Merge Agenda
Expectations and Family/In-Laws
Tonight’s schedule:
· 5:30-6:15 Leader’s Dinner/Meeting/Prayer Time
· 6:15-6:32 Break, clean up tables, greet couples, Pre-Class Table Time
· 6:32-6:35 Announcements and Introduction – TBD
· 6:35-7:00 Teaching time #1 – Expectations – Sisco’s
· 7:00-7:25 Table Time #1
· 7:25-8:00 Teaching Time #2 – Family/in-laws & Q&A – Sisco’s
· 8:00-8:25 Table Time #2
· 8:25–8:30 Wrap-up/announcements - TBD
Leader Meeting Notes:
· Housekeeping
o Blended family Q&A Panel – September 23rd
· Pray for re|engage – Dallas and Ft Worth
· Main goals for tonight:
o Couples will understand that they have expectations of everything in life, especially when it comes to relationships…
§ When those expectations are unmet, it can lead to sadness, disappointment, and anger
o Couples will understand some of the sources of their expectations – some are good and right (Philippians 4.8), some are worldly and need to be evaluated
o Couples will understand that expectations are typically unmet because they are unaware, unspoken, or unrealistic
o Couples will walk away with a better understanding of what it means to leave, cleave, and become one flesh (Genesis 2.24)
o Couples will understand some of the typical challenges associated with both parents and in-laws, and the importance of establishing a solid foundation in those relationships
o Couples will learn some ways to proactively communicate and build the relationship with both their own families and their future potential in-laws
· Next week: Sexual Intimacy – John & Pam McGee – we will go late, until 8:45
Key Scriptures:
Amos 3.3
“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?
Proverbs 13.12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Genesis 2.24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Galatians 1.10
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
James 4.6
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Ephesians 5.22-28
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Pre-Class Questions:
· What was your most significant single take-away from the lesson last week on Finances?
· Where are you and your significant other least aligned in your expectations for your relationship?
Table Time Questions - Expectations
· How well have you communicated your expectations to your significant other? Can you think of any situations where expectations were not clear between the two of you? How did you resolve it?
· What are your expectations about opposite sex relationships/friendships? Have you discussed with your significant other?
· What are some ways you can become more aware of your expectations of your significant other?
· Where do your personal expectations come from? What is the most significant source of your relationship/marriage expectations?
· Which is your biggest challenge? That you are unaware of your expectations, unreasonable in them, or you just don’t communicate them (unspoken) to your partner? What is his/her biggest challenge?
· How do you and your significant other handle things when your expectations are unmet?
Table Time – Parents/Family/In-laws
· What are some of your favorite traits of your own family?
· What are some of your concerns about either your own family or your significant other’s family?
· What are some Christmas or family traditions you have in your family?
· What are some ways you can grow in your relationship with your potential future in-laws?
· What are some things you want into bring into your current relationship from your parent’s relationship? What are some things you know you want to leave out of your relationship that you may have ‘inherited’ from your own parents?