What We Value: "A Life Poured Out"

Speaker: Steve Lee 

​Jesus calls us out of a life turned inward on ourselves and transforms us into people who pour ourselves out in self-giving love, joining him in acts of service, compassion, and reconciliation in our neighborhoods, our nation, and to the ends of the earth.

​Discussion Questions:

1. When you were younger, what was one insecurity you had that now seems small or even silly to you?
2. If you had to pick one thing you tend to be overly self-conscious about (appearance, personality, habits, etc.), what would it be? How early in life do you remember noticing it?
3. Sharon Hodde Miller talks about how we often “make things about us that aren’t about us.” What are some situations where you’re prone to do this? How does it affect your relationships?
4. Read 1 Corinthians 4:3–4. Can you identify an area of your life where you feel like you’re constantly “on trial,” trying to prove your worth? What might it look like to rest in the verdict of acceptance and love that God has already spoken over you?
5. Gospel humility is described as “thinking of yourself less.” What practices or habits help you quiet that inner voice that’s always evaluating how you’re coming across to others?
6. The sermon described how serving others can free us from self-focus. Have you had the experience where helping someone actually lifted your own heart? 
7. Sharon Hodde Miller writes that loving others can “heal something deep inside of us.” How have your own wounds, insecurities, or struggles shaped the ways you’re able to love or empathize with others?
8. What are some ways that ICC can make a bigger difference in our neighborhood? What are some new areas of outreach that you'd like the church to explore? (Consider submitting your responses to the link provided in this sermon manuscript.) 
9. If your small group has adopted a missionary, what could it do to make this relationship more meaningful?

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