Life Group Discussion Guide

This guide is available as a pdf HERE.

Life Group Discussion Guide :: Sunday, April 8, 2012 (JXG)

Sandy Lake Wesleyan :: Pastor Shawn

For U  |  Week 2 (EASTER SUNDAY)

Remember, this Guide is not intended as an exhaustive list of what can be discussed, but is best used as a guide to help your Group process what God is teaching them. Read through the discussion points below and prayerfully consider what the Holy Spirit would have you work through.

 Be sure to pray for, encourage each other, and share the victories God is giving your Group.

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“You might be surprised to know that Easter is not just about Jesus. Seriously. It’s not all about Him. It’s also about...us. It is about you! Easter reminds us that because God loves you, Jesus lived for you, died for you and rose for you. Because He did that for us, we can ultimately live for Him; and that changes everything.”

• What is your initial reaction to this idea? 
• Some of us bristle at this; why do you suppose that is?
• What are some of the dangers of thinking Jesus is not enough ‘about us’? 
• What are some of the symptoms that we have misunderstood this?

As much as Easter is for and about us, it is even more about Jesus and what he has done…just as there are dangers with not seeing the Resurrection enough about us, there are dangers in not seeing Easter as enough about Christ. 

• What are some of those dangers?
• What are symptoms of a lack of balance in this understanding?

“Because of the Resurrection, we can see tomorrow differently.”

• What aspects of our lives does the Resurrection impact directly? 
• How has it already impacted you and your life?
• How can the Resurrection help us look at our ‘tomorrows’ with joy and expectation? 
• What are the ways we might find ourselves looking to our tomorrows with dread? 
• How can we renew our minds to live today (and tomorrow!) in the light of Resurrection?

Shawn reminded us that while Christ lived, died and rose for us, he is also timeless--which means he is the God who was, is, and is to come.

• What are ways that we see God impacting our past? 
• How has he redeemed your ‘yesterdays?”
• If God IS, what does that mean for our present? 
• What is he leading you to do in your ‘today’?
• What are the ways that we struggle to see God’s activity as it relates to our future? 
• How do you sense him leading you into your ‘tomorrows’?

Take time to pray with and for each other based on the things identified above (praise him for what he has done with the iniquity of our past, pray about what he is leading your Group members to do ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow.’

Read Mark 16:1-7; discuss…

• What is significant about the statement, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter” in this passage?
• In what ways have you been the ‘and Peter’ referenced here? Have you ever looked at your ‘tomorrow’ in shame and despair? Where did hope come from (if a Group member hasn’t experienced that hope, take time right now to pray with and for them)?
• “There you will see him, just as he told you.”
• This was a gentle reminder of what they Disciples should already have already known. What are ways that we need the same reminder of what God has done/has promised he will do?
• The announcement of the Resurrection is coupled with a call to obedience. In what ways do you sense God calling you to a new level of obedience as you are reminded of the power & hope of Christ’s Resurrection.”

“To truly be loved is to be fully known for who you are...and loved FOR WHO YOU ARE.” Read Romans 5:8 and discuss the reality of this quote and how Scripture shows God exemplifying this idea.

• We are called to offer the same kind of love, hope, and forgiveness… how does living in the Resurrection enable us to love fully?
• Is it possible to walk in obedience to this outside of the new life brought to us through the Resurrection?

Our reflection question this week is, “How will your tomorrow be different because of what you ‘see’ today?”

Ask your Group members to reflect on this over the course of the next week or so; remind them of the admonition that if the Resurrection does not change our tomorrow, we are only experiencing part of what God has for us. As your Group shares what will be different about their tomorrows, be sure to pray with and for each other.

Encourage (and facilitate) relationships of accountability among your Group members as they journey through the reality of a new tomorrow. If you need help facilitating these relationships, please connect with me.