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I don’t know what I don’t know. And if I don’t know it, then I don’t have a way to recognize what I don’t know until someone teaches me.
As a teenager, I thought I knew it all. One time, my dad responded, “Oh, that’s right. I forgot you were a teenager and so you know everything.” He was being sarcastic, but I didn’t hear his sarcasm at the time. I thought that he finally was recognizing my vast amount of knowledge. (Okay, now who is the sarcastic one?!)
As we get older, we learn that we don’t know it all and that we cannot know it all. At times, we even wish we didn’t know what we know.
However, something that we can always appreciate knowing and learning more about is the perspective of others. I don’t know what I don’t know until someone teaches me.
I like to say that there is more than one way to burn a piece of toast. No two countries nor any two families function in the same way. God’s greatness is affirmed through diversity. And we learn more about who He is when we learn and appreciate others’ perspectives.
If I ask ten women of different ages, education levels, cultures, and families to read the same Bible verse, would they all have the same observations and reactions? Of course not!
For example: Let’s consider Luke 8:22-25.
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
A woman who grew up on the coast would be able to describe the storms that can come up over the waters.
The exhausted mom of young children can appreciate Jesus’ fatigue and that He had the opportunity to take a nap.
The young woman struggling with her faith will recognize that she is not the only one who has struggled with faith.
And the woman who is facing a horrible emotional storm in her life will leave with the hope that God does have the power to calm the storm in her.
Until we listen to others and appreciate the diversity in small groups, we will not be able to recognize God’s greatness to be all things to all people at all times.
#IronRoseSister #smallgroups #diversity #Bible
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A discussion of Jesus modeling small groups is often centered on a discussion of His 12 apostles, or even about the three men with whom He shared a more intimate relationship (Peter, James, and John). But what of the women who surrounded Him, financially supported Him, and listened to His words?
Who do you think possibly prepared or provided food for the men as they traveled with Jesus? The twelve apostles had left everything, their professions, their families, and their sources of income, to follow Jesus. Yet they were not the only ones that followed and learned from the Rabbi (Teacher).
“Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod´s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.” (Luke 8:1-3)
We do not know exactly how much of the three years of Jesus’ ministry on earth the women traveled with Jesus and the apostles. These women were not groupies, they were disciples. Some had been healed, their lives transformed. Others were prominent women, even from Herod’s household, who took great risks to be associated with such a controversial individual.
We know, from Jesus’ admonition to Martha, while teaching Mary in their home, that Jesus valued women and taught them as many Rabbis would not (Luke 10:38-42).
These same women remembered His words, were the first to know of His resurrection and informed the apostles about it (Luke 24:1-11).
This small group of women had an integral place in Jesus’ time here on earth. They modeled the priorities for small groups today.
• Follow the Messiah
• Learn from the Rabbi
• Share stories of His healing in our lives
• Proclaim His resurrection
• Surround and support other kingdom workers
What is your small group focused on?
#IronRoseSister #smallgroups #Rabbi #Bible