The Best Story

Here we are on Easter week, the climax of the Christian story!  What a sweet way to end this series that has focused on the barriers of choosing the Christian faith. For a lot of people, the thing that keeps them from following Jesus, may simply be that it’s  just not that big of a deal to them. Perhaps this was you, or you know someone that this is true for!  But, what if we zoom out and consider something we don’t  think about all that often. What if we are living our story inside the framework of a larger story? And if  so, do we know which story is guiding ours? Is it possible you’re allowing a story to guide you?

Start Talking

• Talk about your favorite book. What is it about that story that you love?
• Think about someone you know that is no longer alive. Tell us their story in two minutes. What is it about their story that has impacted you?

Think About It

• What do you think about this quote from Jon Tyson?

“There are many stories of reality and they’re all battling to be the story that guides our lives.”

• As you have reflected on the life of Jesus this past week, what has encouraged you about His story? What does His story prompt you to add to yours?
• Sean talked about how there are different types of stories that guide the purpose of our lives:
  •  The Pleasure Story — Unlimited pleasure and freedom
  •  The Success Story — Achievement and recognition
  •  The Authenticity Story — Self-expression and enlightenment
  • Of the approaches he mentioned, which has played a role in your story?
• Furthermore, we discussed how each of these stories will attempt to answer these four questions:
  • Why are we here?
  • What’s gone wrong?
  • What will restore things?
  • How will it look then?
  • Don’t we all want to know the answer to these questions? Think about the four different “stories” above. How are they trying to answer these questions?
• Sean made this statement on Sunday, “The story that guides us has consequences for our lives. If you embrace the wrong story, you live the wrong life.” How have you seen this to be true in your life?

Look It Up

While there are many stories to align your life with. We believe The Bible to be the ultimate authority. That it is true and trustworthy. We also believe that it teaches that we were made for relationship and purpose (specifically four relationships).

God: Intimacy (John 15:4-6)
Self: Dignity (we were born with this, as we were created in His image!)
Others: Community (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12)
World: Stewardship (Genesis 1:28)

In summary: God made us to know Him, live with a sense of dignity, enjoy life with others, & live out His story in the  world.  Perhaps His story is the best story to guide our lives!

We all agree the world is broken, and could give a million reasons for how we know it. We believe The Bible says the root problem with all of this brokenness is actually sin, big picture sin, not one person’s sin. We can see this in the early pages of Genesis. The problem of sin continued on throughout the whole of The Bible, and even continues today. But God made a plan to restore things to the right way, through Jesus. Read John 3:16.

• What stands out to you?
• Does any part of this verse land differently for you this Easter season?

Not only did Jesus willingly die for our sins, but we believe he came back to life (Luke 24). This is the critical point of the Easter and Christian story, that HE IS RISEN. This matters for so many reasons, but one being that it proves Jesus was who He said He was. It proves that everything He said about God and us could be trusted and followed. After his resurrection, Jesus left the deposit of the Holy Spirit for those that choose a relationship with Him. Because of this, we are not only given eternity with God, but help and power from God while on Earth.

• We have help while here on Earth, and have hope for heaven where all evil ends.
• Read John 11: 25-26. Do you believe these verses to be true? If yes, what impact do they have on you?

What Now?

As you consider all of the stories that could guide your life, consider the goodness of the story of Jesus, and the hope it offers:

God’s story says we were created for relationships & purpose.
But sin has stained our lives and our entire world.
Jesus came to pay the price and rose to give us a brand new kind of life.
At the conclusion of the story, everything our hearts long for will be satisfied and more. 

Additional Resources

When God Breaks Your Heart by Ed Underwood (Book)
Do you or someone in your group have questions about the Bible, God, Jesus, etc? We would love for you to join a Starting point group!
Sin by Church of the City (Podcast)
Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (Book)