New Blog Address

In an effort to consolidate all of our volunteer resources, we have relocated our rGroup Leader Guides. All future rGroup Leaders’ blogs can be found here: http://rgroupblog.blogspot.com/ or you can click the “rGroup Blog” http://www.RevoBackstage.com/. Thanks for all you do to help spark a revolution of life change through Jesus!

Word Night, September 18 – September 22

1. Do I love money and abundance (5:10)? How does this manifest itself in my life? How have I grown dissatisfied with my income and possessions? Read Matthew 6:24; 16:26; 1 Timothy 6:10; and Hebrews 13:5. At what point in my life have I been the most content? In what ways am I currently learning contentment? Read Philippians 4:11-12.

2. Now that I am financially well off, have my friends increased (5:11; cf. Proverbs 14:20)? Why or why not? Would these people still remain my friends if I lost all of my wealth tomorrow? Would they be around if I had serious needs? Is being wealthy all that I thought it was cracked up to be? Am I happier than I have ever been or was I better off when I didn’t have as much (5:12)? When was I more satisfied (cf. 5:10)?

3. How have I been guilty of hoarding my wealth (5:13)? How have I seen my riches fail me (5:14)? What will I leave behind when I die (5:15-16)? How can I become a generous and cheerful giver? Read 2 Corinthians 9:6.

4. What makes your heart glad? Is it money, possessions, pleasure, or success? The message of the Bible is that we have been saved to have a relationship with God (John 10:10; 17:3). Our purpose in being is to come to know Him. Augustine (354-430) once said, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in You.” How have I found this to be true in my own life?

5. How is my work and my wealth a part of fulfilling God’s eternal plan for my life and His kingdom (5:18-20)? Read 1 Corinthians 3:8, 14 and 15:58. How am I thankful for my job and my money? What steals away my contentment and joy?

Word Night, September 11 – September 15

Hey rGroup leaders!

Thanks for all you do to lead these groups and pour into our people so that we can make disciples that make disciples.

This week we are going to take a more systematic approach to a text.  That means, we are going to walk through verse by verse and explain the text to the groups.  Here are a few questions to start with, and then we’ll get into The Lord’s Prayer.

What does your prayer time look like?  (Every morning, before meals, quiet time, close eyes, get on your knees, before you go to bed)

What does your prayer time sound like?  (Does it sound like a wish list to Santa Claus, just asking God for things that you want and need?  Is it short and memorized, like a prayer you always pray before a meal?   Do you only pray when something bad happens or you are really in a jam?)

Let take a look at one of the most well known prayers in the Bible.
Luke 11:1-4

Vs. 1- “In a certain spot” means that a prayer life was habit for Jesus.  He even had a certain spot that he did it each day.
The Greek word for “praying” in verse one is not the same as the verb “ask” in verse 9.  Notice that Jesus wasn’t praying to “ask” something from God.  He wasn’t even praying because he was suppose to.  He was praying just to spend time and talk with the Father.  That’s a great example of how we should pray.

Vs. 2-4 What do we pray for?

1. God’s Glory (Hallowed be your name)
2. God’s Gifts (Give us this day our daily bread)
3. God’s grace (experience forgiveness and offer forgiveness)
4. God’s guidance (lead us not into temptation)

Here are a few ideas for some discussion about prayer.

1. The primary purpose of prayer is to experience an intimacy with God.  That’s why Scripture says to go into a room and shut the door when you pray.  That way, God has your entire attention, you aren’t thinking or doing other things, and talking with him.  Have you ever been on the phone with something that is obviously doing something else, like watching TV or talking to someone else or doing something else that is distracting them?  It’s frustrating, isn’t it?  Is that how God feels when you talk to Him?  Is your prayer life a simple thought or spoken sentence in the midst of a hectic day?  Or are you truly pursuing intimacy with Him?
2. How much of your prayer life involves listening to God?  Are you ever quiet during your prayer time?  So many times we ask God to speak to us, guide us, show us the right way, or reveal something to us only to finish our requests and not even give Him a chance to respond to us before we’ve moved on to the next thing on our schedule.  Does your prayer (which really means conversing with God) consist of you doing all the talking?

Share with your group this simple outline for praying, and challenge them to implement it this week.

Adoration:  Start your prayer telling God how awesome, mighty, sufficient, all knowing, and powerful, He is.  This will help you put into perspective how reliant we really are on God, and how we should humbly approach God when we prayer.  Reference Psalm 146

Confession: Spend some time confessing to God your sins and asking forgiveness for them.  Hopefully this time of confession will help you realize the incredible gift of Jesus that God gave us, and that the very opportunity that we have to confess our sins and seek forgiveness is a gift from God in-and-of itself.  Reference Psalm 32:5-7

Thanksgiving: Thank God for the things he has already done for you, in your life, and in your sphere of influence.  Hopefully when you start to name out the things God has done that you are thankful for, it will be a great reminder of his faithfulness.  Reference 1 Chronicles 16:8-17

Supplication:  Asking God for things is not wrong, but it’s intentionally put at the end.  God enjoys blessing and providing for His people, but our communication with him should not center around a “wish list.”  Prayer is not a “get out of jail free” card.  There is a place to seek God and ask for His provision, but it can’t be at the center of your relationship with Him.  God desires an intimate relationship with His people.  Reference Philippians 4:6.

Word Night, September 4 – September 8

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7).

One of the goals of this message was to expand our view of God in hopes of getting it a bit closer to accurate. Your theology or beliefs about God determine how you respond to Him (Reiterate this point often in discussion). An accurate view of God will produce right worship or God.

-Ask your group if their thoughts about God are lofty and worshipful, or do we think first about what we want from Him.

-What does your worship of God, or personal response to God reveal about your theology? Does the way you spend your time, money, and affection suggest that you value God above everything else in your life, or does it reveal idolatry that needs to be dealt with.

-Are the majority of my thoughts and beliefs about God based on what the Bible says about Him or am I compiling my theology based on second hand information from sermons and Christian literature?

These questions are heavy. If you don’t feel like your group is ready to talk about these things out loud please hand the questions out. These issues need to be addressed if our church is going to grow deep. Try to get your group thinking big, grand, glorious thoughts about God. As leaders we tend to focus a lot on our people. Center the conversation on God. The Bible is about Him, creation is about Him, everything that exists belongs to Him. Our rGroups need to be about Him.

Here are some questions you could ask if you need something less intense:

Do I read my Bible enough to have a biblical view of God?

How much time do I spend thinking of the riches, wisdom, knowledge, and power of God?

Word Night, August 28 – August 31

The Missional Church

The word “missions” has been around for quite a while.  It seems like in today’s church culture, almost everyone has been on a “missions” trip for example.  However, missions and missional are two very distinct concepts.  Let me explain.

Missions are, generally speaking, events that have a beginning and an end.  A missions trip, for example, usually lasts about a week and is generally to a place.  It usually has a “team leader” and there is a group of individuals that participates in service projects or evangelism to a foreign people or a local people with a need. After the mission trip is over, generally people come back to their home really excited about what God is doing “over there” and can’t wait to go back next year to the next mission trip.

Some people actually return from their mission trip with a renewed excitement about their faith.  They begin to read the bible more frequently, pray for their neighbors on a consistent basis, and even be a bit bolder with their co-workers about their faith…all to prepare themselves to see similar results in their own neighborhood just like they did “over there”

However, after 3 months, that person who returned from their mission trip excited about the possibility of seeing God’s hand at work at home like it was “over there” is now back to his/her old ways of being nonchalant, timid, inward focused, and discouraged over the lack of fruit he/she has seen.

Missional on the other hand is completely different. First let’s define missional.  Missional refers to God’s overall purpose of salvation among ALL nations being accomplished through the sending of Himself and his people, the Church. Being missional means that you don’t have to get on a plane, or a bus, or even leave your neighborhood for that matter.  Being missional means that you are living “on mission” with God each day in order to see his purpose of salvation among All nations.  The concept we have titled it is “Living Sent”.  And to understand where our sent DNA comes from, we should read John 20:21.

Jesus himself tells the disciples, “As my Father has sent me, I now send you”.  Why is that important for us today?  What are the implications for the church?

Because the scope of that missions is implied not just for the disciples, but for the church.  Much like the Great Commission, the command to “Live Sent’ isn’t just for the disciples.  It’s the church’s responsibility.

What do you see as the biggest difference between going on mission trips and being missional/Living Sent?

Why do you think it’s important that we make these distinctions as we are discovering more about what it means to “be the church”?

If we, the church, are going to LIVE SENT we may have to first redefine what it means to “live”.

Changing our default-

On the older computers there used to be a button called “default”.  This was a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user of programmer.  When we hear the word “mission”, 9 times out of 10 we link that with some type of trip, or some event we plan on Saturday in a low income neighborhood.  Don’t get me wrong, those things are good.  But they aren’t missional.  In many ways, the church needs to change our default when we think about missions in the West.

Jesus challenged his hearers to rethink their “live” when he told the parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10.

Let’s look at this passage together and try to glean some insight from what Jesus wanted to teach his listeners.

Read Luke 10:25-37 together and then have someone briefly summarize the story.  What happened?  Who are the main characters?  What are the lessons to be learned?

Typically, we tend to think the moral of the story is about a Samaritan who does something unexpected (because Jews and Samaritans were bitter rivals), while two holy people (both of priestly nature) who should have cared about the man, didn’t do a thing.

Here’s a different approach to the story.

We find an expert in the law who approached Jesus and asked Him, “What do I need to do  to get eternal life?”  Jesus answered with a question, “What’s written in God’s law?”  This was a pretty easy response for an expert of the law, and he responded with love God and love your neighbor.  Jesus told him to do this and he would live.  Simple right?

What is obvious from the story is that the man whom the Jews despised helped out a Jew even when the Jews themselves didn’t help.  Looking deeper, we find that the priest and the Levite were only doing what they were supposed to do, obeying the Law.  According to the Law, the man who was left for dead, who was so beat up he was probably unrecognizable, was unclean.  Therefore, they did the right thing according to their law.

The real lesson of Jesus’ answer was this.  While they were so busy following their legalistic system they had an entire nation of people, who were their neighbors, whom they despised.  The Samaritans actually understood the concept of “love your neighbor”, while the people who were experts of the law couldn’t even begin to grasp it because of their legalism.

Where do you see yourself in this story?  Be honest.  What are some of the things that we can do to “love our neighbor”?

Based on what we’ve studied discuss the following statement, “God does not have a mission for His church, but rather a church for His mission.”

If you’re having trouble try to answer this question, “Which came first?  The church or the mission?”

What then is the church’s response?  How do we respond in our daily lives?

We are to constantly invite people into our lives, into our community, in order to make disciples who make disciples.  Inviting them to put on the yoke of Jesus as we plow through this field called Christianity. (Matt 11:28-30)

Finally, based on the Great Commission, the church (us) is to be making disciples cross-culturally.  How do we do that here in Winston-Salem?  What are some ideas of how we can make disciples cross-culturally where we live and work and play?

Use the closing time to share the Gospel story.  Remind them of the creation story and how all of humanity was cut off from God’s presence because of one man’s sin. As a result, to restore relationship with his people, God sent his Son to be a sacrifice for us.  To pay the penalty for our sin and to bridge the gap between God and his creation. Remind them of Jesus’ resurrection and how he defeated death and now gives us the opportunity to live an eternal life.   As a result, we can now have a direct relationship with God himself, our creator, our Father and the lover of our souls.

“Remind them of their God given value.  God doesn’t use an appraisal value like the housing market.  He doesn’t care whether or not we have fancy baseboards, or wooden floors, or crown molding.  He looks at the heart.  1 Samuel 16:7 “The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them.  People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  That disconnected-from-the-Life-Source heart that was in the Garden, He restores through what happened at the Cross.  Therefore you and I are worth dying for.  And since He made us, we probably ought to adopt His perspective of us and live in that view.” -Jason Dukes

Remind your group that there are people in our sphere of influence who need to hear the Gospel story.  Challenge them to share the Gospel with at least one person this week.

Make sure you do this….

***Finally, have them make a list of the people who are in their sphere of influence.  List out the 5 Categories for them. (Family, work, friends in the world, on the web)

Challenge them to start praying for them daily and close in prayer and send them out as missionaries!

Word Night, August 21 – 24

Colossians 2:6-14
John 15:5
Jeremiah 17:8
Romans 6:6

What does it mean to be a disciple?  What are some characteristics of disciples?

1. Groupie/roadie for a band:  do whatever it takes just to hang out with the band, are obsessed with everything they do and hope to one day have a close relationship and be their friend.
2. Apple Disciples:  I know some people that will pay a lot more to buy Apple products than to settle for a PC.  They have Apple stickers on their cars, they literally mock and make fun of people that don’t have Apple products, and are often called a “cult following.”
3. Big Fan: Some people pull for their favorite team despite how lousy they are and despite who the coach/players are.  They had some kind of positive experience with the team or school growing up or maybe attended there and enjoy the connection with other fans.  They buy t-shirts, make long road trips, all for the thrill of being called a fan.

So what are some things you are a disciple of?

Part of discipleship in the Christian faith is taking a basic belief and putting it into action.  What are some basic beliefs that you have put into action?  What are some beliefs that you obtain to, but rarely put them into action?  (e.g., wearing your seatbelt, diet and exercise, etc).

In Colossians 2:6-7, Paul urges the church of Colossia to be rooted in their relationship with Jesus.  There are multiple examples in Scripture illustrating this point.

-John 15:5
-Jeremiah 17:8, just to name a few.

What does it look like for you to be “rooted” in your faith and relationship with Jesus?  What are the practical implications in your life?  What are some examples of how your roots in Jesus helped hold strong during a tough time in life?  What are some examples of your roots being too shallow and times in your life where you may have stumbled and fallen away from your faith?

Talk about the difference between Christ and Religion.  Freedom vs. Bondage.  The religious value of circumcisions may be outdated, but what are some other things in the world that could be seen in the “Jesus + something else” salvation mentality?

Romans 6:6 talks about leaving all of that stuff behind and finding satisfaction in Jesus and freedom from the slavery of sin.

To close it out, walk through the idea of disciples starting and ending with Jesus and the Gospel.  The motto of rGroups at REVO is to “make disciples that make disciples.”  When that happens, we’ll see our vision of sparking a revolution of life change through Jesus happen in our homes across the city.  Use verse 13-14 to share the Gospel with your group.

If there are non-believers in your group then they may give their life to Christ!

If your group is all following Jesus, it will help remind them of the power of the Gospel, what Jesus did for them, and hopefully fill them with the urgency of the mission we have as a Church.

Challenge your group to BE THE CHURCH!  Help them understand what discipleship has to do with being the church, and make sure you invite them back next week as we look at Missions and Evangelism.

Rhythm: Word Night, August 7-10

Hey group leaders!  Thank you so much for leading an rGroup at REVO.  This week we are going to spend some time in a great text from Ecclesiastes about the different seasons that we go through in life.  I’ve laid out the study time with some scripture references that include some questions to get the conversation going.  Be prepared to help people with some ideas, maybe even sharing your own answer first to get the ball rolling and help people feel comfortable.  I know talking in front of people can be intimidating sometimes, but try to engage your rGroup and help them feel comfortable with sharing.  I’ll be praying for you guys this week!  Don’t hesitate to shoot me an email or give me a call if there is anything I can do for you!  Grow Deep!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

Opening question (Use this to break the ice, get the conversation going, and learn more about each other):
What has been the hardest season of your life?
What has been the best/most rewarding/happiest season of your life?

vs. 4- Being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you.  It doesn’t mean that you won’t cry, get hurt, or never have a bad day.  Did anyone think that at the beginning of their relationship with Jesus?

vs. 6- Do you feel like you’re always looking for something?  More money, better job, bigger house, more friends, more favor?  Could it be that you are looking for meaning and fulfillment in those things instead of Jesus?

vs. 10-11-  Have you ever had a rough patch in life, but realized in hindsight that it was the best thing for you and God really used that hard season to mold you and get you to where you needed to be?  It’s a great reminder of God’s past faithfulness for people that are struggling through a tough season right now.  And it’s a great time to ask God “What are you teaching me right now and how is this preparing me for the next place you’re taking me?”

vs.12-13- Do you allow circumstances in your life to dictate your happiness?  People, economy, number of friends, weather, etc.  Can you see the danger of that?

vs.15- This verse mentions the day you stand in front of God and given an account for what you have done.  In the message last week, Pastor Nathan compared that day to a movie showing, where you and God will look at a replay of your life.  What is your “life movie” going to be like?  Would it be a comedy?  A drama?  A romantic comedy?  Action?  Will there be parts where you will shrink down in your seat and become embarrassed because you and God are watching it together?  Will there be parts where God claps and looks over at you and says “That was awesome!”  I know it’s a simple analogy, but hopefully it will get people thinking about their life.

-This would be a great time to show the potential positive and negative sides of this day.  With Jesus, we have hope and forgiveness and mercy for the sins in our lives.  Without Jesus, you’ll pay the ultimate price for your sins and God will have no mercy on you.  PREACH THE GOSPEL!  Even if your entire group is a follower of Christ!  It will help to remind them of the incredible sacrifice God gave for them and the hope we have in the cross.

Learn from the past, be excited about the future, but realize what God is doing around you right now and follow Him, learn from the current situation, and enjoy the blessings that God has given you.

Rhythm: Family Night, July 17-20

Family Night (Acts 2:42 & 44-46, James 5:13-16, 1 John 1:9, Galatians 6:1-2)

This week each rGroup will participate in Rhythm: Family Night. This is a great time to develop real relationships within your group and also to get prepared for next week’s Invite Night. Remember, you can enjoy Family Dinner together first and then divide into  groups or you can begin in  groups and then have Family Dinner afterwards. Either way is fine, just be sure to read the Starter Guide about Family Night and pay attention to time.

Be sure to discuss and DECIDE what your rGroup is going to do for Invite Night next week during the Family Dinner. Don’t just discuss it, DECIDE and be clear about what you are doing, when, where and what (if applicable) each person needs to bring.  Guys, you will probably finish before the ladies and that’s no problem. Just wait on them to eat if your group is doing dinner second. Remember not to force anyone to share anything that don’t want to share. Over time, your group members will become more and more comfortable sharing what is really going on in their lives.

Family Guide:

1. Family Dinner (during this time, decide what you are going to do next week as your Invite Night event)

2. Get into groups.  If you have a Couples or Co-Ed rGroup then you will divide into 2 groups, Husbands and Wives or Males and Females.

Questions: (you may use all of these or just some of them)

How are you doing? What has been going on in your life?

In what areas of your life do you feel like you are doing good? Any good news you want to share with us?

How are your relationships?  Marriage, Kids, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Roommates, Co-workers, Family members, etc.

How is your relationship with Jesus right now?

Is there anything going on in your life that we can help you with?

What are your struggles?  How are you dealing with them?

Do you have sins you need to confess and for us to pray for you about?                                                                            -Give each person an opportunity for confession

*Then prayer for them about the good, what they need help with and for healing from their sins right now, before moving to the next person.

A big reason for sharing with each other how we are really doing is so that each person will be able to say, “I share all the good stuff and have people excited with me and I share all the bad stuff and have people who are there for me.”

Finishing up…

If you finish the night with Family Dinner, close in prayer and remind the group members to invite people to your Invite Night next week. If you finish the night with Share Time, close your  group in prayer and remind the group members to invite people to your Invite Night next week.

Rhythm: Word Night, July 10-13

Hey rGroup Leaders!  It’s been a couple of weeks since we met together in our small groups.  We hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  Our new series, What is the Meaning of Life, began this week.  We are excited to see what God teaches us through the book of Ecclesiastes.  Word Night this week will look at the different ways people have tried to answer some of the ultimate questions in life.

Open up the night with some of these questions:

What is the meaning of life?
How do you find fulfillment in life?
Why are we really here?

Reread Ecclesiastes 1

King Solomon was rich, powerful, good looking, talented, wise, pretty much the total package.  The guy could have anything he wanted, and he leveraged his power to do just that.  Now that he’s old and has a chance to look back on his life, he writes the book of Ecclesiastes to warn people that he has tried every possible earthly pleasure to find happiness, meaning, and purpose in life.  Despite his vigorous approach at self-satisfaction, he realizes that his life is still void of anything meaningful.

What do you think are the most influential factors in society today that people are pursuing to find meaning in life?  (Possible answers: money, power, prestige, fame, physical pleasure, image)

Which one of those do you think is the most appealing to you?

If someone else was looking at your life and wanted to answer the question “what does he/she think is the real purpose and meaning of life?”, what do you think they would say?  How does the way you spend your time/money answer that question?

Do you find any real accomplishment in the daily “rat race?” Get up, go to work, eat three meals a day, get off work, go to bed, wake up and start it all over.  Make money, pay off your bills, spend more money, go back to work, make money, pay off or bills, etc.  The cycle continues.  There has to be more to life than that, right?

When you’re in school, you can’t wait to get out and get a job so you can make money.  When you get in the real world and get a job, you wish you could go back to school and go to class and not have so many responsibilities.  We’re never satisfied.

Wisdom, work, making money: all of that is proven to be a never-ending cycle that will never leave us satisfied.

As we journey through the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes it clear that real meaning in life is a tough thing to find.  Rick Warren has sold over 30 million copies of his book “The Purpose Driven Life.”  People are searching!  Close your time together this week talking about the meaning, purpose, and fulfillment that you have in a life through Jesus.  Equip your rGroup members to tell their story, to answer the questions, and articulate the peace, joy, and fulfillment they have in Jesus.  During this series, people’s lives are going to be changed! Could one of those lives be someone in your rGroup?  Could one of those lives be someone that your rGroup has a connection with?

Keep the main thing the main thing.  People are searching.  People are trying EVERYTHING they can think of to find meaning and purpose in life, and it’s our responsibility and privilege to point people to the only place they will find fulfillment: Jesus!

June 25th Serve Hard Saturday

rGroup Leaders,

This Saturday is our Serve Hard project where we ‘Serve Hard’ the city of Winston-Salem. We are going to wash the cars of any downtown residents who come to have their car cleaned. It should be a lot of fun and a simple great way to love and serve the people of Winston.

Encourage your group members to come and serve together. This is an important part of being on mission together as a group and developing disciples who make disciples. Jesus was and still is the ultimate servant and as His followers we are called and expected to serve others. That is why we serve hard. Because we are served by the Greatest Servant and we are striving to become more and more like Him.

So gather your group, lead them to serve and watch them Move Forward as they Love Big and Serve Hard the people of this city.