The reality is that most of us are trying to escape from something that's hard to escape from... ourselves. Solitude is a God-given resource for us to be able to find peace with ourselves and peace with him.

Discussion Questions:

2. Do you feel like you struggle to be silent and live in silence? Why?

3. What’s a way you want to try incorporating solitude into your life this week?

Control has the power to exhaust us like nothing else because it assumes upon our shoulders the burden that only God can handle. When we choose to trust God and give up our way of doing things, we find rest, relief, and progress.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think you’re a control freak? Do other people think you’re a control freak? Why or why not?

2. Do you find that particular situations make you more controlling? Do you think there are some ways to proactively counteract that? 

3. Share with the group some times when you feel like you saw or experienced the provision of God in your life. 

FOMO is a constant force running in the background of our lives, and it causes us to do some ridiculous things. A man named David points us toward the tricks FOMO plays on us and also toward solutions that we can utilize so we aren't driven to doin' too much out of our fear of missing out.

Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever overextended yourself because you were afraid you were going to miss out on something if you didn’t? What’d you do? What happened?

2. Do you feel like you suffer with FOMO? Why or why not?

3. What are ways you feel like we can develop a deeper trust in God’s provision?

Many of us are guilty of doin’ too much; too much at work, too much at home, too much for our image, too much at school, and the weight of feeling like we need to do it all is crushing us. Change is possible, but it will only begin when we recognize an observation that Jesus made about our lives two thousand years ago.

Discussion Questions:

-Talk about some stuff you’ve done in the past to try and change yourself, whether big or small. What’d you do? How’d it go?

-What fruit do you feel like your life is bearing right now?

-What are ways you think we can invite the transformational power of God to come and change us?

Jesus shows up when our lives feel like they're hitting rock bottom.

We've all been victims of "grace unfairness," the feeling you get when you feel like someone around you gets more grace and generosity than you feel like you do. Jesus' goal with grace isn't to apply it evenly, it's to be generous, giving us all what we need. Our self-righteousness is to blame for why we struggle to be grateful for the grace we receive in all its forms.

Discussion Questions:

1. Talk about a time when you saw someone else receive grace you feel like they didn’t deserve. How did you feel? Why?

2. Why do you think we are so obsessed with the “fairness” of God’s grace… even while acknowledging that part of the nature of grace is that it’s undeserved and unfair?

It's natural for us to feel pressure to qualify for grace, because that's how all of our other relationships function. God has no problem offering us undeserved grace because he was under no illusions we'd ever deserve it anyway. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Which of the four categories that Wes shared do you feel like you fall into as it pertains to grace? Why?

2. What kind of words would you use to characterize your relationship with God? Why?

3. To you take Jesus at his word about the grace he’s offered to you?

Grace is a beautiful thing, but you'll only receive when you're ready to admit you need it.

Discussion Questions:

2. Be honest: how badly do you think you need God’s grace? Do you live in absolute need of it like Elizabeth and Mary, or in opposition to it like Wes described in his story? Maybe another way to ask this question is, “Do you agree with Jesus’ statement that ‘apart from me, you can do nothing’”?

Part 6 of the series Thessalonians: Living in the Light of the End.

Part 4 of the series Thessalonians: Living in the Light of the End.