THREE THINGS TO KNOW
DON’T MISS THIS
Giving Tables are back! They are an excellent way to support a local ministry in a tangible way. Make sure your group knows about them and consider joining together as a group to purchase some items. For more information, visit adabible.org/givingtables.
GROUP VALUES
This month we are highlighting Serving. Serving together helps a group look outside themselves and meet a need around them. There are many great ways to serve. For information about how to serve as a group in the community, email sthompson@adabible.org. Or, consider serving together in Discovery Village three or more times this summer. For information on serving as a group in DV, email discoveryvillage@adabible.org.
GROW AS A LEADER
As we move into Spring and the weather starts to get nicer, it’s a perfect opportunity to sit down with your Ada Bible staff contact for a time of encouragement and equipping during a 1-on-1 conversation. Reach out to your staff contact this week to set something up to debrief the past year and discuss your group’s summer plans.
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Welcome to the fifth week of our series, The Lord and His Prayer. This week we discuss asking for forgiveness and offering it to others.
What’s one of your favorite memories with your mom or a mother figure in your life?
Have someone read Matthew 6:9-13 aloud. We are nearing the end of our 40 Days of Prayer. How has slowing down to pray intentionally throughout this series changed how you view The Lord’s Prayer?
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS
Jesus’s instruction on prayer gives us a model for the types of things we should talk to God about. Why do you think Jesus included the line “forgive us our debts”?
Jesus starts the prayer by addressing God as Father. How does that address help give us confidence that God will forgive us when we ask for forgiveness?
Sometimes we can look around us and think we are OK because we aren’t as bad as everyone else. But Jesus’s model prayer assumes we need to ask for forgiveness. What do you think would happen in our hearts if we regularly went to God and asked for forgiveness?
THE COST
Have someone read Isaiah 53:5b aloud. What did it cost Jesus to offer us forgiveness?
Forgiveness costs. Jesus uses debt language in the prayer. How does debt language help us understand what forgiveness requires?
THE TANDEM
Jesus first instructs us to ask for forgiveness but then ties offering forgiveness to asking for it. Why do you think Jesus links asking for forgiveness and offering forgiveness?
Read Colossians 3:13 and Ephesians 4:32 aloud. When we don’t acknowledge our desperate need for forgiveness, we may struggle to forgive. How can remembering that we desperately needed forgiveness and that forgiveness cost Jesus dearly help us when it comes time to forgive?
The church community should be a place where hurts are not overlooked or left unresolved but addressed and forgiven. How would a church community known for acting this way stand out in the world today?
WRAP UP
This week’s conversation was about being forgiven and that leading us to forgive. What keeps you from forgiving, and how can the group help?
Download a printable PDF.