Connection Group Questions 1.24.2021
Series: Resolution Redo
Message: Honor God
“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.
2 If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,”
says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.
~ Malachi 2:1-2
Open
Most resolutions are broken and forgotten by the end of January. Maybe that’s not entirely bad. As you reflect on the past month is there anything that you really feel led to resolve to do, or quit doing, in 2021? Remember, you can’t do it all. So feel free to quit even some “good” things to focus on the “better” things.
Richard Koestner says that for resolutions to stick they need to be specific, you must monitor progress, and they should proceed from an inner transformation. Do your resolutions measure up to his requirements?
Discuss
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. And to be blunt, it is a harsh book. It is a warning to Israel, and can serve as a warning to us. It is an indictment against dead orthodoxy. God is not interested in half-hearted religion. In fact, it’s offensive.
To say that Christianity is a “relationship, not a religion,” may not be accurate. Yes, we are invited into a relationships with God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But the relationship certainly looks religious by all accounts.
How would you explain Christianity- a relationship, a religion, something in-between, or something else entirely?
Read Malachi 1:1-2:9
Describe or summarize God’s disputation with Israel. What are they doing, what offends God, what is the prescribed resolution?
What does it mean to honor God’s name?
Read Matthew 15:1-20
Describe or summarize the message of Jesus in this text.
In George’s sermon the connection was made between our words and the condition of our heart. Words can be a powerful force to bring life or death.
How have words shaped your life? Hurt you or helped you? Changed you for good, or changed you for the worse?
“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.
~ Yehuda Berg
We were encouraged to examine our words:
Are your words honoring to God? Or, how have you honored God or dishonored God with your words?
Are your words honoring to others? How, or how not?
Are your words honoring to yourself?
Apply
Can you go a whole week only using words that honor God, others and yourself? Try it. Our “inside” and our “outside” might never align perfectly this side of heaven, but we can seek to honor God more and more, inside and out, every day.
