Small Group Resources

December 21 - 27

Sermon Series: Restored

Week 3: The Return

Ice Breaker, If Needed

How did your faith grow in 2025?

Discussion Questions

1. Compare the similarities between the Israelites’ exile, captivity, and eventual restoration with our lives as individuals. Why is this pattern a persistent theme in scripture and in our personal testimonies?

2. What does restoration demonstrate about the heart and character of God?
● Read Ezra 1:1-4
● Who is speaking? Why would God use a man like this as His instrument of restoration?
● Read Jeremiah 50:3-4
● It took the prophesied 70 years of watching and waiting for the heart of the nation to shift. What was the catalyst for restoration? How were Israel and Judah transformed by their exile and captivity? What revelations signal you have come to the end of yourself? Are you in a place of watching, waiting, and anticipating restoration? How do you know?

3. We typically live in one of three spots. Where are you? What choices can you make and opportunities can you embrace to avoid “a.” and “b.”?
a. God is warning us, sending a messenger.
b. God is disciplining us, teaching us in exile.
c. God is restoring us, back to family with Him.

4. How do you know if you are settling for counterfeit or an empty substitute for true restoration?
● Read Mark 8:34-38
● Only one of the following can be true. Why?:  a. We are writing our testimony of how Jesus restored us OR. b. We are continuing to disobey and live in exile
● Read 1 Kings 3:3
● How do the “excepts” keep us in exile? Pray for God to reveal your “excepts”.