1 Timothy "Spiritual & Natural Family" (1 Tim 5:1-8)

Announcements

New Time and New Location - Rainier Valley Church is now located at 6020 Beacon Ave S and gathers on Sundays at 4pm for worship and 5:30 for dinner together.

Fall-Kick Off - Sunday, September 25th. Mark your Calendars for our Fall BBQ kick-off event.

Ice Breaker Questions What were your thoughts and impressions on the new time and location for Rainier Valley Church? Now that our church is gathering at 4pm on Sundays, how will we create new patterns of rest, worship and fellowship on the Lord's Day? How does the move to Beacon Hill give us new opportunities? (carpools, CG brunch, bringing food for dinner, hanging out afterwards at a local restaurant?)

Loving One Another (1 Tim 5:1-2) - What are practical ways that we can honor older men and women and fulfill the command of Romans 13:7 to “show honor to whom honor is owed” within our church family? How can we live-out the Biblical call to treat young men and women as our own brothers and sisters? Why does Paul go out of his way to command Timothy to practice both brotherly love towards younger women as well as purity within those relationships? How can we maintain the balance of closeness and care yet appropriate boundaries and purity within our spiritual family?

Practical Ways of Loving One Another Bring something to share for dinner on Sunday afternoons at Church. Get connected with a Community Group or Start a new CG. Build new rhythms around people (Movie nights, hangouts, BBQs, coffee dates, etc)

Serving Our Neighbors (1 Tim 5:3-6) - Paul calls Timothy and the church in Ephesus to honor widows who are truly widows and it's declared in Psalm 68:5 that God himself is a “Father of the fatherless and protector of Widows” so how can we as a church family serve our neighbors? Who are the widows and orphans in your life? What would it look like for you to honor them? Paul encourages families to take responsibility for the elderly in their own families. How should the Christian faith impact our family? In 1 Timothy 5:5-6, Paul contrasts two different types of widows. Why is it important for the church to assess the character of those we help and how can certain types of helping actually hurt people by enabling more destructive lifestyle choices?

Practical Ways of Serving our Neighbors Identifying the Widows and Orphans in your social circles (Those in need) Volunteers to serve, tutoring kids or help with child care at UGM's Hope Place Volunteering to go out with the UGM's Search & Rescue Teams to serve our homeless neighbors

Strengthening Our Families (1 Tim 5:7-8) - Why is the family so important to God? How does strengthening our families enable us to serve those outside of our families? Why would not providing for the needs of our family be like denying the Christian faith and functioning like an unbeliever? How is our family living in light of the call to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:18) and in what ways are we nourishing and cherishing one another (Eph 5:28-30)? How have you seen God uses healthy families to love others, preach the gospel and serve their neighbors and the nations?

Practical Ways of Strengthening Our Families Identifying the best ways we can practically support and encourage one another. Creating times of family worship, bible reading/discussion, prayer together. Serving together as a family within the church and out in the community.