Life Group Discussion Guide

This Guide is available for download as a PDF here.

Life Group Discussion Guide :: Sunday, May 13, 2012 (JXG)

Sandy Lake Wesleyan :: Pastor Shawn

Rescued to Rescue  |  Week 2 

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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Ask each Group member to briefly share what they are celebrating today. Take time together praise God for what he has done and continues to do in the lives of your Group members.

As part of our Mothers’ Day celebration, we showed a video about a ministry in India SLW is supporting to reach those far from God and to bring hope and wholeness to women; take time to thank God for the biological and spiritual mothers he has placed in your life. Ask Him to use the ministry of Concern & Care to bring rescue and hope to the women in Nagar.

We were reminded of our opportunity to participate in Faith Promise giving--pray for each other that God would show you what he would have you believe Him for as you give. Be sure to follow up with your Group members about what God has led them to trust him for; encourage them to continue acting in obedience to this.

At the beginning of the message, Pastor Shawn asked us to imagine ourselves tossed in the ocean, barely treading water, in need of rescue when someone tosses us a rescue ring.

• What are ways that you’ve felt you were ‘treading water and about to go under’ recently? Take time to pray about these things as a Group; how can your Group members be part of seeing this rescue take place?
• What ways did you feel this way in the past? What did rescue look like?
• How might God use your experience of needing rescue to show others the way to rescue in their lives/circumstances?

We were also asked to imagine that we were safe in the boat following the rescue we received...but unconcerned with others in the water who are also drowning; ignoring the cries for the help and rescue we received.

• What are ways this often happens in us and in churches after we’ve experienced the rescue of Jesus?
• What can we do to be more aware of the need for rescue all around us?

Read Colossians 1:9-14; discuss...

• Paul is writing to a people he never met in a city he had never visited. How is this a reminder of our call to ‘Live SENT’ and the reality that, in Christ, we are part of one Body which transcends geography, relationship, denomination, and other common bond? 
• How does this change the way we view/interact with those not a part of our particular local church?
  
• How is knowing the will of God central to pleasing God, and ultimately having endurance, patience, and joy? 
• If we find ourselves without joy, patience, and endurance, how is this a symptom that we have not known and lived out the will of God?
• How does not living in God’s power, bearing fruit, or growing in knowledge of who God is keep us from knowing God’s will? How does this keep us from knowing endurance, patience, and joy?
• Based on this, ask God to examine your heart and life, showing you where you’re lacking in what he desires for you. Where in the process of Knowing God’s will --> Endurance, Patience, Joy is the breakdown for you?
  

There are two things we can’t do in Heaven that we can do here on earth: sin and rescue. 

• Why is this important to recognize?
• Why would God allow us to remain where sin is so prevalent?
• How does this show us the need to live blamelessly while actively engaged in rescue?
• How does this show the primacy of our call to be rescuers?
  

“We expose the value we give in the sacrifice we’re willing to make.”

• How does this principle show us how valuable we are to God?
• What about how valuable those who are far from God right now?
• How does this change the way we interact with those far from God?
• What happens when we expect people to live according to Christ’s Kingdom when they haven’t yet experienced his rescue and new life?

In order for us to participate in the Rescue God calls us to, we will be called to sacrifice. What kinds of sacrifice come to mind when you consider this?

• How does the great cost of our rescue by Jesus make it valuable and meaningful? What does this mean for how we step into seeing others rescued?

“Rescue requires us to change first...evangelism focuses on someone else changing.”

• How does God use change in us to see others brought to rescue?
• What are ways we are found more to be ‘telling’ others about their need for change than we are found participating in their rescue?
• How is this seen in our personal relationships with those who haven’t experienced rescue?
• How is this seen in the global Church’s approach to issues of justice and society?

We were reminded that not participating in rescue runs counter to the heart and purpose of God; in other words, refusing to participate in rescue puts us at odds with God’s purposes and desires--pursuing our own comfort at the expense of rescue is sin.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to search and know your hearts in this
• If He brings conviction, take some time as a Group to pray, repent, and step into a new reality of living as those rescued to rescue.
• If your members sense they are living this out, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it means to grow in his call to rescue; ask Him to show you what it looks like to continue exalting Him as the King of your own lives.

In terms of our own rescue, we are either in the water, on the line, or in the boat.

• If we’re in the water, our call is to receive the rescue of Jesus and sacrifice our life as it has been.
• If we’re on the line, our call is sacrifice our will to His and give Him control
• If we’re in the boat, our call is to a sacrifice of preference, time, talent and treasure.

Ask your Group members where they identified themselves in this analogy; take time to pray for each other as you step into the sacrifices God is calling you to.

During last week’s worship gathering, we were asked, “What will you do to rescue someone.” What were the answers/responses your Group members had to this question? What will it look like for them to continually be in a place where this can happen?

This week. we were asked to reflect on the following question:

“What are you willing to sacrifice to bring about rescue?”

During your Group gathering, take time to reflect on and answer this question. Ask your Group members what God brought to mind. Ask this question as it relates to you functioning in your Group as a whole--what is your Group willing to sacrifice to bring about rescue?

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What are the natural opportunities to connect with your Group members as they process and answer these questions during the weeks ahead? In what ways can you tackle these things as a Group or through smaller relational connections in your Group? Be sure to follow up in your future meetings to see how God is working among your members.