LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, January 3, 2007 “Starting Over”
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
When you think of a “new beginning,” what is the period in your life when you felt incredibly blessed to have a chance to start over? As best you can, recall the circumstances going on in your life at the time which marked this as a time in your life when you truly felt you were “starting over”?
Why do we humans need moments in our life when we take personal inventory and determine to pursue a different course of attitudes and actions?
15 Minutes - DIG
Imagine being a Jew in the period of the Babylonian captivity. You’ve long heard the stories and sang songs about what life was like back in Jerusalem, but your hopes for ever returning to your native homeland were grim.
In brief, that was the circumstance of the Jews living in 536 B.C. when the Persian King Cyrus all of the sudden decreed that the Jews would be free to return to Jerusalem. Imagine the joy and celebration of the remnant of 50,000 Jews who went back with Zerubbabel and as they traveled they sang this “Song of Ascents” recorded for us in Psalm 126.
Read this song aloud and feel the celebration!
This psalm reminds us of what should be in our hearts whenever we come to a new beginning:
* A thankful heart (vv. 1-3);
* An abiding prayer for the Lord’s continued blessing (v. 4);
* A faith and confidence that God is capable of taking care of His people (vv. 5-6).
Before engaging in a period where you listen closely for the “heart sounds” of the others in your group, please read together Paul’s words found in Philippians 2:1-5.
We’re here tonight to challenge one another to make this a year that we truly “start over” in our walk with the Lord.
With this in mind, let these words speak to you -
“If you have any encouragement from being united in Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus . . .”(Phil. 2:1-5).
15 Minutes - REFLECT
Starting anew requires knowing where you are. It requires taking time to honestly admit your present condition.
If we’re honest with ourselves tonight, we must admit that we’ve all gone through some spiritual struggles this past year. James said, “We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2).
By its very design, one of the blessings of being in the church is therein we are connected with caring, compassionate, and forgiving people who are there to encourage us when we are weak.
Where are you tonight? Don’t hide a thing. Might this be a time in your life for a new beginning?
Take time in the group tonight to give everyone the opportunity to share with the goal of using this time to grow closer together and more in tune with one another.
Read Psalm 126 a second time before having a closing prayer time. What is the center-piece of this song?
“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
After this period of sharing, spend significant time praying over the concerns and dreams voiced during the meeting and submit all of this to the same Heavenly Father who brought a remnant of 50,000 Jews back to Jerusalem.
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