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Happy Week 2 of Advent!
We are walking through our new series Light of the World! Pastor Josh takes some time to talk more about Jesus being our light of the world and these main points:
- the light of Jesus reveals the delight of God and who He chooses.
- the light of Jesus clarifies the servant’s posture of anticipation.
COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE:
STEP 1- Ice Breaker
Help people to loosen up and share. It will be helpful if someone is new to go around and do names and have each person share about a question and share a bit about themselves. CLICK HERE for ice breaker questions ideas.
Scriptures from Sunday: John 1:5, Luke 1:26-28
STEP 2- Take Time For Learning through Observation, Reflection & Discussion
(Group Leader Note: These are set questions meant to spur conversation. It may be helpful to watch/listen to the message together if people did not have a chance to listen on their own time.)
Read through the main scriptures together from Sunday’s message: John 1:5, Luke 1:26-28
John 1:5: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Luke 1: 26-28: In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
- What stuck out to you as meaningful, confusing, impactful and/or important?
- What might this message and portion of scripture relate to in your life or our cultural moment?
STEP 3- Take Time To Process
- Is anyone willing to share some thoughts, questions or curiosities about what you sense God speaking to you about through the message and scripture?
- Is there a need for deeper reflection or observation? What might be some ways to dig deeper, if necessary?
STEP 4- Work Towards Application
- What area of life is God working in through this? (Inner, Outer & Other Life Map)
- What might God be asking of me in this? What is my response?
- What might be a practical application or action step to take over this next week?
STEP 5- Prayer
Please don’t skip prayer!! Cut the discussion short if needed to pray for one another. Try one of these options, don’t be afraid to mix it up.
- Have people split into groups of 2-3 to share prayer needs and pray for each other.
- Share requests as a group and pray for one another. Assign requests to people that are comfortable with praying and go around the circle praying for each others needs.
- Meditation with silence and stillness- A short scripture, word or phrase to focus your group. A time of silence and stillness, set a timer for 5 minutes if you want. Close the time with a prayer for your group.
- Develop someone in your group as the Prayer Coordinator. Have them write down prayer needs, ask them to pray for those needs during the week, have them send a list to the group to keep in prayer, go through the list regularly to celebrate answered prayers and check off or add on prayers.