ENGAGE INSPIRE EQUIP

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Life Group Sermon Study

Jesus Was Born for This December 21-22, 2013

Break the Ice:

ENGAGE

(A key part of healthy group life is to make sure your group gets to know each other and builds good relationships. The purpose of these first questions is to help your group open up. Please don’t feel like you have to ask each question. Once you feel like the group is ready, move onto the “Inspire” section.)

• What are some of your favorite childhood memories from Christmas time? What traditions have you kept from childhood? • What did God teach you during the message this weekend? Did anything in particular stand out? Prayer: Questions:

IN SP IRE

(Each question has a lot to unpack. Since the group may need time to process each question, don’t let silence scare you. Try to avoid filling the space with unnecessary explanation or moving on from the question too quickly.)

1. Hebrews 12 is often referred to as the “Heroes of the Faith” chapter. Do you have someone in your life that has been a “hero of faith” for you? Who is he/she and what makes him/her a hero to you? • If you don’t have someone that comes to mind as a hero, have you thought about what that could look like for you to be a hero for someone else? What did God teach you during the message this weekend? Did anything in particular stand out? 2. Read Hebrews 12:1-2. Aaron described things that hinder as not necessarily being sinful, but sometimes being just extra weight you carry around that slows down your maturity in Christ. • Share with your group—past or present—areas in your life that weigh down your maturing in Christ. • How do you think unrepentant sin blocks us from full maturity? Read 1 John 1:9. • Do you think it’s hard to confess your sin? What makes it hard? • How does confession help you in your walk with Jesus?

3. In Hebrews 12:1, we read, “Let us run with endurance the race that is before us.” Aaron said this past weekend that the way we handle life’s difficulties depends on where we focus. • What does it look like for a follower to run with endurance and focus on Jesus, especially in life’s difficulties? • Look up the following verses as a group and discuss what you think it means to really run with endurance: Isaiah 40:31; Micah 6:8; Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:15 4. This past weekend, Aaron said, “The biblical response to consequence is repentance. The biblical response to discipline is endurance.” Read Hebrews 12:11. • Did your view of discipline change at all from this weekend’s message? If so, how? • How does your character deepen after going through a season of discipline?

Application:

EQUIP

(These questions will challenge your group members to apply the study to their daily lives. How can they live out what they take in? It is highly important that you go over this section with your group each week for the group study to be a success.)

This past weekend, Aaron asked us to evaluate whether or not we’ve been growing with these questions… • Is my perspective broad enough? • Am I carrying any unnecessary weight? • Am I nurturing any private sin? • Where is my focus? Identify a question you want to deal with this week, and share it with the group. Share with one person who can hold you accountable to dealing with this question.

Life Group Sermon Study

Jesus Was Born for This December 21-22, 2013

EQUIP Prayer: Take some time to pray over each group member’s identified action steps and life issues. Equip Your Mind: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)