Week 2 Sermon Questions For Groups

Embrace Your Calling: How to make every moment of your life matter!

Introduction:

Do you find yourself overwhelmed? Does it feel like your life is spinning out of control? Or do you feel like you’re just going through the motions day after day with very little motivation, enthusiasm, meaning, or purpose? Learn how God can make every moment of your life matter.

Something To Talk About:

With so many distractions and information overload in today’s world, staying on track in pursuing our calling becomes harder than ever. By forming healthy habits over the long haul, we can train our focus muscles to stay faithful to our calling in life.

Embrace your calling is to God: God calls all of us to be His disciples and to do His work. In the Bible, God makes it clear that we are to love others, care for the poor, and live our lives in such a way that others see Him in us. God calls His people to become united with Him in every aspect of life. We can’t do this alone. We must respond to His call and depend on Him to complete His purposes and mission through our obedience. God has given each of us gifts to be used to carry out His work for the kingdom. We have to be willing to embrace our calling to and with God. In I Peter 4:10-11 we find these words: “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”
Embrace your calling is by grace: Grace in the New Testament is unmerited favor, but it is more than that. The grace of God is not just God’s love and mercy to the undeserving. It is that, but grace is power. Grace moves in and enables us to fulfill our calling. The power of grace, moving into our lives, turning our resolves into hard work that’s free and joyful. Grace produces hard work. That means when He calls us to do something, He gives us the grace we need to follow Him and make it through any shortfall or tragedy we may encounter. Don’t let the fear of the unknown keep you from following God’s calling. Walk with Him step by step, trusting He’ll be right by your side every moment! Ask God to help you follow Him in obedience to His calling even in the face of uncertainty.
Embrace your calling is with others: We can learn a lot about what community looked like in the early church. It included things like sharing meals, caring for one another, worshiping together, and praying together. The early church took community seriously. They valued spending quality time together, and they did it often. The Christian isn’t just a once-a-week event. It also isn’t about being a church in one place or even in a building. He also asks us to be a light to others, which means sharing our faith with others around us. Such sharing can be empowering to us as well. One of the best ways to do that is through small groups. When being a light to others, we are acting as disciples of Christ and giving people a sense of hope. We are giving them a chance to commit fully to God.
Embrace your calling for a purpose. Many people live their entire lives without ever knowing the reason “WHY?”. They exist year after year with no idea of why they live, or what God’s purpose is for their lives. Real happiness comes from understanding our purpose. What barriers or obstacles have kept you from God’s calling on your life? Sometimes doubt keeps us stuck, wondering if we really heard God or just imagined it. We can even doubt God would want to use us. Another stumbling block to calling is self-doubt, feeling certain that someone else is better or more equipped. Some of us have let our callings die because of hard circumstances, the voices of naysayers, or the diversion of busyness in our day-to-day lives. The biggest obstacle to fulfilling our calling is that we often misidentify what our first calling really is. Our highest calling isn’t what we usually think. It’s not a job we do, a title we earn, or even a check we write. Our first calling is to respond to become more like Jesus. When we do, Jesus draws us near and calls us His brothers and sisters (Matthew 12:50). He erases the divide between our humanity and His divinity by calling us friends (John 15:15). While our faith leads us to accomplish good works, our first and highest calling is simply to be near Jesus.

Discussion Questions:

Do you know the “why” in your life?
Why do you think following God’s calling often involves going through difficult circumstances? When we neglect to follow God’s calling out of fear or uncertainty, what does that say about our trust in Him?
How would you define the difference between a calling/gifting and a hobby?
What am I passionate about? What gifts has God given me?
Do you spend a lot of time questioning what your purpose is?
How would being part of a community help your purpose?
Is it hard for you to commit to following God’s purpose for your life? Why or why not?
What did you hear? What point in this message was most impactful for you?

Take one thing home with you:

First and foremost, as you embark on this careful exploration, you’ll need God’s involvement. After all, He’s the one who has called and gifted us. There are no formulas to discover your calling and the accompanying gifts. Even though there are various resources that can help you discover what you’re good at, when it comes to making an eternal impact, it requires God’s assistance. You’ll be met with frustration if you’re looking for God to answer you in a patterned way. We continually talk about having a “personal relationship” with Jesus, but when it comes to hearing God, in this case discovering our gifts, we want a formula. God wants to keep it personal. That’s why He doesn’t answer each of His children’s prayers the exact same way. It’s different and unique for each of us.