Leader Guide Week of October 21st.

Small Group Leaders Guide
October 21, 2007

Small Group Announcements (please announce these to your group).

Harvest Festival passports are on sale now. If purchased on Sunday mornings at the info table, you will save money versus buying them as you arrive at the event. Bring a candy donation and save even more! For information about the Harvest Festival contact Mike Wagner at KidzLife@newlifecommunitychurch.net.

Small Group Study Questions:

October 21, 2007
Can You Hear Me Now?
What To Do When God Seems Silent

Getting Started:

1. Read Psalm 18:6. Does God have ears?



Going Deeper:

2. Look around your small group. If you had to choose someone to sit in a room with, all alone, in total silence, who would you choose and why? What does this say about the relationship you have with that person? How is the quality of your relationship with God important when He seems silent?

• Silence can sometimes be an expression of trust.
• Silence can sometimes be an expression of comfort.

3. Discuss a time when God seemed silent in your life. How did you respond? As time has gone by, do you still respond in that way? Why or why not?


4. Read Zechariah 7:13. God said that when they called He would not listen. What made God decide not to listen to them? In the times when God has seemed silent in your life, do you think there may have been similar reasons?


5. Scripture clearly teaches that there are times when God is silent. (1Samuel 3:1, Amos 8:11 for example) Read Hebrews 13:5-6. How does this verse coexist with times where God seems silent?


6. Read Psalm 77:1-9. Have you ever felt this way? Read the rest of the Psalm. What happens to cause the turning point for the author of this Psalm? How might doing what Asaph did in this Psalm help you when God seems silent? Specifically, what would you remember (vs 11)?

• I think the turning point is the first time the word “mused” appears. To muse is to think or ponder. As he began to think about and ponder his questions he also began to remember things about God that helped him answer the questions he was asking. (has His love vanished, will He reject forever, will He never show favor, etc.)
• Asaph went from feelings to faith. His faith was more than feelings. His faith was informed and intellectual also. When he felt the weight of those questions rising up within him, he took captive his thoughts so that he could remember what he knew to be true of God.

7. Jeremiah 29:4-14 describes a time of discipline for God’s people and a time when God may seem silent (see verses 8-9). What is God’s advice to His people while they are going through this disciplinary action? How might this be a practical lesson in your own life when God seems silent?

• God seems to be suggesting that they live in the same way He would want them to live if they were in their own land.
• In the later verses He emphasizes seeking Him.

8. On Sunday we looked at four responses we can have when God seems silent. Which one is the hardest for you? If you added a fifth response, what would it be?

• Don’t read the wrong message into a “no message” situation.
• Don’t return the favor.
• Don’t lose hope.
• Don’t let what you don’t know rob you of what you do know.
• If I added a fifth response, it would be “remember." Remember who God is, what He has done in my life, the promises He has made.

Putting it into practice:

1) What are one or two practical ways you can respond when it seems like God is being silent? How can your small group help? Pray about that in your groups.



Quote Of The Day:
Silence is not absence.