Using Daniel 1:8-21

There are some specific tips for groups who are NOT doing sermon based studies at the  end of this post.

But Daniel MADE UP HIS MIND...  (NASB)
But Daniel RESOLVED...  (ESV)

In verse 8, Daniel decides to be faithful to God in every situation before a specific situation arises.  There were a lot of things that did not fire Daniel up,   

"Daniel had no outward resistance to attending the University of Babylon, erasing their culture or changing his name. Rather, he is all about the teaching of God's Word."

Commit now to serve the Lord so that you will know better how to respond in challenging situations.

"Not eating meat seems so trivial or small in many ways."

Your faithfulness to God in the big things begins with faithfulness in the small things.

Some discussion helps/questions to use with your group:

• Towards the end of the sermon, "Over 500 years later magi came to worship Jesus because of who Daniel was regardless of where he was."  What does that mean?
• Can you remember a situation in which you were prepared to take a stand and what happened when you stood?  What did you resolve, and what did you do?
• How have you been, are you, and will you prepare yourself to live life for God's glory in this land?

AN ABSOLUTE NECESSARY part of this preparation must be PRAYER.

Take time to pray for your Gospel witness.  

One way you can do this is to have people pray for specific areas of life...

work

neighborhood

Church

family

FOR GROUPS NOT DOING SERMON-BASED

In your study, whether it is Mark, Ephesians, Leadership, or Women in the Bible,  your group should be challenging one another to live counter-cultural, God-glorifying lives like Daniel. 

How does your study this week and every week help you know God more deeply and live for God more dependently?  

  

  

Using Passages for Discussion

As we think about sermon-based small groups, I want to remind you the sermon-based small group is really PASSAGE-BASED small group.

Your group is discussing the passage that was preached that week.

This post lists Do's and Don'ts for sermon-based small groups.

1. Read the passage aloud as a group.
2. Use the sermon and your sermon notes as a resource to discuss the passage.
3. Don't repreach/reteach the whole passage.
4. From the last post, look at the summary of the passage and have group members do the same.  You can have group members think about and write down a summary in your group.  Then, have group members share their summary.
5. Be sure to give people the opportunity to talk.  Being the small group leader does not mean you have to speak the most.
6. As you consider questions, remember HEAD (What does God want me to know?), HEART (What does God want me to desire?), and HANDS (What does God want me to do?).  

Romans 16:25 - 27.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. 

Head:  What is the Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ?  What do these do?

Heart:  What do I need to be more passionate about?

Paul's use of "my gospel" does not suggest there is Paul's gospel, Apollos' gospel, and Peter's gospel.  "My gospel" is the divinely revealed message of Jesus Christ that Paul is passionately holding on to and sharing with others.

What do I need to be more passionate about?  I need to be more passionate about the gospel.  My gospel, my life-changing hope found only in Jesus Christ.

This passage begins with "to him" and ends with "to [him]" - the only wise God be glory.
We need to be more passionate and focused on God.  What does this look like?

Hand:  In these verses, what action is needed?

Using Passages to Pray

I want to help each of us encourage one to grow in two competencies throughout the rest of 2024.

Competency 1:  Praying prayers that glorify God using the passages of Scripture studied or preached.

This video talks about how to pray Romans 16:1 - 16.

Another prayer tip for you and your group is DON'T SHARE PRAYER REQUESTS. 

O.K., let me clarify that statement. Don't share prayer requests the way you usually do.  

Competency 2:  Asking questions that make the Bible passage studied or preached more applicable.

Here is an article, 8 Tips for Taking Good Sermon Notes, at www.crossway.org/blog/2017/01/8-tips-for-taking-good-sermon-notes/, that could prove very helpful in developing Competency 2. While some of the article promotes a journaling Bible, the whole article has good tips.

Numbers 6, 7, and 8 are especially helpful for sermon-based small groups (and even other studies).

Tip #6.  Before the sermon ends, write a one-sentence summary of the whole message in your own words.

Pastor Dave's Small Group Leader Tip: Pastor Brett often does this.  A good way to implement this tip in your life and the lives of your group members is to use Pastor Brett's summary in your own words.

Tip #7.  Remember that the goal of sermon note-taking is communion with God, not detailed or beautiful notes.

Pastor Dave's Small Group Leader Tip: Your group members need to see your love for God, not only your knowledge of Him. I want to suggest two ways to grow in this.   

First, at the beginning of the meeting, privately ask someone in your group to check your passion level as you lead.  What causes your voice to rise or your speech to quicken 

Second, before your group meets, write down a brief summary statements that passionately communicate the truth of the Bible and your love of God.

#8.  Revisit your sermon notes throughout the week.

Pastor Dave's Small Group Leader Tip: Prayerfully read through your sermon notes as you prepare to lead your group.  You may even want to write some of these prayers down.   Some of these statements may be what you share with your group (see #7).  One of these statements may be your summary statement (see #6).  

Discipleship Plan and Promoting Groups

Discipleship Plan:

TBC's discipleship plan is God's work done God's way for God's glory.  
Let me explain

God works in and through our large group meeting time, smaller groups, and individual relationships. 

PROMOTION OF GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES:

I share the discipleship graphic above to show you there are a lot of things going on at Trinity.  Regularly scheduled, very occasional, formal, informal,  for everyone, for specific people. 
As you request rooms, announcements, bulletin space, and other things,
please remember you are thinking about your specific time, but much more is happening. 

• GENERAL ACTIVITIES and MINISTRIES
• I don't want to say Sunday announcements are a necessary evil. They are helpful, but we don't want the announcement time during the service to distract from what we are there to do: worship God together.
• It is always a good idea and necessary to put dates for church-building events on the church calendar.
• Handouts provide a place to share more information and have something to give as an invitation. I have used "bookmarks" and half sheets with dates and topics. Below are some small group examples. A schedule, especially for groups that meet every other week, is especially helpful. It helps group members know the schedule, and once again, it provides an invitation resource.
  Here are some basic examples

• SMALL GROUP SPECIFIC:  
• trinitybaptistgr.churchcenter.com/groups has the dates for your study.  You can set up your group to send a reminder email days before your group is scheduled to meet.  
• Invite opportunities—At the beginning of a study, review nights, and maybe even a social night or activity, provide opportunities for group members to invite people to connect with the group. A review night allows visitors to check out your group and see what it has been doing up to this point. 
• Brochure #4 concerns Trinity's small group ministry

•  

September 9 Email

 Small Groups are starting soon, and by God’s grace, I want to help you and your group grow.

I am planning to send an email the next three Tuesdays with the following.

• A video
• A general small group reminder
• A specific resource to help you lead
• A prayer 

Starting in October, the emails will be less frequent.

Here are this week’s resources

• A video
• Humorous “Training” Video - https://youtu.be/87vWRRqtx5E?si=OL5ENSgxc8lmQeNp, actually, more of an anti-training video

• A general small group reminder.  Because groups are starting soon, this week’s email has two reminders.
• This link to Planning Center and Small Groups PDF.  Some things you can do with Planning center.  This explains how you can add events and resources to your group's page.  If you cannot log in to Planning Center, let me know.
• Here is the link to my group on Church Center to see what the calendar looks like - Shepherding Group: Rodgers - Trinity Baptist Church (churchcenter.com)

• Why Small Groups In Light of Romans 1:1-17  - https://tbcgrsgleaders.blogspot.com/2024/09/introduction.html
  This is a resource site I am going to use to share resources.  No set schedule for posting. 

• A specific resource to help you lead
• Article – 8 Ways to Handle the Talker in Your Group - https://research.lifeway.com/2019/02/12/8-ways-to-handle-the-talker-in-your-small-group/

• A small group prayer for leaders, members of the group, and me.

LORD, as the small groups at TBC begin, I pray you will be glorified!

For the leaders,

I pray they would desire to see you magnified in their groups and our church. 

I pray they will desire to see biblical unity and not lack conflict. 

I pray that they will point people towards you and your word. 

For the members of the groups,

I pray they will desire You more than anything else. 

I pray they will desire to help others grow closer and closer to you. 

For Pastor Dave,

I pray you will guide me in this new ministry of small group oversight. 

I pray you will help me know how to help the small group leaders lead their groups. 

I pray you will give me wisdom in thinking through potential problems and challenges in this ministry. 

Amen.

 

 

Introduction

Adapted from a post on 4/12/25 at drodgersjr.blogspot.com 

Why small groups in light of the deep, powerful truth in Romans?

While reading Romans 1:1-17, I was struck by the number of times relationships are mentioned.
Paul wants to meet with the Romans to strengthen them.  Romans 1:11
Paul knows that their faith will be a mutual encouragement.  Romans 1:12
Paul wants to see the fruit among the church and the  rest of the Gentiles  Romans 1:13
Paul needs to share the gospel with different groups.  Romans 1:14
The spread of the gospel from the Jews to the Gentiles makes the power of the Gospel visible.  Romans 1:16

In thinking about small groups and the deep, powerful truth in Romans, I wanted to share the following quote from the book Community.

We do not have community groups to close the back door of the church.  
We do not have community groups because people need to belong or we need to care for one another. 
These are good secondary effects of authentic community.
These effects are not the foundation.
We have community groups because we have seen the glory of God, and we have been given the grace to live our lives to exalt the Christ.
We have community groups because we have been reconciled to God and one another.
We have community groups as a proclamation of the goodness of our God and a testimony to the completed work of the cross.
This is the foundation for a gospel-saturated community that will overflow with life. 
Page 43

The power of the gospel is made known as Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and barbarians, wise and foolish, are saved and brought together by the power of God.

Our small group ministry is not about meeting felt needs.
Our small group ministry is not about caring for people.
Our small group ministry is not about getting more people to 2050 Aberdeen 
Our small group ministry is about people growing in their satisfaction in Christ and helping others grow in their satisfaction.
Genuine small group involves helping people understand that their souls will be truly satisfied and cared for only when they rest in Jesus Christ.

I don't necessarily like the term small group because it needs to convey the true purpose.  Our goal is not a small group.
Our goal is a deeper relationship with God through small groups.

So, let's talk about the different primary purposes of our small group ministry.  

This post states a couple of different purposes for our small group ministry. 

So, are small groups about the transformation of people OR the glorification of God?

Both.

Small groups need to be about the transformation of God's people into the image of Christ for God's Glory.

Our small group ministry is about people growing in their satisfaction with Christ and helping others grow in their satisfaction.

Genuine small group involves helping people understand that their souls will be truly satisfied and cared for only when they rest in Jesus Christ.  

Whether you are leading a sermon-based group, a study of a specific book of the Bible, or a study of a book, small groups allow people to be involved in God's work of the transformation of God's people into the image of Christ for God's Glory.