Outlive Your Life_ You Were Made to Make a Difference - Max Lucado [57]
• Grow in your cross-cultural awareness. Learn about the group that lives on the other side of a dividing social wall in your community or region. Eat where they eat, shop where they shop, and meet people. Listen to their stories. Find out what you have in common. Find out what differences are crucial, and be sensitive to them.
CHAPTER 13: DON’T WRITE OFF ANYONE
Questions for Discussion
1. Name a very public or famous person whom nobody would expect to convert to Christianity. Why does it seem so unlikely that the person would become a Christian?
2. Share a story either about yourself or someone whom you know personally that made an unexpected radical conversion to God.
3. “Has God given you a Saul?” Is there someone in your life whom most people have given up on and dismissed? How could you be an Ananias for that person?
4. What does Scripture say about reaching out to those in need? How can you be more sensitive to the Father’s promptings in this area?
5. How would you describe your conversion? Was it sudden or gradual? What are you doing to help others experience conversion?
Ideas for Action
• If you struggled to think of a potential Saul in your life, try to meet someone who could become that person. What kind of routine environment would help you become friends with people who are far from God—or even opposed to God? Remember, God may be leading you to that place just as he led Ananias to Straight Street.
• Schedule time with a person who has converted to Christ and may need a mature Christian to disciple him or her. Start the process by simply asking that individual to retell his or her story, and then ask how you could help in the next leg of the journey.
CHAPTER 14: STABLE THE HIGH HORSE
Questions for Discussion
1. What was the social pecking order when you were growing up? How about today? Who is at the top, who is at the bottom, and where are you in the order?
2. In what situations do you hear offensive labeling? Have you found yourself inadvertently following suit? How can you be a leader of change in this environment?
3. Recall a time when you were in a situation similar to that of Peter in Acts 10. When have the customs or behaviors of another culture or race felt uncomfortable or even offensive to you? What would be your reaction if God called you to take up the habits and practices of others so you could reach out to them?
4. Why did Cornelius not look the part even though he was a Christ follower? What surface judgments do people use today to measure spirituality?
5. How could you make time for some marginalized Christians in your life?
Ideas for Action
• Make a new rule for the next two months: No one sits alone. When you enter any room, resist the urge to sit where you always sit and with the people you always join. First, scan the lunchroom or the boardroom, the stands or the sanctuary, the cafeteria or the theater, and find someone who is sitting alone. Then choose to sit with the marginalized. After two months you might consider making the rule permanent.
• Attend a worship service in a church with a predominantly different ethnicity or culture than your own. Adapt to that environment—do what they are doing as much as possible. Take note of what you admire about their worship and church life. Consider how it feels to be the odd man out. See what happens when, like Peter, you experience God within a different cultural setting.
CHAPTER 15: PRAY FIRST; PRAY MOST
Questions for Discussion
1. How would you describe the way Moses prayed to God in Exodus 32? In your own words, recount how Max describes the way his Brazilian church leader prayed. In what ways are your prayer times different from these descriptions? What could you do to become more fervent (passionate) in prayer?
2. What typical tactics does Satan use to keep you from