10.11 Small Group Discussion

Finding Your Way Back to God - Awakening to Regret

• What’s one idea from the message that stood out to you? Why do you think it grabbed you?
   
• How would you describe ‘regret’?
   
• Share a time that you wish you could go back and change what happened, whether it was something you said or didn’t say, or something you did or didn’t do.

Read Luke 15:11-24.

• What do you feel lead the son to the realization that he should go back to his father?
   
• Even though the father took the son back, do you think there were still consequences to the son’s actions? Why or why not?
   
• What is the biggest obstacle for you in turning back towards God after going off on your own path for a time?
   
• Is it harder for you to ask for forgiveness when you’ve done something you regret or for you to forgive someone who asks you to forgive them? Why?
   
• Do you feel like there’s a limit to how many times you can come back to God? Why or why not?
   
• Do you feel like there’s anything you can do that is too much for you to come back to God? Why or why not?
   
• Have you found the Church to be a good place that encourages and welcomes people

Prayer: God, if you are real, make yourself real to me. Awaken me to the possibility that I can start over again.

10.04 Small Group Discussion

Finding Your Way Back to God - Awakening to Longing

• What’s one idea from the message that stood out to you? Why do you think it grabbed you?
   
• What did you get for Christmas two years ago? Do you still use it?
   
• What is something in your life that makes you feel fulfilled?

Read Luke 15:11-24.

• Notice that the younger son leaves in search of something after receiving great wealth. Have you had something disappoint you that you had expected to fulfill you?
   
• Share a time that you felt the most unfulfilled and a time that you felt the most fulfilled.
   
• What is the purpose of life?

Read Ephesians 2:8-10.

• How can we figure out the good works that God has laid out for us?
   
• What good works do you think God has laid out for you to do?
   
• What prevents you from accomplishing what God lays out for you?
   
• How can the Church help provide fulfillment and assist with accomplishing the work that God has planned for each of us?
   
• What does the Church do well and what does it do poorly for guiding towards fulfillment and accomplishing the work God has planned?

Prayer: Pray that God will make Himself real to you and that He will make you aware that He is what is missing from your life or that He is the one that provides fulfillment.

09.27 Small Group Discussion

Undrafted - Ordinary Men

• What’s one idea from the message that stood out to you? Why do you think it grabbed you?
   
• Share a time when you felt like just an ordinary or uneducated person.

Read Acts 4:13.

• What do you think it was about Peter and John that made it clear to the Sanhedrin that they had been with Jesus?
   
• If you are a Christ follower, what characteristics or traits do you display that make it clear that you have been with Jesus?

Read Acts 4:18-20.

• Peter and John continue to show courage when they are sentenced by the Sanhedrin. What either enables you to be or keeps you from being courageous in your walk with God?
   
• In light of the disciples’ backgrounds (being unschooled and ordinary men), what excuses are left for us to use when we don’t speak out on behalf of Christ?
   
• Do you believe we can change the world like the disciples did? Why or why not?
   
• Is there something you need to leave behind in order to change the world?
   
• In order to start changing the world, what is something that you can do right now?

Prayer: Pray that we are courageous for Christ and that the world will know that He is with us.

9.20 Small Group Discussion

Undrafted  -  Elisha

• What’s one idea from the message that stood out to you? Why do you think it grabbed you?
   
• Who can you think of, whether in history or in your own life, that you consider to have finished well or failed in their final chapter? 
   
• What characteristics do you think contributed to their success or failure?

Read 1 Kings 19:19-21 and 2 King 2:1-14.**

• In the first passage, Elisha had Elijah’s mantle tossed on him, and in the second passage, Elisha received Elijah’s mantle as a sign of passing the baton. Would Elisha have received the mantle if he hadn’t followed Elijah to all the places in the second passage? Why or why not?
   
• Elisha was told multiple times that Elijah would be taken from him that day as he followed him, and scripture provides no evidence that Elisha tried to stop it from happening. How do you think seeing Elijah being taken into Heaven impacted Elisha’s journey going forward?
   
• What impact has someone had in your life by finishing the race well?
   
• What does obedience mean to you?
   
• How is obedience the path to finishing well?
   
• How can you blaze a path like Elijah for others to follow?
   
• How can we be like Elijah and follow the examples of those that have come before?

Prayer:  Pray for obedience to God’s will, no matter the cost.