Life Groups // Fall 2022 // Week 1
Posted September 9, 2022 — Lincoln Berean
The Hope and Fruit of the Gospel // Colossians 1:1-8
Introduction
Welcome to the first week of the Fall Session of Life Groups! You may be reconnecting with your group after taking the summer off or maybe this is your first time in a group. Either way, we hope this time of connecting with others and discussing the scriptures is enriching to your life and encourages you to reach out in love to others. This week Pastor Ryan walked us through the first eight verses of the letter to the Colossians.
To think through the main ideas in the sermon and prepare for your discussion together, we invite you to look over all the questions on the following pages and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group.
Warm Up (Suggested time: 30 min)
For Life Groups that are meeting for the first time:
- Go around the circle and ask everyone to answer these “H” questions.
Hello – Tell us a little bit about yourself.
History – What brought you to LBC/Life Group?
Hobby – What do you enjoy doing?
Happy – What is a place, activity or person that is your happy place?
- What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?
- If a stranger knew only one story about your life, what would you hope it would be?
For Life Groups that are reconnecting:
If you have a couple of new members in your group, you might want to have everyone answer the questions above before continuing with the questions below.
What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?
If a stranger knew only one story about your life, what would you hope it would be?
Getting Started
Transition into group discussion.
1) Open group discussion with prayer. Here are a few potential prayer items:
a. For the Spirit of God to lead you in truth
b. For the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in your lives
c. For grace to hear and apply what the Spirit says to you
2) Choose someone to read the passage aloud for the group.
Study Questions (Suggested time: 40 min)
1) When we read Colossians, we are reading someone else’s mail. Even though Paul did not write this letter to us, God still intends for us to benefit from it. What do you think this says about God that he communicated to people through letters and that he preserved that correspondence for us?
2) Paul commends the Colossians for possessing three qualities—faith, love, and hope. Which of these do you struggle with? Why?
What is the single biggest thing members of your life group could do today to help you become a person who doesn’t struggle with that quality?
3) How did Ryan explain the gospel? What was your reaction to that explanation?
Would you explain the gospel differently? If so, how?
4) Colossians 1:6 claims that the gospel is “constantly bearing fruit and increasing.” What does that mean?
Is the gospel bearing fruit and increasing in your life? If so, can you give an example? If not, what is preventing the gospel from bearing fruit and increasing in your life?
Personal Spiritual Exercises
Just like physical exercises help strengthen and stretch our bodies for healthy living, these spiritual exercises are meant to move us spiritually in ways that may be new so we might experience inner growth. Since God longs for us to experience Him with our whole selves—mind, body, spirit—we invite you along each week to strengthen your souls with suggestions and prompts. Next week in Life Group, take a few moments to share how the Lord may have used this exercise in your life.
Take some time this week to read through (or listen to) the whole letter to the Colossians in one sitting as a letter is meant to be read. You might read through it every day this week using a different translation each time.
Some good translations include: The New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The New International Version (NIV)
The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Common English Bible (CEB).
All of these are available to read online from BibleGateway (www.biblegateway.com).
Prayer (Suggested time: 20 min)
A significant part of “coming together” is being open and honest with our lives. Sitting in a group of people for prayer may be new or it may be familiar to you. If you would rather not pray aloud when it is your turn, feel free to pray silently and then say “Amen” aloud signaling the next person in the group to pray. Whether or not you choose to verbalize your prayer, everyone is a participant in sharing this time before God together.
Take a few moments to prepare a prayer request. What did the message, working through the above questions or the discussion cause you to notice about your own relationship with Jesus? Would you be willing to share your prayer request with the group?
Next Week: Read Colossians 1:9-14