Remember…to stop and remember | Deuteronomy 5:15

Prayer Points
1. Thank God for rest and remembering.
2. Ask God to bring to mind all that he has done in the history of redemption.
3. Ask God to remind you of all that he has done in your life and in the Body of Christ.
4. Ask God to help you establish a pattern of remembering.
Discussion Questions
1. When was a time that you needed to remember something very important?
2. What is something that God has done in your life that you need to remember and
praise God for?
3. Who is someone that needs to hear your testimony of how God worked in your life?
4. What are ways that you currently intentionally remember the work of God?
5. What are the patterns in your life that are unbalanced and keep you from remembering
God?
6. How can you begin to surrender those patterns and build new rhythms of
remembering?

Remember…we were once slaves | Deuteronomy 5:15

Discussion Questions

  • What is the significance of the Plains of Moab for Israel? What about us?

  • What did Israel’s slavery look like in Egypt? 

  • What are some things God has brought you out of?

  • We are all tempted to return to a sinful way of life after knowing Christ. Is there anyone you know trapped in habitual sin you need to address? 

Prayer Points

  • Pray we would not forget what it’s like to be separated from Christ.

  • Pray that we as a local church would have such a sense of wonder for God’s deliverance that our gratitude would be obvious to a watching world. 

Jesus Gives Love | John 15:12-17

Prayer Points

  1. Thank God for the love that Jesus brings us! That Jesus calls us his friends and reveals the work of God to us.

  2. Ask God to open your heart to love deeply those around you. That God will fill your heart with genuine concern, kindness, and care for his people.

  3. Pray that God will empower you to join him in his work of showing that same love to others and be part of growing them in faith.

Discussion Questions

  1. When was a time that you felt loved in an especially impactful way?

  2. How has love changed your life?

  3. How does it affect you to know that Jesus loves you personally knowing you exactly as you are, “worts and all”?

  4. What would it look like in your life if you lived out the love of Jesus by loving others deeply?

  5. Are there changes you need to make or actions you need to start in regard to loving others?

Jesus Gives Joy | Hebrews 12:1-2

Discussion Questions

  1. What is the difference between happiness and joy? How does each impact your walk with God?

  2. Knowing that your salvation is not dependent on your work, how does that free you to live? What are the pitfalls of this truth?

  3. In all honesty, how do you feel knowing that Jesus reigns in all areas of our lives? In areas and times of goodness, joy, and happiness, also in times of tragedy, pain, and suffering. 

  4. How do these truths inform the way you interact with friends, family, and coworkers?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that in all things you would give glory to God. 

  2. Pray that the Spirit would help you to grow closer to Jesus and to be more like Jesus.

Jesus Gives Peace | Philippians 4:4-7

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Discussion Questions

  1. Describe your relationship, past and/or present, with anxiety.

  2. Describe your relationship with prayer. How likely are you to bring concerns to God in prayer?

  3. What role does rejoicing and thanksgiving play in your prayer life?

  4. Can anyone give a story/testimony of living out this passage - resisting anxiety through rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving? 

  5. How can our community grow in supporting one another in the midst of anxiety? 

  6. How can we grow as people known for gentle forbearance to all around us?

Prayer Points

  • REJOICE in God’s grace in our lives.

  • Bring all cares, concerns and fears to Him in prayer.

  • THANK God for his blessings in our lives - especially in and around things that make us anxious.

  • Pray support and encouragement for specific individuals  feeling the weight of anxiety.

Jesus Gives Hope | Colossians 1:24-29

Discussion Questions

  1. How has this passage changed the way you think about hope?

  2. Where do you see God at work in our church or your community group? How does this hope strengthen those relationships?

  3. What are some lower case “h” hopes God has brought to your attention? Are there any that have become capital “H” hopes for you?

  4. What actions should hope in Jesus create according to the passage?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that this Advent season as a church we would have our hope centered on Jesus above all things and we would have the courage to remind each other to hope in him.

  2. Pray we would use this holiday season with family and friends to prayerfully and winsomely be able to provide a response for the hope that we have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

New Heavens and Earth | Isaiah 65:17-25

Discussion Questions: 

  1. Do you struggle to believe that God will forever rejoice and be glad in you?

  2. How does God’s word describing the New Heavens and New Earth compete against or complement your earthly desires? 

  3. In what areas of life do you reject the hope that God offers? 

  4. Discuss ways you can grow in Godly imagination. 

Prayer Points: 

  • Repent of the ways you seek to build your own kingdom that competes against the kingdom of God. 

  • Pray for the people of our church to be filled with the hope God provides through his promises.

  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to help and spur you in excitement to share the gospel message.

Longing & Lament | Isaiah 63:15-64:12

Discussion Questions

  1. How did your family of origin handle difficulty and pain? Was lament or longing ever a part?

  2. How have churches you’ve been a part of handled sin, pain and brokenness? Were lament or longing a part?

  3. How about you personally? How do you deal with sin, pain and  loss in your life or in the lives of those around you? Are you more likely to ignore it, get deeply depressed, get angry or what?

  4. How could you grow in lament and longing personally?

  5. How could this community group grow in lament and longing together?

  6. How might lament and longing open us up to the sin and pain of those around us who do not know Jesus? 

Prayer Points

Prayers of Lament

  • Lament sin in your own life and how it has affected others around you

  • Lament sin in the life of your community, church, city, state or nationLament pain, loss, brokenness in you or your family's life

Prayers of Longing

  • Pray the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-15 emphasizing longing for God’s presence & kingdom

  • Long for God’s presence in the life of your family, neighborhood, city, state or nation

  • Long for more people to know Him

Pray that as you grow in lament and longing that it will open your heart to others around you who need God’s love.

God's Powerful Word | Isaiah 55:1-13

Prayer Points

  • Pray that God would give you insight into any potential false breads you’re running to for life besides him. Confess these false breads to the Lord and ask him to show you what it looks like practically to come to his life-giving Word instead.

  • Pray that God might give you an opportunity to share with someone outside the church how you’ve found deep satisfaction in him. 

Discussion Questions

  • When you think of “The Word of God”, what comes to your mind?

  • When you aren’t looking to God to satisfy your deepest longings, where do you tend to run instead? 

  • Have you ever experienced the pardon of God for your sins? If so, share what that moment was like. If not, what’s keeping you from coming to him for forgiveness?

  • Share about a recent time when the love of God for you specifically brought peace and joy?

  • How should our final hope in the new heavens and earth change how we live today?

  • What has it looked for you in this season to “come feast on the life-giving Word”? Are there any new habits or rhythms you want to integrate in your life to help you experience the life God offers us through his Word?

The Suffering Servant | Isaiah 53:1-12

Prayer Points

  1. Ask that God would open our eyes to the sins that we need Jesus to take and cleanse us from.

  2. Intercede for those who either have not heard, understood, or believed in the powerful truth of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice.

  3. Ask that God would send us to the world with this message.

Discussion Questions

  1. When did you first understand the depth of your sinful rebellion against God?

  2. Describe your understanding of God’s wrath and judgment against sin and sinners.

  3. What role should fear of wrath play in someone’s faith journey?

  4. Have you turned to Jesus as your only hope for forgiveness? Describe what that experience was like.

  5. Who do you know who either have not heard, understood, or believed in the powerful truth of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice?

  6. How can we join God in taking the message of Jesus to others?

A Global Ruler | Isaiah 9:1-7

Discussion Questions

  1. What was the gloom & darkness Isaiah prophesied and what did that mean for God’s people?

  2. How similar or dissimilar is the joy in this passage compared with your own life? 

  3. Have the four titles of Jesus from this passage changed the way you think about him? If so, how?

  4. What comfort can we take as a church in being a part of Jesus's Kingdom?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that we would be swept up in the grand reality that Jesus rules all things and put our hope in him above any earthly figure.

  2. Pray that the truth of being citizens of Jesus’s eternal kingdom would give us encouragement and boldness to share his good news.