City Renewal – Great Exploits

Vision

Imagine that you could not fail, and that God truly is with you in your areas of influence: Family, education, government/military, business, medicine, or media and the arts. How would you partner with what the Holy Spirit is already doing here? When we dream of bringing God to bear in these spaces we begin to see the supernatural work of God within our cities. Thank you for leading where God has placed you! We pray that you would experience God’s grace while building a life-giving culture, right where you are.

Connect

This is a time to personally connect, share a bit about who you are, and invite others to do the same.

Worship

If you don’t have music, read prayerfully through one or two of the Psalms. For example: Psalm 8, 40, 65, 98, 145, 146, and 150.

Engage

Spend a few minutes sharing what God has shown you in your Bible reading, journaling, and prayer this week. Invite others to do the same. 

Personal

Go a little deeper and be sensitive to God’s activity in people’s lives. Ask questions, listen well, and facilitate conversation with good follow-up questions.

• Read the following: Jeremiah 29:7; Jeremiah 31:14; 3 John 1:11; Daniel 11:32b
• What is the Holy Spirit telling us about how this applies where we are?
• Who are the “priests” today? In what ways does God equip them?
• What are some good deeds, or “great exploits” that we could do here that could affect significant change? 
• If we could not fail, and if God truly IS with us, what would we do differently here?

Application

Take this time to ask what everyone will do, or how we will be different because of what we’ve learned. 

Pray

Pray. Take some time to pray with and for each other.

Sermon Summary

What if the timing of when you were born was sovereignly ordained, by a God who is present and powerful, for the purpose of setting you up to do good works that will help form the atmosphere of a city? What if the place where you live and work and play is all sovereignly orchestrated by God? What if the very place you call your city is missing a crucial element to be fully complete and experience the peace and prosperity it was meant to have, and God made you to be that very element?

We are considering the significance of who God placed in each city so that we can understand that we are a large part of the strategy for our Cities to be renewed. And the way in which God is orchestrating change in and through us, is where our affections rest. 

Scripture References from the Sermon

• Proverbs 11:10
• Jeremiah 29:7
• Jeremiah 31:14
• 3 John 1:11
• Daniel 11:32b
• Deuteronomy 10:12
• Jeremiah 31:14

Discussion Questions

• What was your primary takeaway from the message?
• Have you ever considered that the place and time for you to be in your city are both ordained by God? Ever wonder why?
• What happens to a city, your city, when you are present? Proverbs 11:10
• Read Jeremiah 29:7 and Jeremiah 31:14 and discuss some ideas as to the “why”.
• Discuss the connection between what you see in the Word and the good works you live out in your city.
• All of this talk about “doing good” could rearrange our priorities. Discuss Roy Hession’s quote: “To concentrate on service and activity for God may often actively thwart our attaining the true goal, God Himself.” 
• How do you actively keep your heart in love with God? Deuteronomy 10:12
• How do you see God already working in your city? How can you join in on what He is doing?