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13 views3 pages

Revelation-Group-Guide-Week-Five.docx

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bethannyuruka
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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GROUP GUIDE: WEEK 5

CONVERSATION STARTER

What is the number one item on your bucket list?

THE NEW CREATION

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

From the first pages to the last, we read a story about a God who loves to create. A God
who designed a world where humans could flourish and thrive and bring out the
potential of the earth in countless ways. But the story quickly took a turn. Humans
decided they knew better than God. The majority of the Biblical story is about what
happens to the earth when humans decide to do whatever is right in their own eyes.
The story is also about the lengths God will go to in order to make things right once
more.

One day, God promises, there will be a New Creation; heaven and earth will be reunited
in the form of a new garden city, representing all the best of human creativity and
ingenuity. In this place, God will dwell with us. He will wipe away every tear from our
eyes, and death shall be no more. No more mourning. No more tears. No pain. No fear.
No anxiety. For the former things have passed away. The New Creation has come. For
forever more, it will be on earth as it is in heaven.

For now, we live in the tension. We occupy the space between the now and not yet. The
Kingdom has come, but not fully. There is still death. Still mourning. Still pain. But
Jesus whispers to us, hold tight, stand firm. I am coming soon!

As followers of Jesus, we eagerly wait for the New Creation. But we do not sit idly by.
Each week we pray the Lord’s Prayer, “May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in
heaven.” These words are a reminder that our mission is to bring more of God’s
Kingdom into the world today. Our lives are little pockets where heaven is breaking into
the world, where others experience God’s love and life-giving presence. In our homes,
our workplaces, our circles, our cities, our rally cry becomes on earth as it is in heaven.

May we live in such a way that those around us get a taste of heaven. May Dallas, and
all other cities we occupy, become more like the Garden City. And may we echo the
words of the Spirit and the Bride, united as they were always supposed to be, as we ache
for Jesus to invade this world with his love and mercy and might.

We shout, “Come, Lord Jesus!” and hear his response in our very bones, “Surely I am
coming soon.”

Amen. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. What stuck out to you about the reading from this week or last? Was there a
verse or idea that was particularly meaningful or challenging for you?
2. What do you think it will be like in the new city at the end of the age? What do
you hope it looks like or feels like? What aspect of the New Creation do you most
look forward to?
3. On earth as it is in heaven. How can we be part of making our city look more like
heaven even now before the New Creation comes?
4. Revelation is the culmination of many different threads that have been woven
from the first pages of the Bible in Genesis; themes like the Water of Life, Tree of
Life, The City, and the Temple. As a group, pick one of these themes that sounds
intriguing or interesting to you. Watch the linked video from the Bible Project
and discuss together how you see this theme finding fulfillment in Revelation,
and what it means for us today.
5. What themes, images, or ideas are you taking with you as we finish our study of
Revelation? What has God been revealing to you through this book?

WEEKLY PRACTICE

As we close out this magnificent work, spend a few moments in prayer before God. If
you’re with a group or your family, we encourage you to pray this prayer out loud
together as a communal liturgy. Feel free to add to it as the Spirit leads you.
God,

Today we thank you that, even though we live in a world where darkness is still
apparent, we are not without hope. Today, we’re reminded that the dark pockets of our
world just mean that the story is not yet finished, that You are still at work in us and
through us.

On earth as it is in heaven.

God, would we be part of bringing heaven to earth in our corner of the world. May the
way we live reveal your loving presence to those around us. May Jesus’ light flow in us
and through us.

On earth as it is in heaven.

It’s unfathomable that we get to be your partners in bringing new creation into the
world. May we never take it for granted that we are carriers of your light in a broken
world. So, God, highlight the created things we’re tempted to worship in place of you.
Would you call us forward to faithfulness, to let go of anything that seeks to keep us
from you and your life-giving presence.

On earth as it is in heaven.

No matter what we face, we rest assured that you have the final victory. And we look
forward with hopeful eyes to the New Creation, when there will be no more
darkness—no more mourning, nor death. Until then, together we say, “Come, Lord
Jesus!”

On earth as it is in heaven.

Amen.

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