Harvest Christian Church - Small Group Discussion Guide: 20130217

Catching the spirit of a Servant!

Catching the spirit of a Servant!

WELCOME & SHARING: Love People Extravagantly
With the very real challenges that we all face daily, we soon run
out of energy, so much so that by the Wednesday or Thursday of a
week, when small group night arrives, the last thing we feel like
doing is attending small group, never mind leading it! Rest assured,
if feelings were to determine our choices and the course of our
lives, we would go nowhere slowly. In fact, God instructs us to live
by faith and not by feelings and whenever faith rules, His grace
enables us to put our feelings aside for the sake of others and for
the sake of something much more significant than our feelings.
After all, if feelings were dominant in Christ’s life, He might never
have gone to the cross…

Choose to put your feelings aside, have faith in God that He who
called you to lead or attend small group, does have a purpose for
this evening and wants to see that purpose come to pass.
Welcome each person/ couple personally and go out of your way
to make them know that you really are glad to see them.

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love

one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one
another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.”

FAMILY NEWS: Up-&-Coming Events

Sign up to Serve Sunday!
Please encourage those in your
group who are not involved in any
form of serving on a Sunday at
Harvest, to sign up to serve when the
opportunity is given to do so this
coming Sunday.

Taking Ground for Christ & His Kingdom– www.harvest.co.za 1

 Harvest Christian Church - Small Group Discussion Guide: 20130217
Catching the spirit of a Servant!

PRAYER & WORSHIP: Love God Extravagantly

As part of overcoming feelings by faith, ask your group to consider
and discuss what the word “sacrifice” means in the following
scriptures and then spend some time sacrificially giving thanks in
prayer.

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore , brothers, by the mercies

of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Hebrews 13:15 “Through him then let us continually offer up a

sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge
his name.”

WORD & DISCUSSION: Impart Victorious Lifestyle

Catching the spirit of a Servant!
Paul encourages us to follow the example of Jesus Christ, who:

Philippians 2:6 “… made himself nothing, taking the form of a

servant…

Whereas servanthood can be taught to a certain extent, the

servanthood that Jesus exemplified is more “caught” than “taught”.
What kind of servanthood is this? How do we catch it? How do we
make servanthood a lifestyle? This week we continue on our
journey of discovering “God’s secret to greatness”, which is simply
and profoundly “serving God by serving others”.

When the Lord sends His prophet Samuel to Jesse to anoint one
of his sons as the new king of Israel, we find the following words
from the Lord Himself:

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his
appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have
rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees; man looks on
the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
What does God see when he looks at the heart of a true servant?
What does God want to see in our hearts?

Taking Ground for Christ & His Kingdom– www.harvest.co.za 2

 Harvest Christian Church - Small Group Discussion Guide: 20130217
Catching the spirit of a Servant!

1. In 1 Samuel chapter 16-31 we find the story of David, his

anointing as king and his relational struggle with King Saul.
The spirit of servanthood was evident in David’s life. Here
are just a few examples: David was tending the sheep of the
family when his brothers were brought before Samuel. Saul
had an oppressing spirit and called David to play the harp for
him. At the time, Saul did not know that David had been
anointed as king by Samuel, but David did. David became
Saul’s armour bearer, killed Goliath, had other famous
victories over the Philistines and the women sang songs
about Saul slaying thousands and David slaying tens of
thousands. Still David served Saul faithfully. Jealousy came
over Saul and he tried to kill David with a javelin, but David
came back. Eventually Saul’s jealousy drove David to flee
and on at least two occasions David had the opportunity of
killing Saul, but refused to do so because he did not want to
touch the anointed of God. All of this speaks of a spirit of
HUMILITY.
a. Discuss the reasons why a spirit of humility is vital for true
servanthood? Look at the examples of David and
consider how these could possibly apply to your life?
b. Whilst serving Saul, David knew that he (David) had been
anointed to be the future king, yet, like Jesus, he willingly
took on the form of a servant and did not take the law into
his own hands. Why is such servanthood so powerful?
How can your serving of others become more powerful?
Is there a cost to humility? What price did David pay?
What price did Jesus pay? What price are you willing to
pay?
c. What is the difference between serving for gain and
serving out of love? Which of these two did David and
Jesus model? What motives drive these different ways of
serving?

Consider David’s heart motive for serving from the following

Psalms:
Psalms 84:2 “My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.”

Psalms 84:10 “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand

elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Taking Ground for Christ & His Kingdom– www.harvest.co.za 3

 Harvest Christian Church - Small Group Discussion Guide: 20130217
Catching the spirit of a Servant!

2. What was David’s main reason for serving? Who was he

serving first? Why is this priority vital in our serving as well?
How does this inspire us in our relationship with God?
3. How can we catch the spirit of servanthood exemplified in
David? What are some of the measures we can put in place
to become better servants of the Lord?
4. On Sunday Dave Cape made the following statement: “ God
uses dead men walking.” What does this mean when it
comes to serving God? What are some of the things that
make us realise that we are not completely “dead” yet? How
do we overcome these things?

MINISTRY& MISSION: Be a Resource to Others& Touch the World

We have been challenged to perform random acts of kindness to
someone in our family and to someone in the world. Share some
testimonies of how you have blessed someone this week. May our
faith be built as we realise that all that God requires is a pure heart
and obedience in order for Him to touch lives through us. Pray for
one another that we will catch the spirit of servanthood in Jesus
Christ as we pursue our relationship with Him in love and as we
become less and He becomes more. Remember the scripture we
started off with:

John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love

one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one
another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.”

Catch the true spirit of a servant, serve with love and the world will
come to know Jesus as we know Him!!

Taking Ground for Christ & His Kingdom– www.harvest.co.za 4