Don Denyes // Rockford Campus // February 16, 2025

SMALL GROUP
DISCUSSION GUIDE

THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: Luke 15:1–24

REMINDERS

WINTER PRAISE SERVICE (Sunday, February 23 – Rockford Campus)
Mark your calendars for the winter praise service the evening of Sunday, February 23rd at the Rockford campus.

WOMEN’S MOVIE NIGHT + GUYS GAME NIGHT
Join Women at Magnify for a movie night on Friday, February 21st (all three campuses) or Men at Magnify for a Guys Game Night on Monday, March 3rd at the Rockford campus. See the events page on the website for more information.

LEADER DEVELOPMENT CLASS (Sundays, 6–7pm – Rockford Campus, “The Pond” downstairs by the Library)

Join us as we look at leadership principles from Paul David Tripp’s Lead. We’ll have books available for those who want to read along, or simply join us to talk about the principles we can all learn and apply as leaders in our church, homes, and communities.

TOGETHER IN LIFE

What is one little known hobby or interest of yours or something you love learning more about?

TOGETHER IN THE WORD

THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: Luke 15:1–24

Note: If you are meeting as a group, we encourage you to read the entire text together out loud.

KEY QUESTION:

• Do you see yourself as someone who was lost and needed to be found, a reckless sinner in need of rescue? How does this shape your experience of the gospel and your view of those who don’t yet know Jesus as Savior?

GOING DEEPER:

Two Kinds of People

Luke 15 opens with Jesus speaking to two groups of people: first, the tax collectors and sinners, and secondly, the Pharisees and scribes. Dr. Don described the tax collectors and sinners as being guilty of committing obvious sins of the flesh. They were sinners and they knew it. The Pharisees and scribes, however, were guilty of committing hidden sins of the heart. They were sinners, but they didn’t know it.

The Pharisees and scribes felt secure in their religious performance and judged Jesus and the sinners He was eating with.

QUESTIONS

• Don said that we can divide all people into two categories: those who sin and know it and those who sin and yet remain unaware of their rebellion against God. Which group of people do you identify with most? Why?
• Do you consider sins of the heart (such as pride, lust, and coveting) to be as sinful and in need of repentance and forgiveness as sins of the flesh? Why or why not?
• The Pharisees and scribes grumbled against Jesus. Read Philippians 2:1–2, 14–15. How does God feel about our grumbling against one another? How are we to live in community instead?

Our Story

Jesus told the people a three-part parable of lost things being found in order to illustrate God’s heart toward those who are lost and God’s joy when they are found. Don described the parable of the lost sons as our autobiography. It tells the story of everyone who has been reborn in Christ.

QUESTION

• The younger son demanded that his father liquidate his estate and give him a portion immediately, and the father did it. In the sermon Don said that sometimes God gives us what we want so that He can show us what we need. Has there ever been a time in your life when you got what you wanted, but then realized it was not what you actually needed? How did God work through that in your life?

The Sinner’s Broken Heart and the Father’s Loving Heart

In last week’s Scripture passage and sermon we learned that in order to truly be a disciple of Jesus we must pick up our cross daily, die to self, and follow Him. This week we see that dying to self and sin and coming to Jesus brings us into the loving embrace of the Father. We’re not met with shame but with overflowing love.

The younger son worked through a three-step process of coming back to his father:

• First he realized his brokenness, the depravity of his situation, and his need for rescue.
• Second, he resolved to arise and go to his father.
• Third, he repented. He confessed to his father, I have sinned against God and against you.

Real repentance can feel hard and humbling in the moment, but it always brings us into the loving arms of our Father.

QUESTIONS

• Consider the three steps the younger son worked through in order to repent and come home. Do you ever find yourself resisting one of these steps and the humility required to fully confess and repent of a sin? If so, why?
• In verses 20–24 we see the father run to his lost son, embrace him, and celebrate his return. He throws his arms around the son to protect him from those who would condemn him for his sin. We know that in this parable, the father represents Christ, who shows us the heart of the Father. Does seeing God in this light affect how you feel about confession and repentance?
• Read Romans 5:1 and 8:1. What do these verses have to do with confession, repentance, and the love of God?

 

TOGETHER IN ACTION

If you have been saved, thank God for His underserved grace and for seeking and saving you from death into life. Ask Him to show you if there’s anything that you need to repent of. Humbly go to Him in confession and repentance and experience the loving embrace of the Savior.

Consider how much Christ desires that all who are lost will be found. Commit to lovingly praying for the lost people in your life, that they will be miserable in their condition until they see their need and cry out for their Savior.

TOGETHER IN PRAYER

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. – Jesus, Luke 19:10

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1

• If you have been saved, thank God for seeking and saving you from death into life by His undeserved grace.
• Ask Him to show you if there’s anything that you need to repent of. Humbly go to Him in confession and repentance and experience the loving embrace of the Savior.
• Pray for the lost people in your life, that they will be miserable in their condition until they see their need and cry out for their Savior.
• Pray that you will see them with the love of the Father and not with pride.
• Pray that God will make you live for the gospel, remember it always, and share it in all that you do.