Grow Group Questions • Citizen Exile • Part 2
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Conversation Starter/Questions (10-15 minutes)
Option 1: With the holidays approaching, what are you most looking forward to and why (ex., food, family, time off from work)?
Option 2: What is one of your favorite memories from either Halloween or Thanksgiving and why?
Sermon Based Questions (remember, use all or which questions you want)
What jumps out to you in regards to Daniel chapter one or the sermon from Sunday? Are there any points of application or takeaways that immediately jump out to you that are needed in your life?
Pastor Thad shared two quotes on Sunday. “Pivotal decisions for God, publicly or privately, matter.” and “Before you can honor God with your life publicly, you must first honor Him with your life privately.” Do you think these statements are true, or not true? Do they matter or not matter?
Do you have any personal examples of feeling like you have been “exiled” or oppressed in this life in regards to your faith? How did you handle that?
Or, do you have any examples of others who have been “oppressed” in their faith walk. How did they handle that? What ultimately happened in the situation?
How can we learn from this and move forward in a positive way?
Read 1 Peter 2:18-20. If anyone in this group were to interview others where you worked, would they consider you an ideal employee, a benefit to the position and a credit to your faith or something less than laudatory? What would they say about you?
How can we help keep you accountable for being an example for Christ in your place of work, your greatest mission field? If your answer isn’t positive here, how can you change it and how can we hold you accountable to this good decision?
Read 1 Peter 2:11a and 2:13-17. How can we apply this text in our life, specifically in how we live day to day? What is your greatest challenge in honoring God and honoring our worldly leaders at the same time?
Is there a situation at work or in life where you need to take a “private stand” or a “public stand” regarding your faith? If so, what is it and how can we pray for you and hold you accountable to make that stand?
As the election looms, how does being a “citizen exile” impact you in regards to how you participate in politics or whether or not you choose to or how you vote as you are called to be an exemplary person in society? What is your opinion?
Digging Deeper (you can do both questions or either or)
Pastor Thad spoke about the “descent of bad decisions” and the “ascent of good decisions” in his message. Can you share about a time that you entered into the “decent of bad decisions” and how you came out of this slow fade?
Can you share about a time where you entered into the “ascent of good decisions” and how you fell out of this or how you stay on the ascent? What steps can we take to stay on the ascent and how can we hold each other accountable here?
In your opinion, when does our faith require us to publicly disobey our government or secular leaders? When does it not? Can you speak to organizations or individuals who do this well as opposed to those who don’t?
Challenge and Prayer
Take time to pray for one another and particularly for those who need improve their witness at work or who need to take a critical action step based off of this message. This can include witnessing, speaking to a dynamic that is uncomfortable, etc.
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