SCRIPTURE: Matthew 6:9-13, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, & 2 Thessalonians 3:11-13

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How would you summarize the theme this week of a “Church Awaiting Rescue”? What do you think this phrase means? When, if ever, have you experienced it in a church context?

2. How would you define “premillenial dispensationalism”? Is this a term you have any experience with? 

3. At its root, Kenny’s argument this week is about what it means for God’s Kingdom to be coming here, to this earth. How does this idea affect the way we think about issues like climate change or systemic injustice? 

4. Why do you think it can be so tempting to abandon hope in the world we live in? What does the Bible have to say about this temptation, in your experience?

5. What would it mean to be a “Kingdom-focused church”?

6. Why do you think working with other churches is important? What makes it challenging? How can we overcome those challenges as a church family?

SCRIPTURE: Romans 8 & 9

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Do you tend to think of your relationship with God as individual or communal? Do you feel this distinction is important? Why or why not?

2. Have you ever encountered “fire and brimstone” teaching in a church before? Why do you think that the pastor/church would frame the Gospel in this way?

3. In Romans 8, Paul says that Christian identity isn’t rooted in either Judaism or the Church but instead in the person of Jesus. What do you think this means? How does the promise that we are “co-heirs” with Christ help to resolve the tension between focusing exclusively on an individual faith or a communal faith? 

4. Kenny said that, “when you or I fixate on a relationship with Jesus that is not anchored to the broader community of God’s family, we are missing out.” Do you think this is true? If you were to detach from a church community to “do Christianity on your own”...what would the cost of that be, both for you and for others?

5. It can be really hard to stay connected to the church in this season. What opportunities do you see for staying in relationship with others at Revolution? How can you take a step towards our church this week?

6. How can the people of our church be better partners with other Christians and churches in our community...even if we disagree about important things? Do you feel this is meaningful work? Why?

SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 29:4-14

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What is the missio Dei (mission of God) the Bible’s overarching story testifies to?

2. When have you allowed a desire to come across as “pure” (or at least, “okay”!) get in the way of authentic relationships and community?

3. Read through Jeremiah 29:4-14 again. How is God commanding the Israelites to behave in Exile?

4. Have you ever considered your neighborhood/office/family as a “mission field”? 

5. What would it mean for you to listen to your neighbors this week?

6. Are you willing to pray for your community each day for the coming week?

7. What are 2 ways you might serve your “mission field” in the weeks to come? Can you invite others to serve with you?

SCRIPTURE: Jonah 1-4, Galatians 2

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What stood out to you about the message this week? What do you want to spend time thinking and talking about with others? How might you summarize the purpose of this current series?

2. Kenny’s point in this week’s message is that not being the kind of church we don’t want to be--such as a “Church of Racial Injustice”--is much harder than it might seem. Have you ever found it harder than you expected to not be something? What made it so difficult?

3. The message turns on the idea that church cannot be neutral, partly because we “use the myth of neutrality to justify inaction” and partly because the “belief in neutrality leaves dominant cultural values unchallenged.” When, if ever, have you regretted a moment of neutrality in your life? What do you think it means to “leave dominant cultural values unchallenged”? Why would this be unacceptable behavior for a church?

4. Following this story of Jonah, Kenny asked: “Are we willing to look underneath our fears, to see the ways they excuse our prejudices and biases?”

5. Following  the story of Paul and Peter, Kenny asked: “Are we willing to look underneath our excuses, to see what ugly and anti-gospel fears they foster?”

6. What would it mean for us to “own our part in the story”?

7. What would it mean for us to “refuse to normalize whiteness”?

8. What would it mean for us to “actively work for transformation”?

FURTHER READING:

“Broken Churches, Broken Nation”

“How Christians Can Combat Racism Theologically After Charlottesville”

“The Church Must Be an Example of an Anti-Racist Society”

“How White Churches Can Work for Racial Justice”

“On the 1845 Georgia Missions Controversy”

Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 8

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. As a whole, how has the current series challenged you? What thoughts, lessons, or ideas are you walking away from this series with? How can all of this lead you to take a real step in your personal faith?

2. After the somewhat silly story about the escalator, Kenny said that “if we want to be overwhelming people, who are a real blessing to our neighbors and our communities, we have to bring all of ourselves along on that journey.” Did this resonate with you? What thoughts do you have about this concept?

3. Where are you “clinging” to something in your life that might be holding you back from the direction your “feet” are trying to take you?

4. The first lesson we can learn from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is that we should give in measure with our means. What do you think this means? How can it challenge you? How can you apply it?

5. The second lesson is that real generosity rises up from extreme poverty. What do you think this means? How does the example the Macedonians set--and the example Jesus sets!--help to explain this confusing phrase? How can you apply this idea?

6. The third lesson is that our goal is equality. In the discussion about our own church, Kenny pointed out that we often feel like we can or should wait until our own situation is safe before helping others...but that if our goal is equality, this doesn’t make sense--pursuing ourselves just pulls us farther away from others! How does this idea challenge you?

7. The fourth lesson is that we should keep mission in mind in our generosity. What has this meant for us at Revolution? What is the mission of the church, in your mind? How can your own generosity be more mission-centered?

SCRIPTURE: John 9

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How are you feeling right now? What thoughts, prayers, and convictions have been weighing most heavily on you? What questions do you have?

2. What “dams” are you currently benefiting from? You might think about culture, education, race, family of origin, financial success--places (in your experience) where lines are drawn between who receives certain benefits or breaks and who doesn’t. 

3. What “dams” have you built yourself? You might think about personal wealth, the neighborhood you live in, your work life or environment--areas of your life where you might be prone to hoarding or excessively “protecting yourself.”

4. The big idea this week was that taking down a dam is hard: we resist the work by making up half-reasonable excuses for why it’s a bad idea, and when that fails, we tend to kick the can down the road. It’s certainly not work that can be done in a day! What are some of the reasons “dam breaking” has been difficult in your experience? 

5. Talk through the story of the man born blind in John 9. How does it relate to our conversation about dams? What is being “hoarded” here, and why are those in authority so resistant to believing the man’s story about Jesus? 

6. On Sunday, Kenny said that Jesus “dismantles our arrogance” when he says the man’s blindness isn’t about sin at all, but about allowing “the works of God [to] be displayed in him.” What do you think this means?

7. Kenny also said that receiving generosity creates openness in our lives, as well as the lives of others. How does this connect to our mandate to be “dam breakers”? What should we be looking for as we strive to let God’s overwhelming provision pass not to us but through us, into the lives of others?

8. Finally, Kenny said that the lesson we learn from the Hetch Hetchy illustration is that dams destroy the valleys upstream. What does this suggest about the danger that faces us if we continue interrupting God’s overwhelming generosity by hoarding things for ourselves?

SCRIPTURE: Amos 5

This week, we are trying to look in the mirror: how have we benefitted from injustice? And how can we let justice flow freely? “Overwhelming” life comes from rejecting a mindset of scarcity and choosing not to grasp, but to give.

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How are you feeling right now? What thoughts, prayers, and convictions have been weighing most heavily on you? What questions do you have?

2. Over the last 2 weeks, we have talked about a “mindset of scarcity” and how that keeps us from experiencing the kind of lives God intends for us. Has this made much sense to you? Do you see it playing out in your own life? Describe an example.

3. Kenny used the metaphor of a dam to try and explain what the Israelites have done: they have taken God’s blessings and diverted them so they supply only themselves. What story does such behavior tell...especially if those who are responsible also claim to be God’s people?

4. What is the heart of God’s complaint against the Israelites, as voiced by Amos? Do you see yourself in that mirror, too? How so?

5. What do you think God wants from the Israelites? 

6. Kenny said the example we see in Jesus teaches us not to grasp, but to give. How can this work? What worries do you have, if any, when you think about this? 

7. We were challenged Sunday to give up 5 things: money, attention, arrogance, privilege, and fear. Which of these is easiest for you? Which is hardest? How can you take intentional steps to live more generously in these areas this week?

SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 19:33-34, Exodus 16:4, & Exodus 23:20

So, if God is so generous and abundant and overwhelming, what happened to us? Why aren’t we more generous than we are? This week, we are discussing the trap of a scarcity mindset, and how only overwhelmingly good news has the power to deliver us from this trap into the abundant life we are made for.

REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. The first part of Kenny’s sermon attempts to prove that “we have become trapped by a scarcity mindset.” Discuss your understanding of this point and how persuasive you found it to be. 

2. Kenny argued that a “scarcity mindset” is produced by misunderstandings about the PAST (the supply is limited) the PRESENT (having enough is our responsibility) and the FUTURE (the situation won’t change). Discuss a time when you fell into the “scarcity trap”: did you experience these same misunderstandings? What happened, in your case?

3. Kenny said that scarcity mindsets don’t develop when we don’t have enough...they develop when we have too much. Discuss this claim. How does the Law the Israelites receive while wandering in the desert relate to it?

4. The second part of the sermon argued that the trap a “scarcity mindset” creates for us can only be undone by overwhelmingly good news. What is the “good news” Kenny talked about, and how does it specifically address the past/present/future problems scarcity preys on?

5. How does the “Gospel story” reach out to impact you, whether you believe in it or accept it or not? Did you find this claim persuasive on Sunday?

6. How can living generously help us to avoid a “scarcity mindset”?

7. How can generous living extend beyond our time or our finances to include how we recognize and protect the dignity of other people?