14 Jan Discussion Guide: Set Apart 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
Today, we begin with our series, Set Apart: A Biblical View of Holiness. Join us as we take a look, one week at a time, at how God’s call to holiness requires more of us than changing our actions or achieving something. Holiness is a call to set our hope on the grace of God through Jesus to be fully transformed and to live set apart.
Today’s Topic
God is Holy
Discussion Questions
What is your favorite song?
Sing
Psalm 96 1-2
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless His name;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
C.S. Lewis
The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same delight in God which made David dance.
Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm.
Matt Haig, in How to Stop Time
Music doesn’t get in. Music is already in. Music simply uncovers what is there, makes you feel emotions that you didn’t necessarily know you had inside you, and runs around waking them all up. A rebirth of sorts.
Have you ever experienced a deeply meaningful spiritual moment due to singing a song?
How can an old song become new to a person again?
What do think God experiences when his people sing to him?
Declare
Psalm 96:3
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
Amy Carmichael, Candles in the Dark
Limitations, frustrations-they can’t cast the smallest handful of dust on the glory of God. So let us be of good courage. He is leading us through and on, and as for God, His way is perfect.
RC Sproul
We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That is what the Christian life is all about.
“Declare” in Psalm 96:3 is the Hebrew “saphar” which means to count or recount. What practices or perspectives help us to count or recount God’s glory?
How is witnessing the goodness of God a doorway to encountering the glory of God?
What would you declare as one of the more glorious attributes of God?
Ascribe
Psalm 96:7-8
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come into His courts.
Dallas Willard
Sometimes we get caught up in trying to glorify God by praising what He can do and we lose sight of the practical point of what He actually does do.
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts
And when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me.
Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World
Whoever you are, you are human. Wherever you are, you live in the world, which is just waiting for you to notice the holiness in it.
What is something God has done for you that makes him worthy of praise and honor?
When or where have you witnessed God’s holiness in the world?
What is something you are thankful for from today?
Closing Thought
Carrie Stephens, Holy Guacamole
…to be made holy doesn’t equate to being perfectly pure and obeying all the rules. After all, God called the Sabbath holy, and it never did a thing to raise itself above the other days of the week. God sets holy things apart because he has a distinct purpose for them.
Take some time to pray for God to set you apart this week in a new way, allowing you to accomplish something purposeful in the world.