Small Group Guide

This sermon focuses on the shepherds who received the first announcement of Jesus' birth, emphasizing how God chose the lowly and marginalized to hear the good news first. The pastor explores why God selected night shift workers - shepherds who were considered untrustworthy and unclean - to receive this joyous proclamation. The message highlights that Christmas reveals the hope and joy of the world, and that Jesus came for everyone, especially those society overlooks. The sermon challenges listeners to recapture their initial fire for Jesus, share their testimonies, and celebrate what God has done in their lives, just as the shepherds did when they spread the word about what they had witnessed.

Messengers - Small Group Guide

This sermon explores how to transform our prayer lives from repetitive, disposable conversations into meaningful, scripture-shaped encounters with God. Using Nehemiah's prayer life as a model, Pastor Mike demonstrates how folding scripture into our prayers makes them more powerful and purposeful. Just as Napoleon's court used intricately folded napkins to convey meaning at banquets, our prayers should be deliberately crafted using God's Word rather than treated like disposable napkins from a fast-food restaurant. The message challenges us to move beyond predictable, boring prayers by allowing scripture to shape our focus, requests, and expectations when we come before God.

This sermon explores how to hear God's voice through prayer, using the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17-19. The pastor emphasizes that prayer isn't just a habit to build but a hunger to be fed, and that God is more present in a whisper than in dramatic displays. The message addresses the challenge of finding quiet time with God in our busy, distracted world, noting that many believers struggle with burnout and exhaustion from carrying burdens Jesus never asked them to carry. The sermon highlights that God meets us in our burnout and depression, not just in our success, and calls for believers to create space for silence and solitude with God.

This sermon explores the story of Daniel in the lion's den to illustrate how prayer should be a consistent, predictable pattern in our lives rather than just a last resort during crises. The pastor emphasizes that Daniel's enemies could only find fault with his devotion to God, specifically his three-times-daily prayer routine. Just as we have regular eating patterns, we should establish regular prayer rhythms. The message challenges listeners to make prayer as predictable and essential as meals, noting that Daniel continued his prayer practice even when it became illegal and led to the lion's den. The sermon concludes that prayer is a supernatural pattern that keeps us from being spiritually devoured by life's challenges.