Share

It’s Always Been In You

Discussion Guide

Conversation Starters

What’s your favorite song from the new album Old Church Basement?
If you had to spend two hours on YouTube, what kinds of videos would you watch?
Share a talent or skill that’s always been in you. (Something you picked up naturally as a kid and you can still do it well.)

Review

Ask eGroup members to share their favorite points from the sermon, what spoke to them, a phrase or moment from the sermon they related to the most, or questions they have. If members have a hard time recalling the sermon, talk through your notes and share your favorite points.

Make It Personal

  • If you could go back and relive ANY memory from your life, what would it be and why?
  • Read Genesis 35:1-11. When Jacob was in his greatest need for faith, God took him back to the place of his greatest fear — Bethel. What’s a Bethel(s) you’ve walked through in your life (or that you’re walking through right now)? Why does God call us back to those places?
    • Bethel could be a place where you were afraid or a place where you weren’t sure you would make it. When are times you go back to Bethel in your mind? Talk about a time when God took you back to Bethel to teach you or show you something. What did you learn?
  • Jacob built an altar at Bethel to remind himself what God had done. If you don’t build an altar in your Bethel, what’s ON you will cause you to forget what’s IN you. Identify the things that are in you, and then share some things that are on you right now. (What’s on you can be anything from negative labels, to success you’ve been chasing, to a decision someone else made that’s affecting you.)
  • What does it mean to allow the things that are on you to diminish what’s in you? How can we keep that from happening? (What can you do to throw off what’s on you? See Genesis 35:2-4 for Jacob’s instructions to his household.)
  • Go deeper. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34. How have you made your covenant with your struggle greater than your covenant with God?
    • Jacob’s struggle wasn’t with his brother or his enemies — it was with himself. Jacob had to make peace with Jacob. In Jeremiah 31:33, God is making it clear that this new covenant would bring inner transformation. What does it mean for you to use inner transformation to win the struggle with yourself?

Act On It

How have you forgotten what’s in you in these past few weeks or months? Go back to Bethel this week, throw off what’s limiting you, and let God remind you who He is and what He’s done so you can remember what’s in you.

Prayer Requests And Prayer

Ask eGroup members to share any prayer requests they have. Record any notes or prayer requests to pray for members during the week.
Father, we’re so grateful for how You’ve been with us in every Bethel. We want to remember what You’ve done so we can identify what’s on us now that’s causing us to forget what’s in us. Thank You for the covenant You made that we can depend on no matter what. In Jesus’ name, amen.