Comfort Food
Pastor Steven Furtick
Conversation Starters
Have some fun to kick off your meeting and play food-based Scattergories! (If you need a refresher on how to play, click here.) Use the letter “R,” and give these topics to your group: a comfort food, a restaurant, a food usually served cold, a type of candy, and an exotic food. Whoever gets the most points wins!What’s your favorite comfort food?Do you prefer chain restaurants or unique restaurants? What’s the best chain restaurant?
Review
Ask eGroup members to share their favorite points from the sermon, what spoke to them, a phrase or moment from the sermon they related to the most, or questions they have. If members have a hard time recalling the sermon, talk through your notes and share your favorite points.
Make It Personal
Read Genesis 41:53-57. What are some types of “famine” people might face in their lives?
Share about a famine you’ve faced. Has God ever used a famine in your life for a purpose? (Did He remove something from your life?)
Think about your life over the past year. What are some areas where you’ve felt like you had a need? What were those needs? (Were there areas where you were bored or dealt with instability? Were there any miracles that felt monotonous?)
Share some comforts you’ve relied on to try and fill those needs. (What are you filling yourself with? Have you been in chains that felt comfortable?) How well did they work?
Read Numbers 11:4-6. The Israelites were talking like they wanted to go back to Egypt. Share some things you think about going back to in order to fill your needs. What’s your Pharaoh? (Pastor said, “It’s easier to get out of Egypt than to get Egypt out of you.” What Egypts are still in your life that need to be removed?)
Talk about the needs you’re facing now. (Where are you in a famine?) How are you trying to fill those needs? (What comfort foods are you relying on? Do you have comfort friends? Comfort phrases? What are some other comforts people turn to?)
Why do we crave what we hate? (What makes you crave what will kill you? Is it what you’re craving that will kill you, or the way that you’re trying to meet a need?) Is there a better way to get what you’re craving?
Your Father’s fridge is full. What can you do to get what you need from God? (What kinds of things are in the Father’s fridge that we can use to better meet our needs?)
Sometimes, before we can have a feast from the Father’s fridge, we have to first remove the RABBLE: routines, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, labels/limits/lies, or examples. What does it look like to have a funeral for those things? How can we do that?
Act On It
Have a funeral for your RABBLE this week. Which of those words (routines, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, labels/limits/lies, or examples) do you need to have a funeral for before you can have a feast? Write down what you need to remove, and each day, ask God to help you get rid of it. Then ask Him to show you what’s in His fridge that you can use to better sustain you.
Prayer Requests And Prayer
Ask eGroup members to share any prayer requests they have. Record any notes or prayer requests to pray for members during the week.Father, thank You for having food for us that’s far better than anything else we can make or find. Show us the places in our lives where we’ve been bingeing on comfort food, and give us the clarity, wisdom, and strength to get what we need from Your fridge instead. In Jesus’ name, amen.