Listening To Hope

Lesson: Many times when we ask our selves, “Is it really possible to live the Christian life well?” we truthfully answer, “No.”  In studying the life of King David we discover that it is possible to live before God, even as sinners, if we just don’t give up. 

“In the company of David we don’t feel inadequate because we know we could never do it that well.  Just the opposite: in the company of David we find someone who does it as badly as, or worse than, we do, but who in the process doesn’t quit, doesn’t withdraw from God.  David’s isn’t an ideal life but an actual life. . . . We read David to cultivate a sense of reality for a true life, an honest life, a God-aware and God-responsive life.”

                                          ~ Eugene Peterson 
 

Text(s):  Various texts are used throughout the sermon. 

Ice-Breakers: (opening questions to ask the members of the group) 

1. Share with the group you favorite David story.  Why is it your favorite?
2. Is there any particular character in the David story with whom you especially identify?  Why would do you feel that way?
3. What new or different thing did you come away with after the eight-month study on David’s life?  Did you learn anything new or different about the character of God?

Background: 

Throughout the entire series on the Life of David five themes were emphasized.  They include: 

1. In the middle of all the parts of my life I must keep praying and praising.
2. God uses all the stuff of my life to form in me His holy image.
3. Fear makes me stupid.  So does sin.
4. The matter of my heart matters the most.
5. God is sovereign over all my life, at all times, in all things.

Digging Deeper: 

1. Pick one of the five themes you wish your group to focus on and then turn to that portion of David’s sermon (attached in the email). 

1. Ask your small group to share how they find a resonance in their own hearts with the theme itself. 

1. Look at the examples given from the life of King David that show how this theme is worked out.  How does God engage David or David engage God in the example?

1. For a different kind of Hope Group gathering, read the “Tale of a King” written by David Taylor (also attached in the email).  You should probably pass out various portions of the script to your group members and have different ones elucidate the story with their interpretive reading.  In the tale David makes the point that we yearn for a benevolent king to rule over us while at the same time we have a yearning to be a benevolent king or queen.  Do you agree with this thesis?  Does it ring true in your own heart and/or experience?  How can we follow God as King?

Wrap Up: 

• Find someone in your group with whom you can exchange the question, “How’s your heart.”  Make a pact to ask the question once per week, every week until Christmas.
• Make a list of the people in your life currently whom God has placed there to help keep you on the straight and narrow.  Pray for them.  If it is possible, write them a note and bless them with a ‘thank you’.
• Pray in groups of three for one another according to one of the five themes presented above.

Reach Out: 

• As you begin a new semester with the Hope Group ministry ask one another if there are folks that can be invited into your group.  Make some time to open your meeting to a few new folks.