HOW TO HUG A VAMPIRE WEEK 1 DAVE

HOW TO HUG A VAMPIRE- WEEK 1 DAVE HASTINGS SCRIPTURE REFERENCE I Timothy 1: 12 -17 PRIMARY OUTCOME • That we would take the same approach with the vampires of our life that God takes with us. INTRODUCTION • We all have people who suck the life out of us. • Some vampires we can never please. Some always know a better way of doing something that we are doing. Some take but never give. Some are not happy unless they are complaining. Some are drama kings and queens. Some major in the minors. Some record all our mistakes. • When we fully understand how God loves us when we are sucking the life out of Him, then that can be the example we use toward those who drain our spirits. ACCEPT THE “EVEN THOUGH” • Paul was irrevocably appointed to service “even though” he had things in his past inconsistent with God’s will. It was so bad that Paul said he was the worst of all sinners. • The only way that God could still appoint him to service is that His love was not conditional upon the “even though” of Paul. • Consider your own “even though”, God still loves you in spite of that. INCREASE YOUR PAIN THRESHOLD • According to Paul’s own confession to the Romans, much of his “even though” kept popping up from time to time. • How was God able to continue to love Paul in spite of the fact that his failures never completely left? The answer is unlimited patience. • Patience means to experience pain for an extended period of time, and do so with calm. It is to have a high threshold of pain. • God’s counsel if you have a vampire in your life is to learn to tolerate some level of pain that they cause you. ACT IRRATIONAL AT ALL TIMES • Neither grace nor mercy make any human sense. • Whatever your human desires want to do to your vampire, often the right thing is to do the exact opposite. VITAL CONCLUSION THE GREATEST CHANCE OF YOUR VAMPIRE CHANGING IS WHEN YOU CHANGE THE WAY YOU TREAT YOUR VAMPIRE

SERMON DISCUSSION Choose some of the following questions to discuss with your group. Don’t feel the need to ask every question; simply focus on the ones that will drive the best discussion and application with your group. QUESTIONS| • Who is the easiest person for you to be around? • Read I Timothy 1: 12 -14. Paul makes two important statements in this verse, the first is that he ‘used to’ and the second is that he no longer does because he is filled with the faith and love that come from Jesus. Knowing Jesus changed Paul. How has knowing Jesus changed you? • Read I Timothy 1: 15 -17. Paul reminds us that we are all sinners and because of that God can use us as examples for others. How can applying that same grace to the ‘vampires’ in our life be an example to people who haven’t been changed by Jesus? • What are some of the things that you do that you might require extra grace from others? How does knowing that help you give grace to others? • Think of some practical things you could do to increase your pain tolerance in dealing with difficult people, besides what my come naturally. ICEBREAKER Have everyone share their HIGH (good day) and LOW (bad day) from last week. CLOSING EXERCISE As a group come up with two different lists. First, come up with a list of things you should do if you wanted to have a bad day. Next, come up with a list of things you should do if you wanted to have a good day. Compare the lists and ask the group for the differences they see.