Gcf Austin

Life Group Questions 1. What is mammon? 2. In Sunday’s message, Pastor Rob taught us that the spirit of Mammon will try to get us to look to money to fill our needs, rather than looking to God to fill our needs. Share an example (the more recent the better) of how you caught yourself thinking that way. 3. Have you ever thought, “If I had more money, I wouldn’t have as many problems?" How do you see that differently, or more clearly, after Sunday’s teaching? 4. Pastor Rob explained Luke 16:9, “....so that when it is all gone, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” How did this truth inspire you? 5. The four keys to breaking free from the spirit of Mammon are: - Deal with any selfishness in your heart - Never allow your heart to grieve from giving - Develop a liberal heart - Maintain a grateful heart Which of these is the biggest battle for you?

Life Group Questions 1. What was the main thing you got out of Sunday's message? 2. In Sunday’s message, Pastor Ryan taught us that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible dealing with money – more than four times that of verses on either prayer or faith. Why do you think that is? 3. The three principles (Principle of the Firstborn, Principle of the Firstfruits, and Principle of the Tithe) are all speaking to the fact that God should have first place in every area of your life. Share with everyone when that happened for you in the area of your finances. 4. What has been the biggest struggle for you in being faithful and consistent in giving the tithe to your church? 5. Keeping in mind that the three underlying issues for people not tithing are Education (not knowing what the Bible says), Faith (not trusting God to provide for you), and Disobedience (not caring what God commands you to do), which of these is (or was) the real issue for you? How can you (did you) get victory over it?

LG Questions: 1. Why do you think that it is important to practice hospitality WITHIN the family? 2. What are some of the practical ways that you practice hospitality AS a family? 3. When being hospitable, how do you involve your children? 4. What are some of your family traditions? 5. Be honest. To this point, are you just a listener when it comes to hospitality? Or are you a doer? If so, what have you done?

Life Group Questions 1. What did you personally get out of Sunday's message? 2. A well-managed home looks at hospitality as a lifestyle, not just an event. Is this how you view hospitality in your home? Explain. 3. Do you view your home as a place where ministry can and should happen? 4. Pastor Ryan gave us four practical steps to successfully plan hospitality. - Develop reliable menus - Establish a list - Encourage meaningful conversation - Pray, pray, pray Which of these do you need to add to your planning and why?

Life Group Questions 1. How did Pastor Myles describe hospitality? 2. When was the last time you had people over to your house? 3. What is the primary focus of hospitality? 4. Pastor Myles gave five biblical categories of guests. - Believers - Unbelievers - Those in need - Foreigners, immigrants, & refugees - Those in ministry Which category have you neglected to show hospitality toward and why?

LG Questions for 11/10/21 (What is Worship?) - John Church 1. In your own words, what is worship? What is it to you? 2. What do you think about this statement? Is it true for you? Why? --- Frederick Robertson said this: “Again, it is not a thing which a man can decide, whether he will be a worshiper or not, a worshiper he must be, the only question is what will he worship? Every man worships--is a born worshiper.” 3. In Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus issues a call to worship to you by saying this: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” --- Are you in danger of being spit out because your worship is tepid? 4. The two marks of worship: 1) sacrifice and 2) faith. With regard to your worship: --- How are you sacrificing? Why is that a sacrifice? --- How are you acting in faith? What makes that an act of faith?

Life Group Questions: 1. What were the main takeaways from Sunday’s message for you and how can you apply them to your life? 2. Describe the culture in which you were raised? What were godly and ungodly aspects of that culture? 3. Can you identify the character traits you picked up during your upbringing that you are now working on changing? 4. Heaven's worship culture includes extending our hands, kneeling, shouting, singing a spontaneous song, clapping, raving as if a madman, and dancing. Which ones are easier and which ones are harder for you to embrace? 5. The story of David bringing back the ark of the Lord was read. Can you somehow relate with David’s wife Michal that she was embarrassed for her husband and concerned about what people would think? How important is the opinion of other people to you?

Why Worship #2 | The Presence of God | 10-17-2021 | Life Group Questions 1. Other than Jesus, who is the celebrity/famous person who you would most like to meet in person? If this person walked into the room right now, you would totally freak out. Who is that person to you? 2. How do your feelings about being in the presence of this famous person compare to your reaction to being in God’s presence? 3. The speaker said that each of us could come into the presence of God. How? 4. What does VIBRANT praise and worship mean to you? What does it look like when you praise and worship vibrantly? 5. When God manifests His presence, He does so for four main reasons: a. His presence brings redemption b. His presence brings revelation c. His presence brings joy d. His presence stultifies our adversary Which of these reasons stand out most to you? Means the most to you? 6. Share stories of times, during praise and worship, that you experienced t

Life Group Questions 1. John 4:23 – “The time is coming, yes, it is here now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  The Father seeks that kind of worshiper.” What does being a true worshiper mean to you? What does He find when he finds you? 2. Pastor Ryan described six attributes of true worshipers. True worshipers: - are givers - cannot go unnoticed - recognize God’s greatness - hunger for God - aren’t chameleons - are sanctified & righteous Which of these resonated with you the most and why? 3. Describe a bad time in your life when you chose to worship God through your difficult circumstances. 4. On a scale of 1-10, how in awe of God are you? Explain.

Life Group Questions 1. What impacted you the most from Sunday’s teaching / this series? 2. Jesus told the church in Sardis to “wake up and strengthen what remains” because they were spiritually dead from becoming like the surrounding culture. Why do Christians in America need to hear this today? 3. Pastor Ryan said, “A Christian without courage is a cultural atheist.” How does this challenge you personally?

LG Questions 1. Because of their Marxist ideology, the woke social-justice mob wrongly believes: (a) Wealth and resources are zero-sum (i.e., they don’t understand the concept of wealth creation); (b) If you have wealth and success, you got it illegitimately (i.e., it’s not through your sacrifice or work efforts, it’s only because the system is rigged in your favor); (c) Wealthy nations are evil, because they got wealthy through some evil means (like colonialism, greed, rapacious capitalism). Which of these three do you find the most objectionable? 2. History shows that those nations that fully embrace Christianity (and a Judeo-Christian worldview) have moved from poverty, lack of civil rights, and pervasive crime to prosperity, freedom, increased rights, and a dramatic decrease in crime. On a personal level, please share an example from your life of how Biblical truth (a Christian worldview) has brought you forward into prosperity and/or freedom. 3. Pastor Ryan focused in on four big issues, and how di

LG Questions 1. Among the quotes Pastor Ryan gave us on Sunday were these three: (a) A.W. Tozer: “A frightened world needs a fearless church.” (b) Ken Meyers: “Cultural engagement without Biblical discernment leads to cultural captivity.” (c) C.S. Lewis: “Human beings have this curious idea that they ought to behave a certain way, and they cannot really get rid of it.” Which of these three was your favorite, and why? 2. Communitive justice means “living in right relationships with God and others – treating others as uniquely valuable as image-bearers of God.” Do you ever struggle to see (& treat) others as uniquely valuable image-bearers of God? 3. Two key Biblical principles regarding justice are: (a) Debt is to be paid by the one who incurred it. (b) Debt cannot be involuntarily transferred to another. In what ways are these truths freeing to you?

1. Christians are criticized for being hypocritical, lacking unity, homophobic, and judgmental. In your opinion, why are we receiving these objections and criticisms? Are these objections and criticisms valid? 2. What other objections and criticisms have you heard? How have you responded when faced with these other objections and criticisms? 3. The speaker taught that Christians should focus on forming a genuine relationship with an outsider rather than focus on their sin. a. What do you think of this? b. Isn’t it important to inform people that they are sinning so that they can turn away from those ways? 4. The speaker suggested that we should apologize for the hurt that other Christians have caused to non-Christians. But we didn’t wrong anyone. We are not at fault. What do you think of this suggestion? 5. The speaker encouraged you to seek out non-Christians and make friends with them. Why?

Life Group Questions 1. Describe a time in your life when someone’s encouragement helped you through a difficult time. 2. Are you an encourager of the people around you? Do you go out of your way to encourage others? 3. Who in your sphere of influence needs encouragement from you? 4. King David encouraged himself in four ways: - He remembered his past - He prayed - He realized God is in control - He asked God what to do Which one of these do you need to do more often and why?