Walker to Walker
Relationship Goals, Pt. 5
Every time we gather as a group, these are some ways we ensure the best group discussion:
We make the circle safe by staying honest and transparent - leave the masks at the door.
We keep it inside the circle. Each person’s story is theirs alone to share.
We look to the Bible for wisdom and truth, and work together to let it shape how we see the world.
We don’t try to fix each other in front of each other or give unsolicited advice. We lovingly save hard conversations for private moments.
We respect each others’ time by starting and ending when we say we will.
We believe that in Jesus Christ, there is hope for everyone.
James 4:14 (NLT)
…for your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
Psalm 90:12 (LB)
Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.
Ecclesiastes 12:1-5 (NIV)
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them"… before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself alone and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
God is SO faithful.
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Numbers 23:19 (NIV)
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
“To trust is to be convinced of the reliability of God.”
Brennan Manning
Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
Start with M.U.D.
Memorable + Understandable + Doable
What was the most memorable part of the message or service this weekend for you personally? Why?
Did anything you heard challenge or influence how you think about God or your life?
How can what you learned influence or change how you live in everyday life? What tangible steps would it take to make that change a reality?
Additional Questions
What modes of transportation have defined or illustrated the different stages of your life so far?
Our lives are always complex mixtures of joy and pain, but often we remember past seasons of life by more singular moments and emotions.
How do you remember the stages of your life? Which ones are predominantly positive or negative?
What about the seasons that are still ahead of you - how do you feel about growing older and leaving your current season behind?
Life is SO short. James 4:14 says “…for your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” And Psalm 90:12 says “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”
How do our cultural values and norms stack up against this wisdom from the Bible?
When you think of yourself as the morning fog and about how few days you have, how does it make you feel?
How do we appropriately respond to this reality of our fleeting lives? What does it look like to “spend them as we should?”
Ecclesiastes 12:1-5 says “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them.”
There always seem to be reasons to “forget our Creator”, no matter what season of life we’re in. What things in your life make it hard to stay devoted to following Jesus closely and living more like him?
What could you do to change or address just one of those things right now, knowing that our days are numbered?
Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise,” and Brennan Manning defines that trust as being “convinced of the reliability of God.”
Have you ever felt like God didn’t keep one of his promises in your life? How did you/do you deal with the struggle to search for God’s faithfulness in those hard times?
How have you seen God be faithful to you in the past? Were you able to see it at the time, or was it only later on that you could look back and see it?
What could change about your current stage, or what could be different about your next stage if you were able to trust God’s faithfulness more than you do today?
