GCF Hays

Why Worship #2 | The Presence of God | 10-17-2021 | Life Group Questions

1. Other than Jesus, who is the celebrity/famous person who you would most like to meet in person? If this person walked into the room right now, you would totally freak out. Who is that person to you?

2. How do your feelings about being in the presence of this famous person compare to your reaction to being in God’s presence?

3. The speaker said that each of us could come into the presence of God. How?

4. What does VIBRANT praise and worship mean to you? What does it look like when you praise and worship vibrantly?

5. When God manifests His presence, He does so for four main reasons:
a. His presence brings redemption
b. His presence brings revelation
c. His presence brings joy
d. His presence stultifies our adversary
Which of these reasons stand out most to you? Means the most to you?

6. Share stories of times, during praise and worship, that you experienced the presence of God.

Life Group Questions

1. John 4:23 – “The time is coming, yes, it is here now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  The Father seeks that kind of worshiper.” What does being a true worshiper mean to you? What does He find when he finds you?

2. Pastor Ryan described six attributes of true worshipers.
True worshipers:
- are givers
- cannot go unnoticed
- recognize God’s greatness
- hunger for God
- aren’t chameleons
- are sanctified & righteous

Which of these resonated with you the most and why?

3. Describe a bad time in your life when you chose to worship God through your difficult circumstances.

4. On a scale of 1-10, how in awe of God are you? Explain.

Life Group Questions

1. What impacted you the most from Sunday’s teaching / this series?

2. Jesus told the church in Sardis to “wake up and strengthen what remains” because they were spiritually dead from becoming like the surrounding culture. Why do Christians in America need to hear this today?

3. Pastor Ryan said, “A Christian without courage is a cultural atheist.” How does this challenge you personally?

LG Questions

1. Because of their Marxist ideology, the woke social-justice mob wrongly believes: (a) Wealth and resources are zero-sum (i.e., they don’t understand the concept of wealth creation); (b) If you have wealth and success, you got it illegitimately (i.e., it’s not through your sacrifice or work efforts, it’s only because the system is rigged in your favor); (c) Wealthy nations are evil, because they got wealthy through some evil means (like colonialism, greed, rapacious capitalism). Which of these three do you find the most objectionable?

2. History shows that those nations that fully embrace Christianity (and a Judeo-Christian worldview) have moved from poverty, lack of civil rights, and pervasive crime to prosperity, freedom, increased rights, and a dramatic decrease in crime. On a personal level, please share an example from your life of how Biblical truth (a Christian worldview) has brought you forward into prosperity and/or freedom.

3. Pastor Ryan focused in on four big issues, and how different the Woke Social Justice movement answers those issues, versus the way God answers those issues. The four were: (1) What is real?; (2) Who are we?; (3) What is our fundamental problem?; and (4) Who has ultimate authority? In the contrast shown, which of these four was the biggest for you?

LG Questions

1. Among the quotes Pastor Ryan gave us on Sunday were these three:

(a) A.W. Tozer: “A frightened world needs a fearless church.”
(b) Ken Meyers: “Cultural engagement without Biblical discernment leads to cultural captivity.”
(c) C.S. Lewis: “Human beings have this curious idea that they ought to behave a certain way, and they cannot really get rid of it.”

Which of these three was your favorite, and why?

2. Communitive justice means “living in right relationships with God and others – treating others as uniquely valuable as image-bearers of God.” Do you ever struggle to see (& treat) others as uniquely valuable image-bearers of God?

3. Two key Biblical principles regarding justice are:

(a) Debt is to be paid by the one who incurred it.
(b) Debt cannot be involuntarily transferred to another.

In what ways are these truths freeing to you?

1. Christians are criticized for being hypocritical, lacking unity, homophobic, and judgmental. In your opinion, why are we receiving these objections and criticisms? Are these objections and criticisms valid?

2. What other objections and criticisms have you heard? How have you responded when faced with these other objections and criticisms?

3. The speaker taught that Christians should focus on forming a genuine relationship with an outsider rather than focus on their sin.
a. What do you think of this?
b. Isn’t it important to inform people that they are sinning so that they can turn away from those ways?

4. The speaker suggested that we should apologize for the hurt that other Christians have caused to non-Christians. But we didn’t wrong anyone. We are not at fault. What do you think of this suggestion?

5. The speaker encouraged you to seek out non-Christians and make friends with them. Why?

Life Group Questions

1. Describe a time in your life when someone’s encouragement helped you through a difficult time.

2. Are you an encourager of the people around you? Do you go out of your way to encourage others?

3. Who in your sphere of influence needs encouragement from you?

4. King David encouraged himself in four ways:
- He remembered his past
- He prayed
- He realized God is in control
- He asked God what to do

Which one of these do you need to do more often and why?