Dangerous Word Night, March 25-31

Acts 4:23-31

Memory Verse: Acts 4:31

-Describe your prayer life in a few words.

-Question: If God answered "yes" to all of your prayers, would the world look any different?  I know you may be dating a super model and have lots of money, and YOUR life may look a lot different if God always said yes.  But what about the world around you?

-The answer to that question helps to describe your prayer life.  Based on that answer, is it dangerous, audacious, life changing, and filled with grandiose requests?  Is God "impressed" with the enormity of your requests?

-If all of your prayers came true, would the world around you still be pretty lame?

Acts 4:23-24a
-Dangerous Prayers have Urgency and Priority

If something unexpected happens, what is your default reaction?
-Let me try and fix it myself
-Let me gather my resources and contacts and see if anyone else can fix it
-Let me ask my parents for advice
-Let me pray about it

-Have you ever prayed about something, and the answer that God gave you was crazy, and maybe seemed irrational to your finite mind?  Share your story.

-Voicing dangerous prayers will lead to God calling you to do dangerous things for Him.  Do you want your life to be marked by that?

Acts 4:24b-28
-Dangerous Prayers Acknowledge the Source of Power

-The power of prayer lies in the person that you are praying to!

-God's will is going to be done and cannot be swayed by the will of man.  Does that make you feel good?  Less in control?  Do you not like that?  Vs. 25 admits that the efforts of man against God are in vain.

-Acts 4:29-30
-Dangerous Prayers are Unified and Focused

-Is your rGroup unified in praying for something or someone?  Make a list of people that are disconnected, disenfranchised, or don't have a relationship with Jesus.  As a group, commit to pray for them each week together.  Don't just let it be a one-and-done prayer time.  Pray earnestly together until God moves and their lives are changed.  Pray that God would use one of you to do that!

-Personal Evaluation:  Are your prayers selfish?  Focused on helping you or your friends enjoy an easier, more comfortable life?  Do you see how lame of a prayer life that is?  Do you see how powerless those requests are?  What would happen if God said "yes" to all your prayers?

-Acts 4:31
-Dangerous Prayers Produce Results

-We can pray boldly and unapologetically because we know we are praying for His goodness and His Will and His glory to be made known through us.  And when we know God is in the business of hearing our prayers and answering them so that he can get the glory and honor for it, that makes us an extremely dangerous church!

Dangerous Word Night, March 18 - 24

In Acts 4:1-22, we begin to see Peter and John start fanning the flame that was sparked from the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  These were two normal, uneducated, untrained men.  They didn’t have the formal education that the religious elite had, nor did they have the Old Testament memorized.  They were hard-working, blue collar guys.  In many ways, we can relate to these guys.

Do you see any of yourself in Peter or John?  How about in how you rely on the Holy Spirit to lead you? 

Is “bold” a characteristic that your friends would use to describe you?  Why or why not?

Did Peter and John possess anything that we lack that would prevent us from exhibiting this same type of boldness?

Do people often recognize you as a Christian by your actions, your speech, your attitude, or the way you interact with others? (vs. 13) How would you describe our Westernized model of Christianity in comparison to what Peter and John demonstrated in Ch. 4? 

Peter and John’s boldness and courage literally left the most elite religious group in 1^st century Jerusalem speechless.  Their actions and their speech were both taken into account, not just one or the other.  On a scale of 1-10, how would you characterize your boldness in actions?  How about your speech?  Is there a big difference between the two?  If so, why?

Verse 20 says, “For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”  A dangerous church is a church that shares the Gospel liberally.  They’re driven by a conviction to share the Good News of Jesus, regardless if it’s illegal, or will pose a threat to themselves.  Peter and John understood that the Gospel is worth dying for.  There is no other message as precious, as important, or as powerful that could change someone’s eternal destination from death to life.  How are you doing at sharing the Gospel with your sphere of influence?  What can you improve?  Do you need to drastically re-think your schedule and priorities so that you can do whatever it takes to get the Gospel to your neighbors? 

Take some time to share stories of how people in your group are sharing the Gospel with their sphere of influence.  Encourage them, pray for them, and send them out to share the Good News! 

If you haven’t already, set up a system of accountability for your members so that they can be held accountable to each other for sharing the Gospel this week.

Dangerous Word Night, March 11-17

We are officially half way through the Collateral Challenge!  We have heard some crazy stories from some of people about how God has blessed them and proven his faithfulness to them.  We are going to be shooting some video to share on Sunday mornings of these powerful stories, but we need your help!   When you get together with your group this week, ask them to share some stories with you from Collateral Challenge.  Challenge them to get started if they haven't been a part of it yet.  Celebrate some wins together of God's faithfulness.  If you have some good stories, be sure to send us an email to info@discoverREVO.com and we would love to hear them and maybe shoot a video to help encourage others.

Acts 3
This week's verse: Acts 3:6  Memorize it!
Acts 1:8, Acts 2:4, and Acts 2:38 are the past dangerous church verses.

-How gutsy was Peter when he picked up the beggar?  His belief in Jesus was matched by his actions and boldness.  On a scale from 1-10, where is your belief in Jesus?  It may be pretty strong for most of your crew.  Now, on a scale from 1-10, how do your actions back those beliefs up?  Unfortunately numbers are mostly lower for this one.  Why?  What is holding you back from being bold?

-Would you consider Jesus an afterthought?  Or does he dominate your entire thought process?  What you think about Jesus (and anything else for that matter) dictates your actions.  Knowing that, reevaluate your "belief" number above.  Theoretically, if you REALLY believed what you said you believed, then it would be impossible for your behavior/actions not to be altered.  That's tough language, I know.  But it has to challenge us and get in our faces or we won't be willing to Move Forward!

-Peter used the word "refreshed" when talking about a person that finds Jesus.  How is that true in your life?  What other word would you use to describe it personally?

-Do you feel like your toes are being stepped on tonight?  Peter didn't say tough things because he liked busting people's chops.  It's to help us realize our depravity and dependance on Jesus.  It's to help illustrate our need for a savior.  It's to help prove the grace and love of God in that we even have a second chance at life through Jesus.  You can either leave bummed out and feeling picked on, or you can leave refreshed and challenged by the amazing story of Jesus.  Our level of dependance on Jesus will have a vast impact on our lives as followers of Him.

Thoughts on a dangerous church:
1. A dangerous church is marked by the power of God, not by the power of men.
2. A dangerous church makes Jesus the emphasis of our lives, not just an afterthought.

Dangerous Word Night, March 4th-10th

Acts 2:42-48


10 Roles of the Church


1. Teaching (vs 42)

2. Fellowship (vs 42)

3. Observance (vs 42)

4. Prayer (vs 42)

5. Sacrifice (vs 45)

6. Giving (vs. 45)

7. Worship In (vs 46)

8. Worship Out (vs 46)

9. Praise (vs 47)

10. Love Big (vs 47)

Discuss how your rGroup can Be the Church as it relates to the roles in this passage.  What areas are you struggling in as a group?  What areas is your group strongest at?  How can living out these 10 roles make you more Dangerous?  

Set some goals as an rGroup on how you can get better.

Remember to review the Scripture verses that we are memorizing together.

Also, we have a baptism celebration that is scheduled for May 20th.  Make sure you talk to your rGroup about the importance of baptism.  If someone hasn't been baptized, encourage them to be obedient to Scripture and go public with their faith!  Last week's verse was Acts 2:38- Repent and be Baptized!  The past two baptism videos are on our website under the media tab.  Let's get excited about celebrating life change together again in May!