Connecting:
- Who is the toughest person you know to shop for during Christmas?
- Have each person share a high point and a low point from this last week?
- What is a way you have used the Christmas season as a witnessing opportunity?
Application: Christians hope, they don’t wish.
- Read Jeremiah 14:7-9. Is there anything in this passage that stands out to you or that you connect with most? Are there any questions you have?
- Read the lyrics of O Holy Night (see below). What sections of the song do you see relating to Jeremiah 14:7-9?
- When you come to the line, “a thrill of hope,” how would you define hope? What is the difference between wishing and hoping? Was there something from the sermon this week that helped in your understanding of the two terms?
- How can you tell when someone is hoping versus wishing? Does this differ between Christians and unbelievers who get the two confused?
- What are some traps or lies that Christians fall into that lead us to wish versus hope? Why does remembering what we are hoping for, push us to move from wishing it to hoping in it?
Application: Hope expects, groans, and rests
- Read Romans 8:18-25. Our hope expects the conditions of this world to change. If someone was to ask you the reason for your hope, or what facts you have to support it, what would you tell them?
- It seems strange to hope in something you can’t control. What promises do we have that we can lean on to have hope? Are there any passages you often go to?
- Romans 8:22 argues that the groaning, as a result of the pain leading up to childbirth, indicates something good is coming. How is the groaning and suffering in this current world an indication and hope of the one to come?
- Roger defined rest as a satisfied mind based on the sufficiency of the evidence. How is this different from optimism and pessimism?
- What are some biblical truths that you meditate on to help you find rest?
O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Fall on your knees
O hear the angels' voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born
O night divine o night
O night divine
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