Small Group Guide
HOW GOD MAKES GOOD ON HIS GREAT COMMISSION PROMISE
The Church at Brook Hills Matt Mason September 11, 2016 Acts 16
MAIN TRUTH
Message Summary
Author and counselor Ed Welch often uses three categories for describing life: the good, the bad and the hard. Acts 16 can be read as a road trip journal full of demons, mobs, beatings, prison, visions, miracles, earthquakes and conversions. In short, it has everything: the good, the bad, and the hard. What the passage makes abundantly clear, however, is that God is at work in and through everything written in that road trip journal. Through Acts 16, we see four contexts in which God demonstrates His faithfulness to His people and makes good on His Great Commission promise.
Through friendship (vv. 1-5), He connects gospel companions who are called to go on mission together. This can be done through bringing people together through “divine appointments” or even through using separation to advance the gospel. One of the main takeaways here is that we are not meant to live the Christian life alone or engage the Christian mission alone.
Through leadership (vv. 6-10), we see God guiding the work in directing Paul and Silas where to go and where not to go. Although at times it may seem like He is messing with our “perfect plans” of obedience, this passages shows us that He has bigger plans and bigger ideas. We plan, but God directs. He can modify, stall, or redirect our plans. Here, we learn something about the vital need to submit our plans to Him.
Through lordship (vv. 11-18), He opens hearts through displays of His overt power and covert power. “There isn’t a more glorious way that Jesus keeps His Great Commission promise to be with us than when He saves sinners through the proclamation of the gospel.”
Through hardship (vv. 19-40), He sustains His people. Although we find Paul and Silas in a place of absolute pain, the sound we hear from them is a worship service! “We sometimes think: this is hard, I must be doing something wrong. But often, the opposite is true.”
In summary, a life on mission will be hard, but God provides friends for the journey. He will lead the way, He will open hearts, and Jesus will be faithful to His promises.
WHY IT MATTERS
Digging Deeper
When interacting with a passage like Acts 16, we can often feel distant from its implications because we do not often experience demons, mobs, visions, or earthquake-induced conversions. As you seek to shape your small group time and discussion, keep in mind that not only do we see God at work all throughout this passage in various circumstances, He truly does make it personal. We are not just reading about fantastical stories with a moral punch line. We are reading of real people living real life in God’s real mission. These were real friendships that were made over miles and miles of journeys, real breakups and rifts, real beatings, and real life changing conversions. Included below are ideas of how to make this come alive for your group, but as the leader, do what is best for your group. Some groups will be more encouraged by sharing and thinking through personal experiences, whereas others may be more encouraged by spending a majority of the time in prayer.
Open by asking the group where they have been on a mission trip. What did they experience there? How did they see God at work? If you have been on a mission together as a group, maybe take some time to reminisce a little on what that was like. Discuss examples of what was good and what was hard. Finally, ask each member who has been on mission, “what was your biggest takeaway from your time in ______”. The goal here is to begin to connect this passage to personal experiences that have happened so that you can begin to discuss what it means that God will make good on His Great Commission promise.
Has your group been on a mission trip together or served on a local mission project together? What would it look like to plan a mission trip together this next year or serving day this semester? Where would you go? What would you do? How can you get started?
This may also be a time for good honest and open discussion on the practical difficulties of mission. What fears do we have that keep us from going and serving? What other barriers hinder us? Do insecurities concerning personal abilities dwarf our faith in God to do the work. If you sense this is the case with the group, take some time to encourage the group by pointing out ways in which we see God active in Acts 16. In some circumstances such as in Acts 16, God Himself actually says, “don’t go here.” If your group or members of your group are not able to go on a mission trip, discuss how they can still be a part of the mission. Ideas to discuss could include: picking a global partner to pray for or to support each month (or maybe one for a full year) or contributing financially as a group to specific global trips or local mission projects. Essentially, if we cannot go, how can we as a group actively seek to partner with those who are able to go, and how can we be faithful in sharing the gospel and serving in our community?
In prayer, your group can practice seeking God’s leadership and lordship in the spread of His gospel to build His kingdom. Here are three examples of what this could look like.
· Go around the group and list the names of people you have come to know in your circle of influence (family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc.) who need God to do a work in their hearts to respond to the gospel. Pray for these names specifically.
· Pray for places you know of where there are unreached people groups that need to be reached with the gospel. If you need help, you can use http://public.imb.org/globalresearch/Pages/ResearchData.aspx as a resource. Maybe take a couple regions each and spend some time praying for them. Or if you would like to pray for unreached people groups that our church is specifically praying for, you can use this site as a resource: http://www.brookhills.org/people-groups.
· Discuss global partners you know of that need prayer, like N.H., who is listed in the global prayer section of the Worship Guide. If you need help praying for some of our global partners or missionaries, you can use this interactive map as a resource: http://www.brookhills.org/missionaries.
The idea is that collectively, your group knows many names of people and places where the gospel is going or needs to go. In Acts 16, we are shown the certainty of God’s movement through His people in this world. Praying together as a group over names of people and places that you know personally need the gospel will be refreshing and encouraging to you, and it will help make Acts 16 hit closer to home.
NOW WHAT DO WE DO?
Group Discussion & Application
Use the following questions to examine what the sermon and its text mean, to apply the Word to your life, and to guide how you pray. Please note that you don’t have to use all of the questions. These are just options (along with the digging deeper section) to help you frame the group discussion.
1. What is the Great Commission promise that we have been given (Matt. 28:18-20)?
2. How can you rest in knowing that God will keep His Great Commission promise to His people?
3. What does it mean to be “on mission”? What does it look like on a daily or weekly basis?
4. How does sharing Christ together make the mission better?
5. Who would you consider a “gospel companion” in your life? How did God bring them into your life?
6. How can seeing the fellow believers you’ve come to know in life as having been “chosen for you” impact your relationship?
7. Why is it important to have “gospel companions” or people you are serving alongside?
8. How do we maintain unity and a bond of peace in times where the practical application of how to proceed in mission results in differing opinions or ideas?
9. Share an example in your life of when God actually told you, “No, don’t go here.” What did that feel like? What was hard about it? What was good about it? How did God end up using that situation for the better?
10. As Christians, how can we know where God is leading us?
11. What does it look like to make plans while being submitted to the Spirit’s leading?
12. Was there a time in your life where God seemed to completely scrap your plans and give you a new direction? In hindsight, what did you learn about the character of God through that experience?
13. What are some practical ways you have learned to trust in God’s leadership when there seem to be more questions than answers? How can you share these learned lessons with others for their encouragement?
14. Where have you seen God use hardship in your life or in someone else’s life to strengthen faith or even provide an opportunity for the advancement of the gospel?
15. Why is it so important to remember that it is God who opens hearts and not us? How can these examples encourage you today?
16. Discuss the difference between God’s overt power and covert power in saving people. Can you give examples of both?
17. Think about this statement: “God can save every kind of fallen: the rich, the hardened, and the oppressed.” How should this influence you with regards to prayer and to sharing the gospel?
18. What are the insecurities or fears that keep you from sharing the gospel? How can resting in the fact that it is God who opens hearts speak truth into those insecurities and fears?
19. Read through Acts 16 as a group. Where do you see examples of God working through or in spite of difficult circumstances that would be seemingly too hard to overcome?
20. How is the prosperity gospel cruel to the afflicted? Why is the prosperity gospel heresy?
Resources for Small Group Leaders
Weekly Prayer Focus (from Our Worship Guide)
· Pray for Our Lives:
o Praise God for the brothers and sisters He has gathered together with us to form our faith family here at Brook Hills.
o Ask God to continue growing our church through people responding in repentance and faith to our witness to the gospel.
o Ask God to continue to strengthen the biblical community found in our small groups.
o Ask the Holy Spirit to continue guiding us in the mission God has called us to and to make the most of the opportunities for gospel witness He presents us with.
· Pray for Our City:
o Pray for the Banks Academy, a new private Christian school in the East Lake community.
o Pray for the principal of Banks Academy (Dr. Kathy King) and the teachers that they would have spiritual insight into each student’s needs and will be able to minister to them effectively.
o Pray for God to send reading and math tutors and for the financial resources to pay for these tutors.
o Pray for financial provision to cover monthly expenses and for God to send godly men and women to support the students at Banks Academy.
o Pray that Jesus would be glorified through a unified front bringing education and sound biblical teaching to high school students in this low income community. Also pray that the Word of God through the ministry of the Banks Academy and other local churches would bring peace and flourishing to East Lake.
· Pray for Our World:
o Pray for our field partner N.H., whose team is serving in Vietnam among tribal groups to engage unreached peoples and train up new pastors and church leaders among a small body of believers.
o Pray for the at least 90 million people and 74 distinct people groups of Vietnam, most of which are unreached with the gospel.
o Pray for our brothers and sisters in a northern province who just had their church burned down and their pastor’s home destroyed. Also pray for the growth of the church in Vietnam despite persecution.
o Pray for the next gathering of pastors and leaders as they meet with N.H. for encouragement and accountability.
“How God Makes Good on His Great Commission Promise,” September 11, 2016 | Page 4