12 Feb Discussion Guide Zoë Week 1
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 primary 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 begin our series titled Zoë. For the next six weeks, we will deep dive into Jesus’s incredible claim that he came to bring us abundant life, even in the midst of our spiking cultural anxiety and fragmentation. We will explore how the life Jesus lived is the best way to tap into that promise as we seek to establish specific rhythms and practices to cultivate a life marked by a gospel-centered abundance of strength, health, and vitality.
Today’s Topic
Zoë Part One
Discussion Questions
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being exhausted and 10 being full of zest), how would you rate your current energy level in your day-to-day life? What factors/circumstances are filling or depleting you?
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
What is Zoë?
In John 10:10, Jesus uses the word zoë for life. Zoë is a state of being which is characterized by vitality and energy. It is a life filled with flourishing and purpose, a state of being which remains resilient when tested and centered when successful.
Can you describe a time when you felt full of vitality and energy?
What specific “thieves” typically come to steal, kill, and destroy our access to the kind of life Jesus promised?
Since zoë is more a description of how we are growing and overcoming than an abundance of blessings, what hope does zoë offer weary Christians?
Dallas Willard, The Spirit of Disciplines
“Nothing less than life in the steps of Christ is adequate to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the drama of human redemption, deprives the hearer of life’s greatest opportunity, and abandons this present life to the evil powers of the age. The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.”
What characteristics, attitudes, and values do you associate with the life of Christ?
What habits and practices (ie. fasting, hobbies, prayer, corporate worship, journaling, Bible study, fellowship, communion, etc.) have helped you connect with the life of Christ in the past?
In what area of your life would you like to grow more like Christ this year?
Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
How has following Jesus created rest in your life?
How do spiritual disciplines and practices guide us out of our earthly burdens and weariness?
What can you do to as a group to encourage one another to follow the steps of Jesus together?
Closing Thought
Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence
Because we do not rest we lose our way…. Poisoned by the hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest our lives are in danger.
How will you practice resting this week?