Sermon-Based Small Group Lessons
Our Purpose
Les Hughes
December 7, 2008
Beginning
next week… Frazzled: Finding Peace in Turbulent Times,
from the book of Philippians.
Coming soon…
“Make it Personal” Emphasis and building plans revealed in 2009.
Focus
Passage
27"Now my heart is troubled, and what
shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it
was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"
Then a voice came from heaven, "I have
glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said
it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30Jesus
said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31Now is the time for judgment on this world;
now the
prince of this world will be driven out. 32But I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men to myself." 33He said this to show the kind of death he
was going to die.
Outline of Sermon (The Life
Changing Lessons)
This is for the leader’s use. You don’t have to read through
these for the group.
Not
available.
If you had to state it in one sentence, what would
you say is the purpose of Westwood?
1. Les
shared the answer to the opening question as determined by our Equipping
Staff.
Westwood’s
stated mission is “to develop
growing disciples of Jesus Christ.”
This
is based in the great commission:
Matthew
28:19-20
19Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
It
might be helpful to look at the verbs in that verse to see what Christ is
commissioning us to do. What verbs
do you see? What do we learn as a
result of that exercise?
2. To
accomplish the goal of making disciples, Westwood has established four
environments or steps to maturity.
They are as
follows:
Connect
with God (worship and House of Prayer)
Grow
with Believers (small groups)
Serve
in the Church
Live
on Mission
3. The message, the music, the building,
and the things we do are not intended for people who are not yet disciples of
Jesus. For the most part, people
are led to Christ outside of worship even though we celebrate their decisions
in worship. Is this a surprise to
you?
4. Les discussed our small group
strategy and encouraged the church to consider Home Groups for both philosophical
and practical reasons. Can you name
some of the benefits of being in smaller groups of growing believers? (accountability,
participation, intimacy)
5. The model
from the first century is to meet in homes. What benefits are possible from meeting
in homes as opposed to a class room at church? (relaxed
format, time, getting to know people better)
6. Les talked
about the need to focus on reaching the younger generation. What can we do individually to reach
young people and help them grow?
(reach out own kids with living it in front of them, doing daily
devotions, volunteering at church, building relationships with younger people
to encourage them.)
7. Jim Daily, Focus on the Family, said “The
US leads the world in father-less families with roughly 24 million (34%) one
out of three live in homes where the father does not reside, with 40% not
seeing father in last year.”
Stop and have a time of prayer for young people and the struggles they
have.
How can we partner with our
church to help fulfill the purpose of “developing growing disciples of
Jesus Christ?”
Challenge each person to select
one of the things named to commit to do.