Connect20-25 minutes
Connect with your group about life this past week and then discuss the following questions.
- What have you seen that supports the idea that God is up to something in our world today?
- If you had to recite some of the wonderful deeds the Lord has done for you, what would you say?
- What is something you need to distrust yourself with so you can trust God with it?
Also take time to reflect on your action steps last week:
- Talk through the Bible reflection exercise. What stood out to you?
Learn5-7 minutes
You will watch a short clip of the message from this series to set up your group discussion. The full version of the message is also available
online to reference before or after your group meeting.
Discuss20-30 minutes
- How does it make you feel to know that God often grieves when you suffer consequences for your own actions? What does this say about our God?
- There is still a spiritual war happening in our world today, a battle between light and dark. Where do you think we see this even in 2025?
- Have you ever experienced a time where you were pleading with God? You don’t have to give the specifics of the situation, but what happened in you before that pleading took place?
- Engage in Lectio Divina with Psalm 121. Lectio Divina is an ancient practice of reading and reflecting on a passage of scripture. Here's what you do:
- Gather three different translations of Psalm 121 (could be NIV, NLT, ESV, The Message, etc). If your group doesn't have three different physical Bible translations, use a Bible app.
- Choose someone to read Psalm 121.
- All group members silently journal for one minute. What words or phrases stood out to you?
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 with a different reader and a different translation until you've read all three translations.
- Group members share your reflections about the reading. Discuss which words/phrases stuck out to you, the way you felt connected to the text, or how God was speaking to you.
Pray10-15 minutes
Ask for prayer requests and then you may opt to pray the following prayer.
Lord, thank You for being the Master storyteller. As we see just how You have woven the story of Your Son together since the beginning of time, we can’t help but be reminded that you are also weaving our story together. Thank You for caring so much about each and every one of us that You take the time to carefully stitch the tapestry of our lives together. Thank you for loving us with the kind of love that groans when we hurt and delights in our joy. Thank you for being the Father that we need, not the one who grants wishes, but the one we wish to praise. Please help us as we go throughout our daily lives to keep fighting against the dark. Give us Your power and strength to stand up to the lies and attacks of the evil one. And please keep standing in for us as the good shepherd, protecting us at every turn. Go with us now and help us face whatever comes our way.
In Your glorious and majestic Name,
Amen
Action Steps5-10 minutes
Between now and next week, here are some suggestions for action steps.
Attend the Weekend Service: Note any takeaways, next steps, or reflections in your Peak Experiences notebook. These will help you prepare to participate in your small group, and your small group will benefit from your insights and questions as you learn together.
Other Practical Action Steps: Select one of these practical steps to commit to this week and bring your reflections with you next week.
- Pray for your group: There are a number of ways that we can be intentional for each other in prayer this week. Here are a few ideas:
- The group leader can send an email with all the prayer requests discussed during group for everyone to pray over throughout the week.
- Each person can write down their prayer request on a notecard and group members can exchange to spend extra time praying for one person.
- Match up in prayer partners in the group, plan to pray for each other this week, and even text once to check in.
- Reflection & Personal Prayer Writing: Read the following passages. Reflect on what they are teaching us about God's help. How does it speak to our spiritual, emotional, and physical needs?
After reflecting on these verses, think about a time you felt God watching over your life. When and how? How do you need God's help these days? Then, write your own prayer.