New Heavens and Earth | Isaiah 65:17-25

Discussion Questions: 

  1. Do you struggle to believe that God will forever rejoice and be glad in you?

  2. How does God’s word describing the New Heavens and New Earth compete against or complement your earthly desires? 

  3. In what areas of life do you reject the hope that God offers? 

  4. Discuss ways you can grow in Godly imagination. 

Prayer Points: 

  • Repent of the ways you seek to build your own kingdom that competes against the kingdom of God. 

  • Pray for the people of our church to be filled with the hope God provides through his promises.

  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to help and spur you in excitement to share the gospel message.

Longing & Lament | Isaiah 63:15-64:12

Discussion Questions

  1. How did your family of origin handle difficulty and pain? Was lament or longing ever a part?

  2. How have churches you’ve been a part of handled sin, pain and brokenness? Were lament or longing a part?

  3. How about you personally? How do you deal with sin, pain and  loss in your life or in the lives of those around you? Are you more likely to ignore it, get deeply depressed, get angry or what?

  4. How could you grow in lament and longing personally?

  5. How could this community group grow in lament and longing together?

  6. How might lament and longing open us up to the sin and pain of those around us who do not know Jesus? 

Prayer Points

Prayers of Lament

  • Lament sin in your own life and how it has affected others around you

  • Lament sin in the life of your community, church, city, state or nationLament pain, loss, brokenness in you or your family's life

Prayers of Longing

  • Pray the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-15 emphasizing longing for God’s presence & kingdom

  • Long for God’s presence in the life of your family, neighborhood, city, state or nation

  • Long for more people to know Him

Pray that as you grow in lament and longing that it will open your heart to others around you who need God’s love.

God's Powerful Word | Isaiah 55:1-13

Prayer Points

  • Pray that God would give you insight into any potential false breads you’re running to for life besides him. Confess these false breads to the Lord and ask him to show you what it looks like practically to come to his life-giving Word instead.

  • Pray that God might give you an opportunity to share with someone outside the church how you’ve found deep satisfaction in him. 

Discussion Questions

  • When you think of “The Word of God”, what comes to your mind?

  • When you aren’t looking to God to satisfy your deepest longings, where do you tend to run instead? 

  • Have you ever experienced the pardon of God for your sins? If so, share what that moment was like. If not, what’s keeping you from coming to him for forgiveness?

  • Share about a recent time when the love of God for you specifically brought peace and joy?

  • How should our final hope in the new heavens and earth change how we live today?

  • What has it looked for you in this season to “come feast on the life-giving Word”? Are there any new habits or rhythms you want to integrate in your life to help you experience the life God offers us through his Word?

The Suffering Servant | Isaiah 53:1-12

Prayer Points

  1. Ask that God would open our eyes to the sins that we need Jesus to take and cleanse us from.

  2. Intercede for those who either have not heard, understood, or believed in the powerful truth of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice.

  3. Ask that God would send us to the world with this message.

Discussion Questions

  1. When did you first understand the depth of your sinful rebellion against God?

  2. Describe your understanding of God’s wrath and judgment against sin and sinners.

  3. What role should fear of wrath play in someone’s faith journey?

  4. Have you turned to Jesus as your only hope for forgiveness? Describe what that experience was like.

  5. Who do you know who either have not heard, understood, or believed in the powerful truth of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice?

  6. How can we join God in taking the message of Jesus to others?

A Global Ruler | Isaiah 9:1-7

Discussion Questions

  1. What was the gloom & darkness Isaiah prophesied and what did that mean for God’s people?

  2. How similar or dissimilar is the joy in this passage compared with your own life? 

  3. Have the four titles of Jesus from this passage changed the way you think about him? If so, how?

  4. What comfort can we take as a church in being a part of Jesus's Kingdom?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that we would be swept up in the grand reality that Jesus rules all things and put our hope in him above any earthly figure.

  2. Pray that the truth of being citizens of Jesus’s eternal kingdom would give us encouragement and boldness to share his good news.

Idle Busybodies | 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Discussion Questions 

  1. How does Paul’s instruction to keep away from idle/disorderly believers strike you?

  2. Are there any relationships this passage brings to mind you need to address?

  3. Do you have anyone in your life who is imitating you to follow Christ? Who? If not, is there someone you can start discipling? 

  4. Are there any ways in which you have obligated yourself to others and need to become independent to be a healthy Christian? 

Prayer Points 

  1. Pray that God would mature us as a church so that we are more concerned about what God desires than what the world says. 

  2. Pray that we wouldn’t get entangled in worldly concerns but be obedient to Christ.

Evil People and the Evil One | 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

Discussion Questions

  1. Are you experiencing any persecution or hardship for believing in Jesus?

  2. What are your first prayers in hardship? How does this passage change your approach?

  3. How do the realities of the Devil and God’s faithfulness reframe your daily difficulties?

  4. What does it mean for the Lord to “direct our hearts” to his love and Christ’s endurance?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that God would awaken our church to experience a powerful movement of prayer that would change our region for God’s glory.

  2. Pray that our church would endure as faithful witnesses of Jesus to evil people and God would rescue them from the Devil.

How Long Will Your Suffering Last? | 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12

Discussion Questions

  1. What is a story of the persecution of believers that has made an impression on you?

  2. How does learning about the persecuted Church change your perspective on what it means to follow Jesus?

  3. How is it comforting to know that God will bring ultimate justice and judgment on those who do evil to others?

  4. When has your faith in the justice of God been tested nearly to breaking?

  5. How can you prepare for suffering, even suffering because of persecution?

  6. In what ways have you sought to put Jesus at the highest place in your heart and life?

  7. Who is someone you know now who needs to be encouraged and served because they are suffering?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray for the persecuted Church around the world. Some of the greatest persecution is happening in North Korea, India, Northern Africa, China and Middle Eastern countries.

  2. Pray for the believers in your life or in the church who you know are facing suffering of various kinds.

    • Pray that God would send them relief.

    • Pray that God would sustain their faith.

    • Pray that they will persevere until Christ returns.

  3. Pray for your own heart and those of your family, that God will help you put Christ as the highest source of joy, satisfaction, and hope. Then you will be prepared to face persecution or suffering.

  4. Pray that our church will grow in peace or persecution and that we as believers will grow whether we suffer or live in safety.

A Set Apart Lifestyle | 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Discussion Questions

1. What are some ways that you can honor your church leaders?

2. Do you have people in your life that can admonish you? Do you need to admonish a brother or sister but have been avoiding it?

3. What would our church look like if we consistently had the attitudes of rejoicing, prayer, and thanksgiving. What is in place of that in your life?

4. What comfort should we gain from Paul’s concluding blessing in 1 Thessalonians?

Prayer Points

1. Pray that God would lead us by His Spirit to encourage each other according to his Word.

2. Pray that God would give us wisdom to know when the person we are talking with needs a warning, comfort, or help.

Wake Up Sleepyhead | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways are you tempted to sleepwalk through life? How do the regional idols of comfort and convenience negatively impact you?

2. How can we cultivate an even bigger view of Jesus’ salvation beyond just “forgiveness of sin”? How is salvation an invitation to live awake and alive with God?

3. Compare and contrast the armor of God listed here in 1 Thessalonians 4 with the list in Ephesians 6. Why is armor a related metaphor for being alert and awake?

4. How can we as a church be effective in reaching people in our region who can be so asleep and numb to the love of God?

Prayer Points

1. Pray that God would purge our hearts of any sleepiness, numbness, drunkenness, or anything that prevents us from living fully alive and present with God.

2. Pray that God would use us to reach the lost and sleepy in our region.

The Day of Christ’s Return | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Discussion Questions

  1. What has your experience been with the subject of the end times: fear, ignorance, confusion, or something else?

  2. Why is the return of Jesus an important part of the overall gospel message? Why do you think that we sometimes forget to include it?

  3. How does the gospel free us from fear of death? How does this freedom affect how we live our daily lives? How does it affect the way we relate to non-Christians?

  4. What practical steps can we take to help one another grow in endurance as we follow Jesus?

Prayer Points

1. Pray for Jesus to return soon.

2. Pray for urgency in all our hearts for sharing the good news of Jesus.

3. Pray for faithfulness, endurance, patience, and peace in the hearts of Christians everywhere as we face hardships, opposition, and challenges to our faith.

For Further Study

1. The Rapture Question essay on TGC by Alan S. Bandy

2. Is the Rapture Taught in the Bible? blog post by Erik Reed

3. What is the Rapture? short podcast from John Piper

A Quiet Life of Love | 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Discussion Questions

1. What types of “work” have you really enjoyed in your life? How is that work a reflection of God’s good design for work?

2. How can we live in the tension of “not being dependent on others” while also cultivating a culture where we “bear one another’s burdens”? What happens if we go to one ditch or the other?

3. How does the earthly life and ministry of Jesus serve as the perfect example for our hard work? How is Jesus working for us still today as our high priest?

4. What does it mean that Jesus is working through us? How does this truth help avoid the trap of working to “earn” God’s love or acceptance?

Prayer Points

1. Pray that God would help us as individuals to have inspiration for our work as worship.

2. Pray that we would truly love the church family through our quiet, hard work.

3. Pray for God to make himself known to outsiders through our quiet, hard work.