Sisters Community Church

Steve Stratos and Ryan Moffat Psalm 133

1. Where have you experienced unity? What were the characteristics that made it good and pleasant?

2. What is the Origin of Unity, and how have you experienced or witnessed it?

3. What have you seen to be the undermining of unity, and how would you address it?

4. What is the blessing of unity, and how does it make itself known in teamwork?

5. What does unity look like according to Jesus’ priestly prayer in John 17?

Steve Stratos Psalm 132

1. Have you ever made plans that fell apart or were not fulfilled? What was your response? Did you find any growth through it? Explain.

2. Was there ever a time you believed your plans were of God and they did not come through? What was your response?

3. Read Exodus 25. Meditate on the importance of the Ark to God and the people of Israel. What does it represent to you?

4. “Never sacrifice the eternal on the altar of the immediate.” What does that mean to you as you walk with God?

5. How important is God’s dwelling place in the 21st century as it relates to the New Covenant? What is your role in making it known? How do you carry the Ark?

Jonathan Martin Psalm 131

1. Tell a story of a time in your life where you were most like a young child with its mother in your relationship with God. What were the circumstances that pushed you to this?

2. What keeps you from this kind of simple and pure faith?

3. What are those things too high, too lofty, too great, too marvelous – that you keep taking back into your own hands by demanding to understand, manipulate, or control?

4. What does it look like to let go of your pride in the following areas and to trust like a little child:

Relational - friends, family, neighbors that you can’t change

Circumstantial - things out of your control causing anxiety

Physical – health concerns or obsessions

Financial – the need to be secure

Intellectual or Theological – the need to know and be right

Ryan Moffat Psalm 130

1. What did God say to you through the teaching this week?

2. What was life like for you before you had your sins forgiven? How frequently do you contemplate this?

3. When you look at John Wesley’s small group/accountable questions, what stands out to you? Why don’t we have this kind of discipleship culture in our modern church moment? https://faithreflections.org/john-wesleys-small-group-questions/

4. What is an area in your life you’re “watching and waiting” and trusting in God’s word/God’s promises?

5. What else was significant to you?

Mark Seekins Psalm 127

1. Mark gave a pretty humorous job description for parents. Is there anything you would add? How would you write your job description as a parent? If you don’t have kids, how would you write a job description for your responsibility in helping to raise kids?

2. Do you agree that LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH when it comes to raising kids and a healthy family? Practically-speaking, if God is at the center of your family, how does that play out? What habits, practices, or traditions, might help to foster this centrality?

3. Mark mentioned that without the Lord you “work and wear out in vain”. What is the hardest thing for you as it comes to resting in the Lord? Do you agree with this statement: “There is a trust we can place in God, that he cares more about our children growing up right than even we do, so we can work our hardest, and then go to sleep entrusting God with the “city”/“field” of our family.” If so, how are you resting in God’s grace as it pertains to your family and your work?

4. How are children a “gift” or an “inheritance” from the Lord? What implications does this have on your understanding of your role in raising them? If you are the child, how does this strike you?

5. Mark said: “No gift from the Lord is intended to be a platform for us to gain our sense of significance or value.” Have you seen this kind of idolatry in society? In your life? How can we redirect our significance back to Him?

6. Can you answer the question “why did God give me my kids”? How are or have you set them free (i.e., loosed the arrow) to make an impact for God’s kingdom?

Re-read Ephesians 3:20-21 and remember your job description: Builds, Labors, Watches, and Works for someone else. Owns nothing, but manages everything. Trusts the boss with most important possessions. Knows there’s still “far more” to come each day.

Dustin Smith Psalm 124-125

1. When disappointment, pain, and disorientation comes, is your default praise or complaint? Why?

2. How has complaining or praise shaped your life?

3. What does it look like for you to move the needle toward a life of praise in all seasons to experience the peace of God?

4. How could you lead others toward this in the next week?

Steve Stratos Psalm 123

1. How have you experienced injustice in your life? What was your first reaction?

2. How did you resolve it?

3. Why does submitting to Jesus in the injustice help you grow?

4. Who or what was the most difficult situation you offered forgiveness to? What was your experience?

5. What does this mean to you? You have to Bow before you can Stand!

Steve Stratos Psalm 122

1. What was your first introduction to the church? Explain.

2. The Psalmist speaks of joy and gladness on the way to the house of the Lord. What are some of the robbers of your joy in attending church? What do you need to change?

3. What does the concept of “Sacred Order” and “Boundaries” represent to you in your relationship to your spiritual journey?

4. Where do you need peace in your life? Stop, pray, and seek restoration/reconciliation with God for the journey.

Ryan Moffat Psalm 121

1. Where is the Spirit asking you to trust him with greater obedience?

2. We talked about 4 attributes of God from this weekend’s teaching: transcendent, imminent, unlimited in resource, and protector. Which attribute of God is most meaningful to you in this particular season of life? How can you lean greater into the God of Psalm 121 in your life?

3. The Psalmist repeatedly states that the Lord God will not slumber or sleep. At times we feel like God is not at work in our pain, our disappointment, or our trouble. How does the truth that GOD IS AWAKE and GOD IS WORKING reframe our seasons of trouble?

4. What else did the Spirit say to you this weekend through His word?

Ryan Moffat Psalm 120

1. The Psalmist starts the Ascent to Jerusalem with the stunning admission: “In my distress I called to the Lord”. How does this description differ from our present modern day worship culture? What does it look like to bring our real distress to the Lord?

2. The Psalmist asks for deliverance from a specific kind of person/situation: “Deliver me from lying lips and a deceitful tongue”. What modern day lies are we swimming in that cause oppression, confusion, and pain to the people of God?

3. Lastly he notes, “Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, I dwell among the tents of Kedar”. Have you ever lived outside the blessing, the joy, the community of the local church? As Christians following Jesus, we haven’t hit our eternal destiny or location, (New Heavens/New Earth Revelation 21) so, in a sense we’re in exile. How does the “exile” identity help us navigate the world we find ourselves in? What happens when we get “too settled” in the present age? What happens when we are dismissive and apathetic in the present age?

4. Eugene Peterson says: “It is not difficult in such a world to get a person interested in the message of the gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.” Discuss.

5. What else did the Spirit say to you this week?