Doors: The Door to Restoration
Selected Scriptures
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
God often works through moments of transition — thresholds, turning points, and decisions that invite us to move from where we are into something new. Throughout Scripture, doors represent opportunity, invitation, and response. Some doors God opens. Some doors he closes. And some doors require us to choose whether we will step through. Together, these doors tell a story — not just of what God offers us someday, but of the life He desires for us now. This week, we looked at the critical choice of the ‘door to restoration’ with God and with others…
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflection:
Personal Experience & Discussion:
When we talk of restoration, we use words like “forgiveness”, “trust”, “grace”… but rarely use words like “repentance”, “consequences” and “discipline”. Let’s practice discernment and DISCUSS:
Break out into pairs
Give one (or two) of the words to each pair
Have each pair define their word(s) and explain how they think it connects to “restoration”
Share with the group
Reflective Discussion (Remember to look at the context of the verses as you are reading!):
We tend to have one of 2 extreme reactions when we realize our sin has broken relationship with God and others. We either see restoration as our RIGHT and demand it, or we see restoration as impossible and DESPAIR. Read the following Scriptures and DISCUSS: What is God’s part and our part in restoration? (Ps 32:3-5, Prov 28:13, 2 Chron 7:14, Ez 36:26-31, Is 55:7, Micah 7:18-19, Mark 1:15, Luke 13:1-3, Matt 3:8, Acts 2:38 and 3:19, 2 Cor 7:8-12, Rev 3:14-22).
Divide into 3 groups to discuss restoration in the following passages. Discuss WHAT happened and HOW restoration occurred.
Group 1: David & Bathsheba: 2 Sam 12:1-14, Psalm 51:1-5 and v10-12
Group 2: Peter & Jesus: Luke 22:54-62, John 21:`15-22
Group 3: The Prodigal Son: Luke 15:11-32
Repentance is not a promise to be perfect but a fundamental exchange of lordship, direction and purpose, a 180 U-turn from my way to God’s way. DISCUSS: Is it possible to be “restored” without “repentance”? Why or why not? (Gen 4:3-7, Ps 51:17 and 66:18, Zech 1:3, Mark 1:15, Matt 3:8-11 and 4:17, Luke 24:47, Acts 3:19-20 and 20:21, Rom 7:21-8:10, Jam 4:8-10).
Application:
Ask the Lord to bring to mind broken relationships where He is calling us to seek restoration. Commit to seeking that in a way that honors God and the other person.
Prayer:
Spend some time this evening thanking God for His restoring grace, seeking His guidance and strength in following His leading in this area of our lives.
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