly…” (NKJV)
Ice Breaker
Psalm 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Who was your best friend growing up? What made it a great friendship?
1 Samuel 18:1 “…the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
With the overwhelming use of social media today, the word friend seems to have lost its meaning. We try to acquire more friends through liking what is poster online. The trouble is that most of us only post the positive things that happen: a great vacation, a delicious meal or our last big purchase. Other times we seem to manipulate our friends into feeling sympathy.
Awesome Friends 1.
I____________________
Ques tions 2.
P____________________
1.
3.
O____________________
4.
S____________________
Do a simple Google search on the topic of “loneliness in America” and you’ll find numerous studies describing loneliness as the next big public health epidemic. More than half of Americans say they have on one outside of their immediate family in whom they can confide. Now that’s a problem we can each tackle.
1 Samuel 18:4 “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.” 2 Samuel 9:1 “David asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’” John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Why is it easier to be friends on social media rather than a true friend in the real world?
Reading through the story of Jonathan and David, three traits of an awesome friend appear; Good friends initiate, defend each other and sacrifice for each other. Starting and awesome friendship can begin by being the initiator: Read 1 Samuel 18:1-3 (NIV) 1 After David had finished talking with Saul. Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
2.
Are you a person who initiates friendships or waits for others to initiate? What holds you back?
The second trait of an awesome friend is to have their back, to defend them and to stand by them without conditions. 3. Sometimes we put unconscious conditions on friendships. What do you think are some of the conditions people can put on friendships? Eventually in their friendship, Jonathon’s father, King Saul, doesn’t share his son’s affection for David and begins to despise David. Eventually, his hatred boils over and he tries to kill David… not just once, but over and over again. On one of these occasions, David cries out to Jonathan:
Sacrifice is the third trait required to be and awesome friend. Perhaps the best time to have a close friend is when we are facing a challenge. The Native American Indians called a friend “one-who-carries-mysorrows-on-his-back.” In the story of Jonathan and David, Jonathan is the legal heir to his father’s throne. In the scripture below, when he hands David his robe, the robe of a prince, and gives David his weapons, he is symbolically giving David the markers of his own identity. 1 Samuel 18:4 4Jonathan took off the rove he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. 5.
What are some examples of sacrifice in a close friendship that you have heard of or been a part of?
David and Jonathan
6.
What can be the most intimidating thing to sacrifice in a friendship?
20 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
Awesome friends initiate, awesome friends sacrifice, and awesome friends defend. The challenge today is to look at your own heart and your own friendships and ask, “Am I am awesome friend?” Chances are we all have ways in which we could grow.
1 Samuel 20:1-4 New International Version (NIV)
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” Jonathan is able to discover his father’s murderous plan and warns David so that he is able to escape yet again. 4.
Have you ever had someone stick up for you? How did that make you feel about your friendship with that person?
7.
Pray
Of the three traits, initiating friendships, defending each other and sacrificing for each other, what is the most challenging one for us to consider cultivating this week?
A wesome Friends Ben D avis May 6th & 7th, 2017
Awesome Friends Main Idea If you want to have meaningful, lifelong, AWESOME friendships, it’s real simple: Be the friend that you would like to have.
Proverbs 18:24 “A man who has friends must himself BE friendly…” (NKJV)
Ice Breaker
Psalm 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.”
Who was your best friend growing up? What made it a great friendship?
1 Samuel 18:1 “…the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”
With the overwhelming use of social media today, the word friend seems to have lost its meaning. We try to acquire more friends through liking what is poster online. The trouble is that most of us only post the positive things that happen: a great vacation, a delicious meal or our last big purchase. Other times we seem to manipulate our friends into feeling sympathy.
Awesome Friends 1.
I____________________
Ques tions 2.
P____________________
1.
3.
O____________________
4.
S____________________
Do a simple Google search on the topic of “loneliness in America” and you’ll find numerous studies describing loneliness as the next big public health epidemic. More than half of Americans say they have on one outside of their immediate family in whom they can confide. Now that’s a problem we can each tackle.
1 Samuel 18:4 “Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.” 2 Samuel 9:1 “David asked, ‘Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’” John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Why is it easier to be friends on social media rather than a true friend in the real world?
Reading through the story of Jonathan and David, three traits of an awesome friend appear; Good friends initiate, defend each other and sacrifice for each other. Starting and awesome friendship can begin by being the initiator: Read 1 Samuel 18:1-3 (NIV) 1 After David had finished talking with Saul. Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
2.
Are you a person who initiates friendships or waits for others to initiate? What holds you back?
The second trait of an awesome friend is to have their back, to defend them and to stand by them without conditions. 3. Sometimes we put unconscious conditions on friendships. What do you think are some of the conditions people can put on friendships? Eventually in their friendship, Jonathon’s father, King Saul, doesn’t share his son’s affection for David and begins to despise David. Eventually, his hatred boils over and he tries to kill David… not just once, but over and over again. On one of these occasions, David cries out to Jonathan:
Sacrifice is the third trait required to be and awesome friend. Perhaps the best time to have a close friend is when we are facing a challenge. The Native American Indians called a friend “one-who-carries-mysorrows-on-his-back.” In the story of Jonathan and David, Jonathan is the legal heir to his father’s throne. In the scripture below, when he hands David his robe, the robe of a prince, and gives David his weapons, he is symbolically giving David the markers of his own identity. 1 Samuel 18:4 4Jonathan took off the rove he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt. 5.
What are some examples of sacrifice in a close friendship that you have heard of or been a part of?
David and Jonathan
6.
What can be the most intimidating thing to sacrifice in a friendship?
20 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
Awesome friends initiate, awesome friends sacrifice, and awesome friends defend. The challenge today is to look at your own heart and your own friendships and ask, “Am I am awesome friend?” Chances are we all have ways in which we could grow.
1 Samuel 20:1-4 New International Version (NIV)
3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.” Jonathan is able to discover his father’s murderous plan and warns David so that he is able to escape yet again. 4.
Have you ever had someone stick up for you? How did that make you feel about your friendship with that person?
7.
Pray
Of the three traits, initiating friendships, defending each other and sacrificing for each other, what is the most challenging one for us to consider cultivating this week?
