Throwback Series, Pt V

This guide is a tool to help you facilitate discussion with your rGroup. Use it to lead your group in discovering, owning, and applying God’s Word. This is a flexible tool, not a rigid task list. Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead as you lead your group. You don’t need to ask every question.

Understanding God’s Word: Know and Understand the Truth

READ Acts 14:19-28

•   What has happened that would make the people of this city want to stone Paul to death? (We know from the preceding Scripture, that it is people who hate them because they have been preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ) 
  
  • Follow-up Question: Why are people so threatened by the gospel, then and now?
• Why was it important for Paul to re-visit the believers of these cities, at great risk to himself? 
  • (Examples: to install elders/pastors in the churches he founded; to make sure that they are all growing as Christians in their faith; to remind them that as Christians, their journey will be filled with all kinds of tribulations; etc.)
• What is one thing this passage has taught you or reminded you about God?

Living and Applying God’s Word: Give a Vision of Life With God

• What are some examples of steps forward that Christians are all called to make? 
  • (Examples: baptism; serving other and the church; sharing the gospel with other; plugging into Christian community, etc.)
• Why is it so important for Christians to always be growing and moving forward?
  • (Examples: According to James, it demonstrates our faith is genuine; God uses our growth to bring other people to saving faith in Jesus; God is glorified and demonstrates his worthiness of praise as we grow; etc.)
• What is the primary means for Christians to know how they are doing on their spiritual journey? How can they tell where they are stagnant and where they are growing?
  • (The primary and most important way for us to determine how we are doing is by letting God reveal that to us through his Word. This is one of the reasons that consistent and intentional time in the Bible is so important for Christians. We wholly or truly rely on ourselves, others, or the world to know where we stand. Only the Holy Spirit speaking to us through Scripture is reliable enough and convicting enough to help us know our need for change.)

Assessing the Heart: Identify and Address Sin

• In what ways have you seen your spiritual progress come to a standstill?
  • What excuses have you used to excuse yourself or make yourself feel better about not growing spiritually?  
  • What are some of the consequences we can face because we've failed to grow spiritually? (Example: How is our effectiveness as Christians affected? Our family affected? Our relationships? Our work? Our health? etc.)
• READ Acts 14:27 = Listen carefully to what they say about God's role in all of their work and progress. How would you describe his role? 
  • In what ways have you been trying to take your next steps and move forward without relying on the power and presence of Jesus Christ? 
  • When are the consequences of trying to grow on your own apart from God? (Example: We become sinfully prideful; we do things out of legalism/moralism; we come to believe we don’t need God, etc.)

      

Turn to God: Confess and Renew Belief in God

• READ John 15:5 = What does Jesus remind us in his conversation with is disciples? 
  • Why do we still need Jesus to live out our lives as Christians? 
• What would it look like for us to invite God to not just be a supporting character in your spiritual progress, but to take the lead role? 
• Spend some time as a group in prayer, confessing to God the ways that we can either be stagnant in our spiritual growth or try to do it all apart from him. Ask that he would renew your desire to grow and give us a dependence on Him as we move forward as Christians. 

Throw Back Series, Pt IV

This guide is a tool to help you facilitate discussion with your rGroup. Use it to lead your group in discovering, owning, and applying God’s Word. This is a flexible tool, not a rigid task list. Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead as you lead your group. You don’t need to ask every question.

Understanding God’s Word: Know and Understand the Truth

READ Acts 16:16-34

• As we read this passage, what is something that you learned or stood out to you about God? 
• Read vs. 26: What is different about Paul and Silas that allows them to pray aloud and sing hymns to God, all after being stripped, beaten, imprisoned, and tormented? 
• What kind of impact did the words and deeds of Paul and Silas have on those around them? 

Living and Applying God’s Word: Give a Vision of Life With God

• As Christians, one of the essential things that we have been called to do is live boldly as witnesses. How would you define being a witness? 
• What are some things that help and allow Christians to genuinely and successfully live out their calling as witnesses? (Example: Genuine love and worship for God; genuine love for people; humility/not seeing yourself as better than others; true dependence on the Holy Spirit to give us opportunities and words to say; faithful prayer to be witnesses; being changed by God’s Word, etc.) 
• Do you think that it is possible to live as a Christian in the kingdom of God and not be a witness? Why or why not? 
• Why is it impossible for people to become believers in Jesus if we never actually open our mouths are share the good news of the gospel? 
• What could happen to this rGroup, to our church, and to our city if everyone in our rGroup began to live boldly and we started seeing people give their lives to Jesus? 

Assessing the Heart: Identify and Address Sin

• How many people this past year have you verbally been able to share the gospel with? 
• What are some of the biggest things that you hold back from being at witness for Jesus? (Examples: Fear what others would think of me; my life doesn’t back up the gospel that I’m sharing; worry about offending someone or losing relationship; selfish about time, investment in a person; assuming people already know the gospel and have rejected it; assuming that a person is “too far gone”; etc.) 
• READ Matthew 28:18 - This command was not just given to Jesus’ disciples but to all of us. Think about all of the answers that we just shared of what holds us back from being witnesses. Are any of these valid excuses that exempt us from being Christ’s witnesses to the world? 

      

Turn to God: Confess and Renew Belief in God

• READ Romans 1:16-17 - Some of us struggle to be witnesses, and it is honestly hard to say these verses alongside Paul. Some of us are (at least functionally) ashamed of the gospel of Christ. 
  • But Paul reminds us that in the message of the gospel there is power. It has the power to save us. It has the power to change us. Why is this good news for those of us who struggle to be witnesses? (Example: Because it reminds us that we too were once far from God and we were brought near through the gospel; it reminds us that if we believe the gospel we don’t always have to be bad witnesses, but God can help us grow and change to live boldly as witnesses; it reminds us that our fears about the people we witness to are unfounded, and the power of God’s gospel can change anyones hearts and minds, which frees us to share this message more boldly; etc.) 
• In groups of two or three, take some time to tell each other about at least one person in your life who doesn’t know Christ, someone the Holy Spirit is convicting you to share the gospel with. Take some time to pray for that person, pray for opportunities to share with them, and take some time to confess and repent of the ways we have all fallen short as witnesses.

---

Announcements

• rGroup Invite Night: Our rGroups will be hosting an Invite Night during the week of February 14-20! REVO will be having a Communion Service on the 14th, and we always like to follow that up with a gathering of food, fun, etc. This gives people who have no experience with rGroups an opportunity where they can easily check out your group and get a taste of our community in a laid-back atmosphere. Use your imagination and come up with something fun for you group to do! 

CHANGED: Downtown and North Campus

DOWNTOWN: Amy Edmonds

Amy's story was a powerful reminder of the grace that God gives, the necessity of forgiveness, and the promise that God can use your life despite a rough past.

1. After being physically abused by her father her entire life, including stitches in the face as a teenager and a blown out knee at 20, Amy still forgave her father.

a. What are some of the most powerful examples of forgiveness in Scripture (HINT: Read Acts 7:60 and Luke 23:34).
b. Read Matthew 18:21-35.  What are your feelings toward the man that was forgiven of his huge debt, yet was unwilling to forgive others that owed him?  How does that relate to how you should offer forgiveness?
c. Why would you be a great candidate to forgive others for the wrongs that they have done to you?  (Think about what Jesus has done for you.  All that he has forgiven you.)
d. What was the hardest thing you ever had to forgive someone else for doing? Why was it so hard?  Are there people in your life that you need to offer forgiveness to in order to show them an example of what Jesus did for you?


2. What are some reasons we give as to why God can't use us to do something incredible?  What excuses do we have to argue that we aren't worthy, can't be used, or that God wouldn't want to use us and our lives for something good?
(bad decisions we've made, baggage and a rough past, don't think we have an exciting story to share, etc)


3. Amy's story could be boiled down to those 3 words: grace, forgiveness, and purpose.  What would the 3 words be that would illustrate your story of life change?  What would you want people to know and be encouraged/challenged by as it pertains to what you've been through and what God has done for you personally?