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 Matthew 14:22-33
- In one sentence, how would you describe the message of this Scripture?
- What does this passage tell us about who God is?
- What does this passage reveal to us about ourselves?
Living and Applying God’s Word: Give a Vision of Life With God
- Like Peter, Jesus has called every Christians to come Him out of their “boat.” He is calling them from one way of living to a radically new way of life. Jesus is calling each of us to walk away from our old self, from our old routines, and from our comfort zones. Jesus is calling each of us to give up those things, and instead experience life in God’s Kingdom, where Jesus the King is good and all of his commandments are for our joy.
- In what ways have you experienced more joy following God’s wisdom and ways rather than your own?
- Jesus’ divinity was on full display when his disciples witnessed his lordship and authority over things like elements and physics by walking on water and calming a furious storm. Peter’s and the disciples’ response in this passage were fueled by their worship for Jesus.
- What role does our worship for Jesus play as we move from living for ourselves to living for the kingdom of God?
- Life with God isn’t always filled with calls to "walk on water.” Sometimes we might be called to take some huge steps, like helping start a church or move to another country as a missionary. But life with God was meant to be experienced most often in the ordinary, daily lives we lead. This can play itself in a thousand different ways in our homes, jobs, hobbies, and habits, but let’s think through one specific example.
- What would it look like for each of us individually and as an rGroup to "get out of our boats" in our neighborhood and start living for God’s kingdom among our neighbors?
Assessing the Heart: Identify and Address Sin
- The other disciples found safety and security in their boat, and they clung to it even when they could have been walking on water.
- What are the things in your life that you are looking to for your comfort, your safety, and your security?
- In what ways are these things taking God's place in your life?
- Like Peter, there are times when all of us can lose our focus on Christ. These are times when we can particularly struggle with sin and experience a strained relationship with God. During these times, in what ways have you seen yourself crippled by your failures, or how have you tried relying on yourself to repair your relationship with God?
- How is that going for you?
Turn to God: Confess and Renew Belief in God
- When you seem to be drowning in the struggles of this life, or when you just don't seem to be able to be the Christian that God is calling you to be, why can you have hope if you call out to and rely on Jesus?
- How do you think we can grow to more quickly and frequently call out to Jesus in our failures, rather than try to pridefully fix things on our own?
- God's primary way of helping Christians in their struggles is by using other Christians to come alongside them and help them. What might our rGroup look like if we were open with one another about how we are struggling in our lives, rather than pridefully trying to deal with things on our own or fearfully hide?
- How might this look in our group, and what steps could we take to help make this happen?
Announcement: REVO Baptism Service this Sunday at our North Campus at 11 am! (Located at 7105 Broad St, Rural Hall)
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