WEEK 1
SMALL GROUP
STUDY GUIDE
Prelude/Chapter 1
1. What was your view of God growing up? Was it similar to the author’s….a God of goodness and faithfulness? Or a judge waiting for you to mess up so he could punish you? Or maybe a God who was distant/nonexistent?
2. Did you feel that your doubts and questions were welcomed or discouraged? Share an example.
3. How have you felt that Christians are SUPPOSED to feel? The text gives a few examples, “I’m supposed to have faith, not fear. I’m supposed to have joy, not depression. I’m supposed to have hope, not despair.” (p.7) What other examples can you think of?
4. Have you ever felt the internal pressure to fake it ‘til you make it? What were the circumstances, and how did that turn out for you? In hindsight, would you do something differently?
5. In chapter 1, the author talks about the power of a painful testimony.
Tell about an experience you’ve had or one that has inspired you: a painful testimony that displayed great faith to others.
Read Exodus 32:1. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
6. How do you see this playing out in our culture? When God “takes too long”, what familiar things are people running to instead of trusting God to be faithful?
7. When God doesn’t show up when you want Him to, what do YOU replace Him with?
Wrapping Up…
Read the last two paragraphs on page 41 out loud.
Pray as a group, or silently, that God would accomplish these purposes in each of our lives.
Small Groups are important!
New Hope Community Church encourages everyone to participate regularly in a small group. The importance is for you to have accountability to others, as well as a place where you feel you belong and are cared for. Getting to this place requires groups to spend frequent and consistent time together, getting to know one another as you walk together through life. As for any book study like this one, what is important is that you engage in conversation. Where God leads the discussion is up to him, so do not feel pressure to have every person answer every question, nor to feel rushed to get through all the questions. Allow this to simply start/guide the discussion, and then let it progress from there. Sunday messages will be connected to each chapter from the Disobedient God book, and reading along each week can only enhance the experience, but these questions can still be used even without reading the book. We are excited to hear about your growth as you engage with your small group! Thanks for taking this step.