Repentance: Week 13 (Jan 16-22)
Repentance Practice: Week 13| Week of (Jan 16-22)
Communities @ Grace
Overview of the Night:
15 Minutes Before Start Time : : Arrive + Set Out Food
45 Minutes : Welcome, Pray, Eat, + Mingle
15 Minutes : Review Last Week’s Practice
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion
5 Minutes : Practice for Week Ahead
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Goal for Week: Review how conversion into the family of God changes how we approach life.
15 Minutes Before Start Time : Arrive + Set Out Food
45 Minutes : Welcome, Pray, Eat, + Mingle
If appropriate, consider asking any of these questions during the time sharing a meal:
Have you known someone who expressed interest in becoming a follower of Jesus but never did or said they did and then faded away? How did you deal with it?
15 Minutes : Review of last week’s practice experience
Last week’s practice: (1)acknowledge personal sin and repent and accept God's forgiveness, and (2) if you never accepted Jesus, talk to your leader about joining the family of God.
How did this practice go? What did the Holy Spirit stir/prompt in your heart this past week?
Did this understanding of repentance change your heart and soul in any way?
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion
Last week we examined repentance and how it can and should change our life. Today we will look at what it means to respond to Jesus' love that allows us to change the way we live from the outside to inside.
The passage we are going to discuss talks about four responses to the Gospel of Jesus. Have the group read Matthew 13:3-9 and ask them to try and identify what the four types mean and then after a short discussion read Matthew 13:18-23 and continue the discussion.
A brief explanation follows:
Road: seed remains on the surface of the road where there is no soil and it is walked on and crushed or picked up by birds and by Satan so it is not allowed to grow and instead dies. The seed is never allowed to germinate so it dies and the Gospel seed is never responded to.
Gravel: seed is in a location where there is some dirt, but mostly rocks so the environment for growth is limited. It’s a person who hears the word and responds enthusiastically but when the emotion of the moment fades and difficulty arrives it does not hold up and shows no change.
Weeds: A person hears the message but worrying and wanting what the world has to offer strangles what was heard and as a result there is little or no growth. This could be defined as a secular Christian.
Good Soil: seed lands in good soil and produces an abundant harvest.
Ask these questions during the review when appropriate:
Are each of these people aware of where they are in response to the seed of the Gospel?
Have any of you encountered people in these categories and how did you react to how they responded?
Where are you currently with your life and how do you know where you are?
All of these options require an awareness of sin, an acknowledgement of the offense against God in repentance and accepting God’s forgiveness.
5 Minutes : Practices for Week Ahead
This week's practice is with our conversion experience and how it affects our life.
During the week take time to examine which of these four people you tend to be and then, if needed, confess any sin and seek forgiveness from God.
If you have never accepted the forgiveness of God through what Jesus did on the cross, ask your group leader how to make the decision to join God’s family and follow God’s leading in your life.
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Consider praying as a whole group or in triads for personal prayer requests.
End on time.