SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS

“Hope” – Eric Barton – May 4, 2008

“A confident expectation for something good in the future”

Psalms 42:1-2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

• Describe a time when you remember being so thirsty for the presence of God in your life that it actually affected you physically.
• What were the circumstances?
• Why do you think we are sometimes not thirsty for God in our lives?
• What can we do to heighten our awareness for Him and our need for Him?

Psalm 42:3-4 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul:  how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.

• Describe a time when you remember being in a hopeless situation.
• What sustained you?
• Were you able to experience joy at all during that time?
• How do we bridge the theoretical “church-speak” about hope to the practical reality of everyday living?

Psalms 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

• Describe a time when your awareness of Him or His Word restored your hope.
• How was that truth made known in your life?
• How can we be better equipped to “preach sermons to ourselves?”

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

• How has your understanding of hope changed (if at all)?  Faith?

1Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

• How should your hope drive your evangelism?
• Describe how a certainty of hope should change our perspective.
• Why do you think so many of us in the church live without any evidence of hope?