30/07/2023

GO & MAKE

Home Group Study Notes:   30 July 2023  

Message:  Rev Tim Rist  

Theme: “Go and make”  

This format is a guide to you for your small group meeting. Feel free to change and adapt it according to the needs of your group. The objective is for you to build authentic relationships within the group, relationships that enable you to learn to love others who are different to you, and to discover as a reality the treasure of relationships built on the foundation of a relationship with Jesus, his life, and his teaching. 

Meeting and Greeting: 

Begin with general conversation and sharing about how the past week has gone.  

Worship and Prayer 

Click on the link below on your smartphone, Smart TV, or computer, to select songs to sing; and then spend a few minutes in song and prayer.  

PLETT METHODIST YOU TUBE CHANNEL SONG’S PLAYLIST:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbsAkwbV_S1vXdZVPkZ0_tQW5n9RqeZX0 

And if you need to check on the Message for the week again, then click on: 

PLETT METHODIST YOU TUBE CHANNEL (MESSAGE): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1X4YYw1KLpda1yGnqKgfw/videos 

This time of worship and prayer will encourage you to move your thoughts from daily worries and pressures to our time of Bible study and prayer. 

You do not have to answer all the questions below.  

 

READING:  Matthew 28: 16-20 and Matthew 13:24-51 

 

Warm up for the discussion time: 

Have you ever been part of a volunteer group? If so, what was it about? How did it go? 

Discussion and Sharing 

Matthew 28 

  • Read Matthew 28:16-20 aloud. How do you hear Jesus’ instruction in your life today? How do you hear it differently for Pastors or lay people? How do you hear it for your home group, your church, your community of faith in a collective way? 

 

Matthew 13 

  • Verses 31-32:  The work of the Kingdom often begins in a small way; the truth, the Word, is planted in a life and over time it will grow. You can do something small and be the seed of God’s Word planted in your community, in your family, in your friendship circle, in your work, to be the seed that will be the growing influence for the Kingdom of God in that place. What does it mean for you, to recognise that your life might be a seed that must be planted for the Kingdom in this way? 
  • Verses 37-38: Can you live for God? Not an easy question to answer in the context of a world that demands political correctness, in a world that emphasises compromise over and above the value of the pursuit of truth. Be the seed that grows to give life. There are plenty of weeds out there. What does it mean for you, to be seen to be different in how you live?  
  • Verse 43: What does Jesus mean when he says: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” 
  • Verses 44-46:  These are verses that have to do with searching for the ultimate value in life – which is the truth of who God is, and then making that truth part of life (owning it). What is your response to my statement “Search for the truth, search for what is truly precious and of the greatest value in life… discover and own the truth!”  What does this mean for you? 
  • Verses 47, 51. Everyone needs to be caught for the kingdom. Can you become one of the strands of rope of the net, that will catch others and bring them in? If so, how will you do it? 

 

Faith building: 

  • How will you go and make disciples this week?  

Prayer: Share prayer requests and then pray together. 

Closing Prayer:  And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now, and forever more. Amen 

 

Have a wonderful week. God bless. Tim.