By Patrick Porter
Begin with prayer
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting. Take a moment in silence, in the presence of Jesus and each other. Have one person read Jude 1v20-21 over the group and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Debrief the most recent teaching and discuss the following prompts
- What did you take away from the teaching, and what has God been doing in your life this past week because of it?
- Think about and share a time when you experienced doubt. Maybe it was doubt in your faith, the Bible, or something else connected to following Jesus. It could have been something small or something big that was very difficult.
- What helped you persevere in that time? What helps you persevere still today?
Talk over this coming week’s Practice
Over the next two weeks, you will set aside time to read through the entire book of Jude once every day. Jude is a short book, so this will not take long. Discuss as a group what time of day you will each be ready so that you can keep each other accountable.
Optional Practice for Parents:
This summer, as our church makes its way through the Scriptures in teachings and Practices, parents are invited to engage their children with the Scriptures by reading with them. Feel free to use age-appropriate Bibles or Bible stories for your kids. If you already have a rhythm, consider how you can add something to it – if your rhythm is to read with your child(ren) in the evenings, consider one morning in the week you could read a Bible story with them. If you don’t currently have a routine, think about one time a week you could read the Scriptures with them.
Close in prayer
End by having someone pray that everyone in the group will continue to read from the scriptures daily and that they will hear from God as they do so.
Close with the last two verses in Jude:
To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Jude 24-25