To Contend For Your Neighbor

Group Guide

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Begin with Communion. 

As your group gathers together, begin by sharing communion as a meal. Feel free to use the following template as a way to structure and guide this time:

1. Pass out the elements. Make sure everyone has a cup of juice and bread. Consider just having one piece of bread that everyone can take a small piece from. If you don’t have bread and juice, that’s okay. Just make sure everyone has something to eat.
2. Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. Once everyone has the elements, have someone read this passage out loud. 
3. Pray over the bread and juice. After the reading, have the Leader or Host bless the food and pray over your time together.
4. Share a meal. Share the rest of the meal like you normally would beginning with the communion elements. 

Next, transition to the main discussion for the night by having someone read this summary of the teaching: 

One of the sharpest and most consistent criticisms God gives against His people throughout the scriptures is the sin of neglect. As God’s people, the Israelites were chosen as a nation among nations to bring God’s light to a dark world. God’s people were always supposed to care for the poor and marginalized, and to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the lost around them. But rather than care for them, they often neglected them.

In Isaiah 58, God’s people wonder why their prayers and fasts haven’t been acknowledged by God. God’s response is that they fast in vain; their focus is only on themselves while they neglect those in need around them. Instead, God describes a holy and honoring fast as one that leads to care for their neighbors.

When we fast, we have an opportunity to direct our attention and our prayers away from ourselves and toward others. We use our bodies to cry out to God on behalf of those who have needs in our cities, communities, and neighborhoods. In our hunger, we identify with those who don’t have food in abundance like we do. We align ourselves with the poor and needy among us. From those with deep physical, relational, and emotional needs to those who have the ultimate spiritual need: reconciliation with God through the power of the gospel.

Now, discuss these questions together as a Group:

1. If you were able to attend the Sunday gathering or if you listened to the teaching online, what stood out to you?
2. Have someone read Isaiah 58:1-10. What stands out to you from this critique of the nation of Israel by the prophet Isaiah? 
3. If Isaiah was writing a critique of our community here in East Valley, what do you think he would say to us? In what ways do we tend to neglect those in need in our cities? 
4. How often do you think about those in need? How often do you pray for those lost from God? 
5. Who are some people in your own life you could name that are far from God? 
6. What next step might God be inviting you to in order to develop His heart for the lost and needy around you? 
7. How did last week’s fasting practice go? 

Practice

For the last week of our fasting practice, we’re going to pair our fast with contending prayer. Here’s a simple way to do that this week:

1. Choose one or two days to fast this week. 
2. During your normal mealtime, pray for your neighbors. Use the time you’d normally spend eating, cooking, or grocery shopping in prayer specifically for the lost people you know. These could be friends, family members, co-workers, or your literal neighbors. Ask God to bring to mind people that He wants you to pray for. 
3. When you experience a hunger pang, stop and pray for a neighbor. Use these moments of hunger to redirect your heart and grow your compassion towards the lost people in your life.

Before you end in prayer, have everyone answer this question:

What would success look like for you as you engage with this practice? 

Pray

Spend some time praying for and encouraging one another.