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Main Point of Discussion: True belief is backed by appropriate action. The Movie Clip: "I don't believe it!" This is part five in the wildly popular Star Wars saga (though it was originally the second in a trilogy). The battle continues to rage between the Rebel Alliance and the evil Empire in this installment, and the central character, Luke Skywalker is now engaged in advanced Jedi training, while his friends Han Solo, R2D2, C-3PO, and Princess Leia are pursued by Darth Vader in his attempt to destroy them all. The Empire Strikes Back is just what it sounds like: the counteroffensive of the bad guys for losing their infamous Death Star in the previous movie. Skywalker, who is beginning to recognize his destiny is sent to a strange planet to train with a Jedi Master named Yoda. Unfortunately for Luke, he crash lands his starfighter. But that’s just part of the Rebels’ problems in this movie. Introducing the Clip: Everybody has seen – or at least knows about – Star Wars. It’s the epic battle of good versus evil using lightsabers and laserblasters. Knowing that he needs to be further trained in the way of the Jedi, our hero Luke Skywalker goes in search of the best of the best, Master Yoda. However, just prior to this scene I want to show you, Luke crash landed his starfighter on a strange planet (which happens to be Yoda’s). His ship is a wreck, but even worse, it’s submerged beneath a marshy bog. For one of Luke’s training exercises, Yoda tells Luke to raise the starfighter using the Force. Let’s see what happens. Scene Script: BEGIN CLIP AT 1 hour and 09 minutes and 41 seconds (in chapter 31)
Yoda: Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by your size do you? Hmm. Hmph! And well you should not for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. It’s energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you – Here, between you and me, the tree, the rock, everywhere! Yes! Even between land and the ship. (Luke walks off in frustration.) Luke: You want the impossible. Yoda: (After Luke is gone, he attempts to raise the starfighter, and is successful. Luke stands amazed at the feat.) Luke: I don’t…I don’t believe it. Yoda: That is why you fail.END CLIP AT 1 hour and 13 minutes and 21 seconds (before the scene change). Transition Statement: Did you see how important belief is to action? When Luke didn’t believe he could raise his ship, he couldn’t! When Yoda did believe, he could! Luke doubted, and as a result, failed. We’re gonna spend the next few moments talking about faith vs. doubt and how it affects our ability to do incredible things for God. Let’s face it, lots of people talk a good talk about their beliefs, but can their actions back it up? Divide into Small Groups: Let’s go ahead and split up into our discussion groups, and then afterward we’ll come back together for a final word. CLICK HERE for a quick training article on how to maximize your small groups using our small group format—a great resource to equip your small group leaders. Discussion Questions:
Tell This Story (The Great Blondin): There was a great tightrope walker known as The Great Blondin. In the late 1890's he strung a tightrope across Niagara Falls, and then before ten thousand screaming people, inched his way from the Canadian side of the falls to the U.S. side. When he got there, the crowd began shouting his name, "Blondin! Blondin! Blondin!" Finally he raised his arms, quieted the crowd and shouted this to them, "I am Blondin! Do you believe in me?" The crowd shouted back, "We believe! We believe! We believe!" Again he quieted the crowd and once more he shouted to them, "I'm going back across the tightrope but this time I'm going to carry someone on my back. Do you believe I can do that?" The crowd yelled, "We believe! We believe!" He quieted them one more time and then he said, "Who will be that person?" The crowd went dead. Nothing. Finally, out of the crowd stepped one man. He climbed on Blondin's shoulders and for the next three and a half hours, Blondin inched his way back across the tightrope to the Canadian side of the falls. The whole crowd said that they believed, yet only one man truly believed. Read the following passage: Matthew 14:22-33 (NIV) 22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. 27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" 32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Wrap-Up: Tonight, we watched a movie clip with one of the greatest heroes in the galaxy as he struggled with what he believed. Luke Skywalker didn’t truly believe he could act in such a great way, and consequently, he didn’t. But we also heard the story of the Great Blondin who showed over and over again how good he was at tightrope walking, causing the people to “believe” he was great. But when they were asked to put their actions where their beliefs were, only one person did. Unfortunately, these kinds of circumstances happen to Christians, too. Take Peter for example. He started off believing strongly, and even acting strongly. That’s good, because he got a lot further than any of the other disciples in the boat! But the second his fears and doubts took over, he failed at what he was doing, and Jesus scolded him for it, a little bit. If we’re not careful, we might end up like Luke Skywalker, saying we don’t believe. And if we don’t believe, we will never have the relationship with God that He wants with us. But we could also be like the crowd at Niagara Falls the day the Great Blodin walked across them on a tightrope. We “say” we believe, but when it comes down to acting on our beliefs, we cower away. True belief absolutely requires action. We gotta learn a lesson from Peter’s failure. Sure, we need to let our beliefs “get us out of the boat,” but we can’t EVER let fear or doubt take over, because when it does, we fail. The world doesn’t need another Christian who says, “I believe! I believe! I believe!” but never acts on it. How does that help? Let's prove to the world that our belief in Christ and God's amazing plan for our lives is more than just a bunch of words. Let's show them how we will live in action. Close in Prayer |
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