SESSION 1
Resetting the satnav

 
Kate Patterson describes how the essence of eternal life is knowing God. Our destination is joy but we can find joy on the way as we know the joy-giver.
 

Watch the above clip with Kate Patterson.

Group Questions

Read John 17:3. How does this verse and this session change your thinking about eternity?

Were death and eternity discussed in your childhood? Why do we often avoid thinking about eternity? 

It’s easy to follow the crowd and have the same goals as everyone around us without even noticing. How does it change life when heaven is the destination in our satnav? 

What helps you to reset the satnav of your life?

Can you describe your favourite holiday or a joyful moment in your life? The Bible says that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard what God has prepared for those who love him”. What most excites you about heaven?

Heaven is more than a holiday. It is home.
Read Luke 15:20
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.


When you return to God, the Father welcomes you home with a heavenly bear-hug – forever. Write yourself a reminder of that so that you begin everyday this week with God’s eternal welcome.


Read John 14:1-4
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”


Take some moments of quiet as a group to think about the picture of God preparing a place for you because he loves you so very much. He tells you not to let your heart be troubled.

Deliberately put your trust in Jesus that your eternity is safe with him, that you are loved with an everlasting love. 

Watch this clip:

 

Bishop Ric Thorpe shares what it means to live for eternity.

 

Read John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, 
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him. 



How can we be sure that we will be with God for eternity?



Turning to praise: What is your praise point from this session? Taking the verses in John 3:16 – 17, thank God for the gift of eternal life - death has lost its sting.



Bless one another: Commit one another to the everlasting love of God: pray that the people next to you would know the words of Julian of Norwich for themselves and live life with heavenly anticipation.
From him we come, 
in him we are enfolded, 
to him we return.  

Julian of Norwich

 
 

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