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 makingamosaic.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
Making a Mosaic – The Central Park of God
Discussion Questions
What was the central gathering place in your hometown or neighborhood?
To Hear God’s Heart
On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.'”
Exodus 19:1-4
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.Psalm 139:15-18
God’s love for the Israelites began long before they were set free and long before they began obeying him, just as his love for each of us began before we were formed in our mother’s wombs. What do you think motivates his love for people?
In the sermon, we heard that obeying God’s commands is how we can best reciprocate his unconditional love for us. How was obedience as love challenging for the Israelites as they left slavery behind in the wilderness, and how is it a challenging for us in the modern world?
Hold One Another’s Hearts
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
And the Lord said to Moses… “Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it.‘”
Exodus 19:5, 12
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!Phillipians 2:5-8
When God forbade the Israelites to climb up the mountain to try to get closer to him, he made himself more easily accessible to people than they would have expected. Do you find it easy to access and connect with God in your daily life? Why or why not?
How do service and generosity make us more accessible to the people in our lives?
What can you do this week to serve others in a new way?
Have Our Own Hearts Healed
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me…“
When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Exodus 20:1-3, 24:2-11
The Israelites promised to keep God’s law perfectly but could not. How important are our intentions to obey God, and how can they help us remain connected to God?
Jesus kept God’s law for us because we could not keep it on our own, and so sacrificial love is placed at the center of the Christian faith. What spiritual practices help you remain connected to God so you can receive and offer that kind of love in your life?
Closing Time
In the final moments of your time together, pray for any needs members of the group may have.