How does a person change?  Through trial and error in all things that churches have done throughout the years, we will explore the 4 principles that can lead to true life change.  This week, we focus on a strong first step.  

1. Read Luke 9:57-62.  Make some observations about Jesus, the three men, and their conversations.  
2. What are some excuses people use when putting off following Jesus?  What ones have you used?
3.  Discuss the first principle in our theory of change:  A Strong first step.  What does this mean to you?
4. Close by praying for one another in groups.

The story of God did not end when the last page of the Bible was written. In Acts 2, we discover that through the Holy Spirit, God is still restoring, redeeming, and inviting ordinary people to participate in His mission. Join us as we explore how God's story becomes our story, and what it looks like to say "yes," be transformed, and live as active participants in His kingdom.

1.     When did you realize you were part of God’s story, and what changed for you?
2.     We went over several reversals in Acts 2. Which stood out to you and why?
3.     Where do you sense God inviting you to participate in His story now?
4.     Which of the three invitations do you need most in your season of life? Say YES? Be changed? Or Go? What is one practical step you can take this week towards it?
5.     Considering Acts 1:8, who is one person in your life who might experience the love of Jesus through you this week, and how can you intentionally love or serve them?

God does not force humanity to do anything, rather He invites individuals to partner with Him and leaves the choice up to them. Through the story of Abraham, we learn about how God continually invites us to engage with Him in deeper intimacy.

1.  Have you accepted God's initial invitation to follow Him through repentance and faith in Jesus? Why?
   
   
2.  Have you considered the idea that God continues to invite us deeper?
   
   
3.  In what ways has God called you into deeper intimacy with Him in the past?
   
   
4.  What is God inviting you into now?

This week we will be continuing our “Story of God” series as we discuss the event of the Tower of Babel in Genesis Chapter 11. In this chapter we see humanity once again attempting to subvert God’s plan in place if their own. Even in the midst of our own sin and rebellion God continues His plan in grace to redeem.

1. What is your Babel?
   
   
2. In what areas of your life do you need to surrender power to God?
   
   
3. How can we practice waiting upon the Lord?
   
   
4. What is one instance where the Lord has worked for good in your life when you did not see it at first?

In the early chapters of Genesis, the author is setting us up to see the issue: Sin is growing at a rapid, near uncontrollable rate. What will God do? His response is one of anguish and mercy, ending the suffering of the sinners while enacting justice. Rather than allowing the story to spiral to oblivion, God reveals the new Beginning and flips the script: The story of redemption begins. God promises to erase sin, but he promises to do it in a different way. That way is Jesus Christ, the one who would die for us and offer us redemption.

1. How do you find hope in the midst of our anxious and dark world?
2. Read the story again as a group. Is there anything that confuses you, or makes you uncomfortable? Is there anything about this story that gives you comfort, or teaches you something new?
3. What kinds of "Death" have you experienced as the result of sin?
4. Who in your life needs to be told that there is nothing they could do that would turn God away from them?
5. Allow space for participants to talk with God. Encourage them to intercede for the lost or confess their sins to God, knowing that He responds only in love rather than shame.

We bring what we have to God and he does the rest!  Based on the widow's oil being multiplied by Elisha, we will bring what we have to see what God can do in and through us in this next year.  It will end with a summary of the formation model that we are implementing this fall at COTH. 

1. Choose one of the miracles found in 2 Kings (chapters 2-13...many to choose from!).  Divide your group into sub-groups and assign a miracle to each one.  Have them discuss and report back the content of those miracles.
2. When was a time you were desperate for God, realizing that He was all you had left?  What did you have to offer him?
3. End by telling your heaviest prayer requests about the size of your God!  Mark 11:23

1. Name one thing you learned from your father.
2. How can you, no matter what role you play (mother or father), display Christ-like behavior to your families?  
3. Self-awareness is essential to ensure we are leading healthy families and showing a Christ-like example to our children and families.  What is one thing you want to be careful not to pass along to future generations?  

Today our teens lead the service as we honor our graduating class of 2026

The Story of God series will walk through Genesis 1-11 as a reflection of the entire story of the Bible.  Identity Crisis will focus on how God's story doesn't have a beginning or end, our story begins with him and we find our identity in Him because he created us.  

1. What is one thing you made in school or life that you were proud of?
2. What is one thing that you kids or grandkids made for you?  What was your response to it being given to you?
3. Read Colossians 1:15 and Romans 8:29.  Discuss ways you can reflect the image of Christ in your walk with Jesus.
4. Discuss the 9 practices individually.  How can these aid in the image restoration that God seeks in us?

When God taught Israel how to build a nation that would last and that would be faithful to him, he always directed Israel towards the children and weaving God's truth into daily life. But this direction was not just for a child's parents but the entire faith community. God asserts that it takes a village to raise disciples. So how will we participate in this individual AND communal discipleship?

1. What kind of impact do you want to make on the people around you? Your family? Your friends? What do you want to pass on to them?
2.  If you grew up in the church, reflect: how did your parents affect your discipleship? Who outside of your family helped you grow closer to Jesus?
3.  If new to church: what role have others around you played in your walk with Jesus? Have you felt alone in your walk?
4.  God has placed a high calling on the church to support families and children. This is done by directly or indirectly serving them. How do you feel called to participate in "communal discipleship"?

Jesus curses the fig tree because it was not bearing fruit.  Today's message is a warning in real time (real time parable) and an invitation to let God work on the soil from which fruit grows in your own heart.

1.  Read Mark 11:12-25.  Name some of the main details of the story and how they apply to your walk with Christ.
2. Pray for one another in groups, specifically praying for fruit of the Spirit to be present toward your family and others.  

We all have bitter waters in our lives. Just as God used a tree to transform the bitter waters at Marah for the people of Israel, He transforms our bitter waters through Christ's death on the Cross.

1. What are some bitter waters you have experienced in your life?
   
   
2. Have you been able to see God redeem those experiences?
   
   
3. Do you harbor any bitterness in your heart because of those experiences?

Where the river of life runs, life exists. Our challenge on this Mother's Day is to invite the river of life that is mentioned in Ezekiel 47 (and referenced by Jesus in John 7:38-39) to run through our homes and carry us away into obedience to Jesus.

1. Do a concordance search for 'river' & "trees' online or in the back of your bible.  Get an idea of the roles that rivers and trees play in the bible.
   
   
2. Read Ezekiel 47:1-12 and talk about its relation to salvation and sanctification.

How much are we striving for approval?  Could it be that we are addicted to the applause of others?  In Matthew 6, Jesus reminds us to serve him, pray to him, and fast in secret.   What is done in the secret place for God will be the eternal reward that we have longed for.

1. What is one thing you have learned this week about God or from God?
   
   
2. Why does Jesus want us to keep our actions of worship secret and not have them shared with others?
   
   
3. Read Matthew 6:1-18 - walk through verse by verse, stopping at different places and discussing Jesus' words for us to practice.

Part 2: God is the only one who can put a hook in the mouth of Leviathan, the spirit of confusion and pride! His presence is overwhelming to any human and impossible to defeat with human will. Only in Jesus can we find victory over this serpent.

1. Name as many 'spirits' as you can that have either human names or animal names. Research what they embody and why they have the names they have.
   
   
2. Read Job 41.  What does Leviathan embody according to this chapter of Scripture?
   
   
3. Read Ephesians 1:22-23, Isaiah 27:1, and Matthew 14:25-31.  What does this tell us about the victory we have over Leviathan?

From the Garden of Eden, our DNA has been altered. We were made in the image of God, but were remade into the image of the serpent. Our fangs and scales are our sins and the toil of this life that keeps us from the presence of God. The Bible shows us through the Old Testament that humanity will never be able to scrape off our own scales or remove our own fangs, and that the Enemy has made its home in our bones. The New Testament proclaims that Jesus has defeated and crushed the serpent's head, but most of us don't live like that radical reality is true. We have learned to coexist with the serpent in our hearts, giving Jesus just enough to get by. But we are called to be like Jesus. Jesus' death and life were acts of serpent crushing, and we are called to be serpent crushers. Spiritual disciplines are our cure and tools to win battles in a war that is already won.

1. Identifying the "Coiled Hunter"
   Sin not just as a list of mistakes, but as a "coiled, quiet, sleek hunter" that waits in the tall grass of our lives. When you look at your current season: your schedule, your stress levels, or your relationships... Where do you feel the serpent trying to coil around you most tightly?
2. Identity and the "DNA" of Sin
   We discussed the idea that sin is a "spiritual DNA alteration" that leaves us with "fangs and scales" we can't remove on our own. How does viewing sin as a structural identity problem, rather than just "doing bad things", change the way you think about your need for Jesus' power versus your own willpower?
3. Scraping vs. Waiting
   There is a major difference between Conversion (knowing Jesus won the war) and Discipleship (actively scraping off the scales). Which spiritual practice (Sabbath, silence, scripture study, etc.) feels the most like "active serpent crushing" for you right now? What is the biggest block that makes that practice difficult to start?
4. The Mission of the "Heel"
   If making disciples is serpent crushing, we aren't just supposed to clean up our own lives; we are supposed to help others remove their scales too. How can this group help you "see clearly" this week in an area where you feel blinded or choked by modern pressures?

1. Begin my reading John 11:17-44 and John 20:1-10.  Compare and contrast these two stories.
   
   
2. What is one strip of linen that needs to be left behind in your own life?
   
   
3. End your time with prayer for one another, focusing on John 10:10 as the basis for the prayer.

1. How is life going?  What is Jesus teaching you right now?
   
   
2. Read Mark 11:15-18 - make some observations about Jesus' entry to the temple and share them with the group.
   
   
3. Spend some time discussing some things that get in the way of our worship to God.  Could those be tables that Jesus is willing to flip over in your own life?
   
   
4. End your time in quiet prayer and reflection of the Scripture and welcome the Holy Spirit into your heart.  

1. Begin with a time of contemplative Prayer centered around Matthew 4:18-20.
   
   
2. How are you imitating Christ in your own life?
   
   
3. What do the 6 examples of the Americanized Jesus say about our worship in America?
   
   
4. How can you devote more of yourself to Jesus?

1. Begin by talking about your daily & weekly habits and if they are bringing you closer to God.
2. Read the entire book of Philemon and discuss the summary of the book including characters, story line, and desired outcomes from Paul.
3. Walk through these four questions based on Philemon:  Is there a Sin to be aware of? Is there an example to follow? Is there a command to obey? Is there something to Know about God?

1. Choose a section of Scripture (8-10 verses) to read and reflect on for your group time.  Dive deep into its contents and discuss what those verses mean to you and the group as a whole.  
2. What is one thing that the Lord is calling you to sacrifice for lent this year?   It's not to late!

1. Read Philippians 4:6-7 and apply the Read, Reflect, and Remember principles.
   
   
2. Read it many times, letting it sink into your head, heart, and hands & feet.
   
   
3. Reflect on how it is personal to you - what is God trying to say to you?
   
   
4. Remember to put it into action.  How can you put this verse into action this week?

1. What is the strangest thing you have learned about the Bible?
2. What experience do you have with meditation?
3. What experience do you have with studying the Bible?
4. What apprehensions do you have about meditation and study?
5. What meditation and study resources have you found to be beneficial?

1. What is the scariest thing about God's word for you?  Does that keep you from reading it regularly?
   
   
2. What did God mean when he asked Ezekiel to eat the book?  Why was that important?
   
   
3. Do you believe that Jesus is in the room with you when you are reading his word?
   
   
4. As the leader, choose a passage from God's word for the group to read, reflect, and remember.  Take some time to sit with the passage, noticing the presence of Jesus, then hear reflections of what was learned and given to them in that time of receiving.