Small Group Guide based on the November 9, 2025, sermon.
Small Group Guide: Job's Encounter with God
Text: Job 42:1-9 
Theme: Finding God's Strength in Our Weakness

Opening Prayer: Begin by inviting God's presence into your time together. Ask Him to help you process the tensions of faith honestly and to encounter Him personally through your discussion.
Icebreaker: Share a time when you had to hold two seemingly contradictory truths in tension (for example: knowing God is good while experiencing something painful). How did you navigate that experience?
Key Takeaways from the Sermon:

1. The Tension of God's Ability and Purpose
   1. God *can* do all things, but we don't always understand His *purpose* in not doing something
   2. We must learn to hold this tension without resolution in this life
2. Secondhand Reports vs. Firsthand Experience
   1. Job moved from hearing *about* God to *seeing* God
   2. Personal encounters with God in suffering transform us in ways theology alone cannot
3. Appropriate Smallness and God's Bigness
   1. True repentance isn't self-loathing but recognizing our finiteness before God's infiniteness
   2. Understanding our smallness helps us surrender with open hands
4. Wounded Healers
   1. Our suffering, when surrendered to God, becomes a conduit for His strength
   2. God redeems our pain by using it to minister to others

Discussion Questions:
Understanding the Text

1. Job 42:2 - Job declares, "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted." How does this verse capture the central tension we all face in suffering?
2. Job 42:5 - "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." What's the difference between secondhand knowledge of God and firsthand experience? Can you share an example from your own life?
3. Why was God angry with Job's friends (verses 7-8) even though they said many "true things"? What does this teach us about speaking for God?

Personal Reflection

4. The sermon shared the story of Sheridan and Maren's struggle with infertility and the words, "God, this is cruel." Have you ever felt this way? What gave you permission (or didn't) to be honest with God about your pain?
5. Dennis mentioned his father becoming a "wounded healer" through his grief journey. How has God used your past pain to minister to someone else? If this hasn't happened yet, how might God want to use your story?
6. The sermon suggests that "some things are better felt than taught, caught than taught." What spiritual truths have you only truly learned through the crucible of suffering?

Going Deeper

7. How do we balance being honest about our questions and disappointments with God while still trusting His goodness? Where's the line between honest lament and losing faith?
8. Job's friends tried to defend God but ended up obscuring Him instead. How can we avoid "making a better door than window" when others are suffering? What does helpful presence look like?
9. The pastor said he wouldn't have chosen the ministry opportunities that came from his pain. How do you reconcile not wanting to experience suffering with being grateful for what God has done through it?

This Week's Challenge
Choose one of the following to practice this week:

1. Honest Prayer
   1. Write a brutally honest prayer to God about something you're struggling to understand. Don't edit yourself. Then sit in silence and listen for His response.
2. Ministry from Weakness
   1. Identify someone who is going through something you've experienced. Reach out—not to fix them, but to be present and share how God met you in your weakness.
3. Reframe Your Story
   1. Journal about a painful season in your life. Ask God to show you how He was present even when you couldn't see Him, and how He might want to redeem that experience.

Reflection Exercise
Holding the Tension: On a piece of paper, write:
Left side: "God, I know you can..." Right side: "But I don't understand why you..."
Be specific. Then in the middle, write: "I choose to trust that You are both able AND good."
Share with the group if comfortable, or keep it as a personal prayer commitment.
Memory Verse
**Job 42:2** - "I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted."
Closing Prayer Prompts

• Pray for those in the group currently in seasons of suffering or confusion
• Ask God for the courage to approach Him honestly with disappointments
• Pray for opportunities to be "wounded healers" for others
• Thank God that He meets us in our weakness and doesn't waste our pain

Leader Notes

• Be prepared for honest, difficult emotions. Create a safe space for doubt and questions.
• Don't rush to provide answers. Sometimes the ministry is in sitting with the tension together.
• Watch for group members who may be triggered by suffering discussions. Check in privately if needed.
• Remember: The goal isn't to solve everyone's theological questions but to encounter God together in the mess.

Small Group Guide based on the November 30, 2025, sermon.
Small Group Guide: Hope for All
**Luke 15:1-2 | First Sunday of Advent**

Opening Prayer
Begin your time together by lighting a candle and praying for God to open hearts and minds to receive the message of hope during this Advent season.
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Icebreaker Question
What tradition or practice during Advent is most meaningful to you, and why?
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Key Scripture
**Luke 15:1-2** - "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathered around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'"
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Sermon Summary
The first week of Advent focuses on HOPE - hope that pushes back against the hopelessness of the world. In Luke 15:1-2, we encounter four groups of people, each waiting for the Messiah but placing their hope in different things:

1. Tax collectors**: Hope in worldly kingdom and riches
2. Sinners**: Driven to hopelessness through desperation and disobedience
3. Pharisees**: Hope in piety and adherence to the law
4. -Teachers of the law**: Hope in intellectual abilities and allegiance to Moses

All were waiting for Messiah, but their hopes were misplaced until Jesus arrived, embodying true hope for all people.
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Discussion Questions

Understanding the Text
1. Why do you think Luke specifically mentions these four groups of people gathering around Jesus?
2. What does it reveal about Jesus that He "welcomes sinners and eats with them"? Why was this controversial?
3. How were each of the four groups placing their hope in the wrong things? What were they missing?
Personal Reflection
4. Which of the four groups do you most identify with in your own spiritual journey? Why?
5. Where have you placed your hope in the past that ultimately disappointed you or proved insufficient?
6. What does it mean practically to place your hope in Jesus rather than in circumstances, achievements, or other people?
Application
7. The sermon states that hope "pushes back against the hopelessness of the world." What are some specific areas of hopelessness you see in our world today? In your own life?
8. How can we as a group "transform our hope into reality today and in the days to come" as mentioned in the Advent reading?
9. Jesus welcomed those that religious people rejected. Who are the "tax collectors and sinners" in our context that we might be overlooking or excluding?
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Key Takeaways
1. **Hope is the foundation of Advent** - It's the first candle we light because without hope, we cannot experience true peace, joy, or love.
2. **Jesus offers hope to everyone** - Not just the religiously qualified, but tax collectors, sinners, and all who feel unworthy or hopeless.
3. **Our hope must be properly placed** - Worldly riches, religious performance, intellectual achievement, and moral superiority all fail as foundations for lasting hope.
4. **Hope transforms into action** - We're called not just to believe in hope, but to live it out and make it reality in our daily lives.
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Practical Applications

This Week's Challenge
Choose one of the following to practice this week:

1. Option 1: Hope Inventory
2. 
   
   1. Take time to journal about where you've been placing your hope
   2. Identify one area where you need to transfer your hope from something temporal to Jesus
   3. Share your reflection with an accountability partner
3. Option 2: Be a Hope-Bringer
4. 
   
   1. Identify someone in your life who seems hopeless or discouraged
   2. Reach out to them this week with encouragement, practical help, or simply your presence
   3. Look for an opportunity to share about the hope you have in Christ
5. Option 3: Advent Reflection Practice
6. 
   
   1. Each day this week, light a candle and spend 5 minutes in silence
   2. Reflect on the question: "What does Jesus' arrival mean for my hopelessness?"
   3. Write down one thing you're grateful for about the hope Christ brings

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Closing Activity
Group Hope Declaration
Go around the circle and have each person complete this sentence:
"Because Jesus has come, I have hope that..."
After everyone shares, pray together, thanking God for the specific hopes that were mentioned and asking Him to strengthen your faith during this Advent season.
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Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for sending Jesus to bring hope to all people - the religious and irreligious, the successful and the struggling, the confident and the desperate. Help us this Advent season to place our hope fully in You and to become bearers of hope to a hopeless world. May we welcome others the way Jesus welcomes us. In His name, Amen.
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Looking Ahead
Next week we'll explore the theme of PEACE - peace that pushes back against the chaos of our world. Prepare your hearts by considering: Where do I need God's peace most right now?
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Additional Resources

• Read the rest of Luke 15 (the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and prodigal son) to see how Jesus responded to the criticism mentioned in verses 1-2
• Consider reading Isaiah 2:1-5 for the Old Testament prophecy referenced in the Advent reading
• Journal daily using the question: "How is Jesus bringing hope into my life today?"