SMALL GROUPS STUDY GUIDE Fall 2016
The Movement of God s People Movement is a concept that defies simple definitions and categories. The following questions are helpful to begin framing a discussion about the church and movement. What does Scripture teach about movement? What are the common characteristics of movement in the Bible? Are there important vehicles for movement to which God calls us to engage? What would our lives and our church look like if God was creating a movement among us? We trust that wrestling with these questions as we study movement from different angles in Scripture will yield clarity on how Jesus is moving in our midst. A short introductory video by Travis Simone, our Lead Pastor, about our current Small Group Bible Study can be located on the Small Group Leader resource page: wcchapel.org/sgresources In honor of the Chapel s 40th anniversary, we will begin the year studying the 40 day and 40 year journeys we read in Scripture. These stories will help us process our own spiritual journeys. They will shed light on our collective journey as a family of faith. They will provide examples of the movement of God s people. They will help us see how God s people can participate in God s movement. Finally, they will help us mine for movement dynamics as we continue to embrace the movement God began at the Chapel 40 years ago. In the fall of 1976, God moved in the lives of two couples to launch the Williamsburg Community Fellowship that would become the Chapel. The church met in a small home and the children s ministry was in a neighboring house. Preaching was shared among founders and every Sunday the church was set-up and broken-down. They sought to focus on the essentials of the historic Christian faith irrespective of denominational differences. It was clear all who attended were to bring the shape of the Gospel wherever they found themselves that coming week - in work, in rest, conversation and deed. As a Chapel family, we now face the decision to either institutionalize our heritage and methods or refresh our embrace of the movement Jesus began in a living room 40 years ago. How will God move through your small group as you travel through these various 40 day and 40 year journeys of God s people?
September 25: 40 Days and The Spies Numbers 13:1-31 Additional Reading: Deuteronomy 1:1-8 God was going to war, but first a reconnaissance mission was initiated. For forty days, twelve leaders from each tribe went up to spy out the land of Canaan. They were instructed to do a careful accounting of the land and return with the choicest fruit of the land. Yet when they returned to report their findings, they spread fear and panic about the size and might of people of the land despite Caleb s faith. Where might you or your group be tempted to flight instead of fight? 1. Have you ever been in a situation where the faith to which you were called was being choked out by fear? 2. What is it about seeing something with your eyes that can override what you know? (think magic tricks/illusions) 3. God has been with His people in powerful ways until now why would He leave them defenseless? What does this fear come from? 4. How can the Israelites seeing the giants of the land or feeling like grasshoppers be compared to everyday life? 5. Why did God want Moses to send one spy or representative from each of the tribes of Israel? How might this kind of representation impact trust? 6. Why might Moses have asked the spies to bring choice fruit from the land to show the people? 7. When do you tend to forget the promises that God has made to you through His Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:6; Romans 8:1, 11, 37)? 8. Caleb showed faith in the midst of all the fear, yet he was unsuccessful in changing the tide. How might God view the faith of Caleb? 9. Are you afraid of the challenges that you face (like the spies), or do you boldly confront those challenges, knowing that God is with you? What challenges are you facing right now? How can you respond with courage rather than fear? See I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them and to their offspring after them. DEUTERONOMY 1:8
October 2: 40 Years and Rueben and Gad Numbers 32:1-23 Additional Reading: Joshua 22 After the sinfulness of the spies and 40 years in the wilderness, God was ready to lead his people into battle. Again the sinfulness of His people cropped up in Rueben and Gad, but this time Moses was able to rebuke them. Moses promised God s vengeance upon them if they did not fight for the rest of their brothers inheritance. In what ways do we live in a culture that is more like Rueben/Gad s than Moses mindset? 1. Describe a time when you or your family have learned a difficult lesson from the past and have been able to apply it to the present. 2. What is the motivation for Rueben & Gad s proposal? How do you see this natural human trait play out in the Church? 3. What are the reasons for Moses counter to them? 4. Why was their oath to fight for their brothers such a sacrifice? What did it entail? 5. What might Moses have to say to the Church today? 6. How was God working through Moses to reach the people of Rueben and Gad? 7. Share what it means to you to live sacrificially. 8. How does communion act as a symbol to you in how we are to live out our lives for one another? 9. God s people were commanded to look out for the needs of the whole. How can your group practice this in our me first culture? But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Rueben, Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? NUMBERS 32:6
October 9: 40 Days and David 1 Samuel 17:1-23 Additional Reading: 1 Samuel 17: 24-18:5 For forty days Goliath stood before the people of Israel and taunted them. Goliath was huge. Goliath was a monster. The Israelite army shrank back in fear. If only one would stand against the mighty Goliath, then there would be no war. But not one soldier came forward. Not one! Only David. Sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers and check on their well being, it was only David, a meek and small shepherd boy, who would dare stand against Goliath. From where did David draw his strength? What did he know that the others did not? What did he believe that the others did not? In times of great adversity and fear, how do you respond? 1. What is the setting of this great encounter between David and Goliath? 2. What are the Philistines like? What could they represent today? 3. As Israel s king, Saul was responsible for accepting the challenge from Goliath. But Saul did not. Besides losing his life, what do you think Saul was afraid of? 4. Was it reckless of Saul to send David out into battle? 5. What moved David to make a stand against Goliath when no one else would? (1 Samuel 17:26, 1 Samuel 17:34-37) 6. What strikes you about David s response to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17: 41-47? 7. What is David s hope for the outcome? How would David define success? 8. Davis was anointed to face Goliath. What job has Jesus anointed us for? What are some of the obstacles we face in our lives today? 9. What is the scariest thing that you think Jesus is asking you to do? (evangelize, apologize, confess, love a difficult person, serve outside of your gifts, give something up, etc.) 10. What is true about the Holy Spirit in our lives? What promises do we receive about the Holy Spirit in our lives? Are you living bravely like David? Are you confident that God s Spirit is with you? How can we be sure that the Holy Spirit is with us? 11. Pray. Ask God to reveal to you a Goliath in your life that you need to stop avoiding. You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 1 SAMUEL 17: 45
October 16: 40 Days and Elijah 1 Kings 19:1-21 Additional Reading:1 Kings 16:29-18:46, Exodus 19:16-20 Elijah ran from his pursuers, Jezebel and Ahab, who were threatening his life for defeating their prophets of Baal. He went a long distance to run from man even though he was a faithful servant of the Lord. He was tired and depleted. God gave him rest and nourishment, and he went for forty days in the strength of the Lord. What happens when you feel burned out? Have you experienced that in times of serving others? 1. Read 1 Kings 17. Describe Elijah s obedience to the Lord. What events take place in this chapter? 2. Why are Jezebel and Ahab pursuing Elijah? (Read 1 Kings 18 for clarification) 3. What is Elijah feeling when he is in the desert? How does this differ from what we read in Chapter 17? 4. How does God come to Elijah s aid? 5. Read 1 Kings 19: 9-13. How did God reveal himself to Elijah? 6. Read Exodus 19:16-20, the first time God showed up at Mount Horeb. What is different? What names of God come to mind? 7. What does this say about God? In what ways has God revealed Himself to you? 8. Read 1 Kings 18: 21. How can you apply this to your own life? 9. Read Exodus 19: 16-20, how is God portrayed in this passage? What are some names of God that come to mind? 10. What happens in 1 Kings 19:15-21? Is God doing something new in your life? And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 1 KINGS 19:11b-12
October 23: 40 Days and Jonah Jonah 1-4 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. This time he obeyed and went to the Ninevites to warn them to repent of their evil ways. The people listened and responded immediately. God provided them with grace and mercy. This was not the reaction Jonah expected. He thought the Ninevites deserved harsher treatment. But, God showed Himself to be compassionate. How have you experienced grace and mercy in your own life? 1. Share a time when you disobeyed someone as a child. What were the consequences? Did you repent? 2. Jonah was sent with a message for the Ninevites. What was their response, and what did they do? Consider what this scenario might look like today. How would this message be received? 3. What did Jonah think of God s reaction to the people of Nineveh? Why did he have a hard time with it? 4. Compare the Ninevites with the Israelites of this time. How did they differ from one another? 5. Why was Jonah s reaction so extreme? Can you relate to this reaction to anything in your own life? Or have you witnessed this in our culture? 6. What did God communicate to Jonah through the plant? What was the life lesson here? 7. In what ways are you challenged by this story to care for people groups that you might typically dismiss? You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle? JONAH 4:10-11
October 30: 40 Days and Jesus Acts 1:1-11 Additional Reading: Luke 24:44-53, Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus had finished his work as a man. He had died at the hands of His people, been resurrected in the body to many witnesses, and now would ascend to heaven to sit at the right hand of God almighty. Yet before He left, He gave a promise of power through the Holy Spirit His spirit who would come upon them to enable them to be His witnesses throughout the world. How has God empowered each of you to be His witnesses? 1. Why did Luke say he wrote the book of Acts? 2. What is baptism with the Holy Spirit (1:5)? Do we experience this same baptism with the Holy Spirit today? 3. How might the disciples have felt watching their leader and their Lord ascend into heaven? 4. Jesus appearances to His disciples after resurrection were full of promises about the future. Why do you think that is? In what ways do we still live with hope in his promises? Are there ways your hope is in something else? 5. Read Matt 28:16-20. We are called to make disciples. What does that mean to you, and when have you experienced this personally? (Either when you have been discipled or have had the opportunity to disciple someone.) 6. How does being a witness for Jesus require His power in the Spirit? What is the difference between sharing faith in the Spirit and sharing faith in your own power? 7. Where and how does talking about faith come into play when making disciples. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. ACTS 1:8
November 6: Commitment Sunday Ephesians 5:18-32 We have just celebrated the 40th anniversary of this family of faith. God has moved mightily as the community has grown, and His name has been lifted up. Yet there is much more work to be done. Has suffering in the Williamsburg community ceased? Have all been invited to get to know the one who gave everything for them? 1. What has been your greatest take away from the study that we just completed? 2. Read the third paragraph in the introduction of the study out loud. How do we embrace our past and also move forward as a church? 3. Where is God stirring your group to commit to playing a role in His redemptive work? 4. How often do you invite someone to church? Why do so many people feel uncomfortable with the role of sharing the Gospel? 5. Where are you sensing God calling you to serve the church or community? Will you commit to praying about it as a group? 6. What is your group s next steps? For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. EPHESIANS 5:29-30
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