Christ Community Downtown
Darkness and Light - 10am & ON-DEMAND
CONVERSATION STARTERS
Conversation Starters help us dig deeper, connecting Sunday’s sermons with our Monday lives. These prompts have been designed to help Community Groups grow in their relationship with God, with one another, and with their neighbors. Please know that these questions are meant to be a resource to you. You do not have to follow them verbatim or get through them all. We trust you to know your group and to ask the questions based on your group needs.
1) Optional parallel reading for group discussion: Philippians 3:7-11.
2) What stood out to you from the sermon?
3) In the sermon the verses throughout the Bible that mention ‘light.’ were read. Reflect on these verses: “ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5).
4) Jesus standing in the midst of our church empowers us to be the light, and yet, our light grows dim because of compromise. It’s hard to keep shining when light threatens the status quo and darkness feels like a relief. What is meant by these statements? Take some time this week to reflect on how you relate to these statements in your daily life and rhythms.
5) What does it look like for your community group, collectively, to continue to choose light, and be a light in the darkness around you in KC?
Prayer:
Pray that a spirit of self-sacrifice would be prominent in our Downtown Campus. Pray that we would continue to hold onto the light in the midst of the darkness, not by our own willpower, but through God’s Spirit in us. Ask that God would help us remain in the light, even when the light threatens our status quo and when darkness feels like a relief.
Revelation 2:1-29 ESV
Revelation 3:1-22 ESV
Title: Darkness and Light
Scripture: Revelation 2-3
Speaker: Gabe Coyle, GabeC@ChristCommunityKC.org
>> Light is most needed in the darkest moments.
“It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.” - Lord of the Rings
>> Our light is most needed in the darkest moments.
>> Light makes a better world.
#1 Our light goes dim when we compromise.
- It’s hard to keep shining when light threatens the status quo.
- It’s hard to keep shining when darkness looks like a relief.
"Idols make promises of protection and provision, and they require allegiance. Their worshipers don’t merely love them too much; they submit to these idols and worship them….Political participation has a unique ability to inspire idolatry in people precisely because it so often involves promises of protection and provision, requires sacrifices, legitimizes authority, and inspires submission and worship." - Kaitlyn Schiess, The Liturgy of Politics
#2 Our light shines brightest in self-sacrifice.