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Talk together. Share a meal or a coffee, whatever you like to do before you formally begin.

Take time to set the stage and review who spoke on Sunday, and what was the occasion (Erol Rempel who is the District Superintendant of the Christian and Missionary Alliance).

Please pray together the words of matthew 6:9-13, inviting God's Kingdom to come and be manifest among you.

Read Matthew 13:31-35; Matthew 5:3-10

Erol explained something about the Christ's Kingdom. The "Now and Not Yet" of the Kingdom. Jesus announced that the Kingdom of heaven was among them, as well he encouraged His followers to pray to the Father "Your Kingdom Come." This is one of the many spiritual realities that is both/and NOT either-or.

1. So easy for us to believe that God's Kingdom is fully here and live in constant disappointment for lack of evidence, or believe that God's Kingdom is not present at all. Each of these on their own are misleading and dangerous. How do you live in this tension of the now and not yet of God's Kingdom?

2. If you're comfortable with reviewing a few of the stories that Erol shared of God's Kingdom in the here and now, please do so. You can also play them off the website (find them and cue them up from the Listening station on the website http://www.intheriver.ca/sermons ).

3. How do these stories impact you? On a positive level, filling you with hope and joy? Do they create longing in your own heart, that you too can get a taste of God's Kingdom to this degree? Or do they surface anger and disappointment? Surfacing questions like "why didn't God do this for me?" or "why doesn't He always act in this way?"

4. We are tempted to keep these sort of Kingdom stories hidden for fear they will bring about the opposite desire of encouragement in people's lives. Do you believe that to be true? Is that the healthy response? Insted of remaining silent, what might be a more God honouring response?

5. Share with one another a few "Not Yet" aspects of God's Kingdom. Things you long to see? Share a few "Mow" aspects of God's kingdom. Things you see God doing in the here and now.

Dare to lament, hope and dream before God in Prayer.