Connect What are some practical ways to incorporate fasting into your spiritual walk? 

Warm-Up

1. What are your favourite types of celebrations and why?
2. When do you find it easiest to celebrate? When do you find it most difficult to celebrate?

Read Matthew 9:14-17

3. How often did Jesus get into trouble for his dinner parties? Why were people upset about this?
4. Was Jesus against fasting? How had some of the religious folk made fasting legalistic?
5. How does Jesus answer the question of John’s disciples? Who is the bridegroom and who are the guests?
6. If Jesus is the bridegroom why would it be inappropriate not to celebrate? 
7. How does this help us to understand that the Lord is the ultimate cause for celebration?
8. In what ways can we celebrate who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do?
   (Try to think of aspects for each of these three categories for celebration.)
9. Can you think of ways—individually and with others—that help you to celebrate these three things? 
10. What were ways (in the Old Testament) that God gave his people to help them celebrate?
    Can you think of New Testament examples (given by Jesus and/or practiced) by the early church?
11. Are there other opportunities in your life to celebrate these various dimensions of God’s goodness more?
12. How does celebration help you grow spiritually? Can you think of examples when you’ve experienced this?
13. When we celebrate, who do we (best of all) celebrate with? How aware of this are you? How could you grow in your awareness and help others to grow in their awareness of this extraordinary promise?
14. How does the Lord’s Supper remind us of who we celebrate, with whom we celebrate, and what future we anticipate as we celebrate?
15. How might some of the religious people been so distracted by their rules that they missed who is standing in the midst? Do you think that we can ever be like this?
16. How do you think practicing celebration regularly can help grow us in the fruit of joy?

Read Revelation 19:6-9

17. Can you think of other examples in the Bible in which banquets are an image for God’s Kingdom?
18. What do you love most about this image? How is our future both communal and centred around God?
19. What gives us confidence that we are invited to the ‘super of the Lamb’?
20. What are the most common ways you celebrate God? Do you think you have opportunities to shape your celebration more around who God is, that Jesus is with us, and in anticipation of that which is yet to come?

Apply What is one one that you could grow this week in your practice of celebration?

On Your Frontline this Week

When you look around, what things are you thankful to God for? How can you encourage more of this?

For Families

• Download: some of the family resources to use at home: stbartskids.org

Listen, Watch, and Read

• Listen (Sermon): “The Christian Life” by Aneirin Glyn:
  https://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/talk/57110/audio/ 
• Listen (Sermon): “Loving God 24/7” by Jill Firth:
  https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ridley-chapel/id1555186843?i=1000654378042 
• Listen (Sermon): “A Question of Love” by Rico Tice:
  https://www.allsouls.org/Media/AllMedia.aspx?show_media=50963&show_file=59564 
• Read (Article): “A Preposterous Command” by LICC:
  https://licc.org.uk/resources/a-preposterous-command-part-1/ 
• Watch (Video): “Agape/Love” by Bible Project:
  https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/agape-love/ 

Series Resources

• Read (book): “Celebration of Discipline” by Richard J. Foster
• Read (book): “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" by Donald S. Whitney 📚
• Read (book): “Spiritual Disciplines Handbook" by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun 📚
• Read (book): “Reading the Bible for all  its Worth" by Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart 📚
• Read (book): “Prayer: Experiencing Awe & Intimacy with God " by Tim Keller 📚
• Read (article): “Spiritual Disciplines, Legalism and Laziness” by Trevin Wax:
  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/why-spiritual-disciples-interview-with-don-whitney/  

📚 Available to borrow in the Church library