O Little Town of Bethlehem: Micah 5:1-5
Take about 30 minutes during your missional community gathering to discuss what God is teaching you and how he is leading you in light of the weekend sermon.
General Sharing: Share a high and a low from your Christmas with the group. Were there any observations you made about your immediate or extended family and where they are at in their faith? Were you able to have any gospel-centered conversations with any of them? What was one thing you did to help remind you of the real meaning of Christmas during this season?
Application [Our significance is not in our size, security, or strength, our significance is in our savior]: What are some things in our culture that lead us to think that bigger, stronger, and faster are better? Part of this comes from a mentality that success is winning, what does winning look like within the American life? Notice the connection between feeling like we can earn or work to accomplish winning and the feeling of our own success. How is this different than the mindset we need to understand the gospel? How is this different from the message God is sending by using the little town of Bethlehem?
Application [The more we recognize the greatness of our need the more we recognize the greatness of our Savior]. Why is it so hard for us to want to identify ourselves with the little town of Bethlehem? What are areas of our life’s the remind us that we are not the hero of the story, but are in fact like the little town of Bethlehem? What are some areas of our lives that commonly distract us into thinking we are the hero? When this happens what are some of the effects it has on our relationship with God and in what way are these manifest in how we live our lives? What is the blessing in recognizing how similar we are to Bethlehem?