Mosaic Church

07 Mar Discussion Guide: Pastor Jim Laffoon – Our Doom or Our Dawn?

Posted at 13:54h in Community Group Resources by Mosaic Team

Before We Get Started

For our discussion today we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.

Prayer

Because the main goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for, or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together.

This Week’s Topic

This week we had a special, guest speaker. Pastor Jim Laffoon shared with us some prophetic insight in regards to what God has been allowing our nation to go through, and what God plans on doing about it as we move forward. He shared with us that through His Church, Jesus is wanting to bring about a movement of His Spirit as His followers break through the fear and receive a fresh anointing of the Spirit of God.

Today’s Topic

Breakthrough, Breathed On, Boatload

Discussion Questions

Nelson Mandela

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

How would you say fear and dread has impacted our nation over the last year?

How has it impacted the Church in our nation over the last year?

Why do you think this has been the case?

John 20:19-23

“On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.””

How might remembering Jesus is with you in the midst of these difficult moments bring peace into the midst of that fear and dread?

How would that peace change the way we respond to one another?

What would that communicate to the world about who Jesus is and what His Kingdom is all about?

How can a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit empower us to bring life into the dead places of our nation & city?

Jesus told His disciples to go and wait, in the midst of the difficulties and tensions they were experiencing, until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What makes it so difficult for us to patiently wait for the Holy Spirit to show up when we are in the midst of our own struggles and tensions?

What does that kind of impatience usually lead to?

What might that kind of patience lead to?

Genesis 50:15-20

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

John Piper, Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ

“God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.”

In what other moments in the past have we seen Jesus use what seemed like defeat to bring about victory?

In what ways might the pain and dread you have felt this past year actually be the setting fit a great victory for God’s Kingdom?

Closing Thought

With all this in mind, how might we, as a community, model to our city a different kind of response to all that has been going on this year?