Coaching Points For Group Leaders 4: (Life’s Big Questions) Can I Forgive & Be Forgiven?

Key Concept: 
Help you understand how to forgive and be forgiven

Bible Study:
Read Mark 8-12

COACHING POINTS FOR GROUP LEADERS 4: (Week 4) LIFE’S BIG QUESTIONS: Can I Forgive and Be Forgiven?

Looking Back (20 Minutes)

1. Accountability:  Love Does
   • What did you do last week to walk in the third way of Jesus and avoid the pitfalls of religion and irreligion? 
2. Connecting Relationally (Optional)
   • If you know that a group member is going through a major life event, then feel free to ask them about it.
   • Otherwise, on occasion, you may want to also ask the group, “What is one thing you are celebrating that happened last week or one place you saw God show up?”

Looking Up (20 Minutes)

1. Discussion Questions:  Prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in determining which of the discussion questions you will ask your group members.
2. Note:  You may want to think about asking a particular question to a particular person (or persons) in your group based on what you know of their story or what God is doing in their lives.  Also, remember to include and draw in members of the group who are less talkative than others.

Looking Forward (20 Minutes)

1. Goal-Setting:  Love Does
   • The big picture of Mark 8-12 is that Jesus is offers forgiveness by paying our debt.  What is one thing you can do this week to either forgive yourself, seek forgiveness, or offer forgiveness?
2. Prayer
   • Spend time praying.

Coaching Points For Those Who Want to Take Someone Through Life’s Big Questions That Isn’t in Your Mentoring Group

1. Be prepared to share examples from your own life of how you have experienced forgiveness or the lack thereof.
2. Ask your friend how they forgive others and themselves.  Remember, this is a journey of learning from one another so get ready to learn from your friend and their experiences with forgiveness.
3. Ask your friend if they have ever had trouble forgiving themself?  Discuss the dynamics of forgiving yourself.

One Page Outline

1. Recap: Religious and Irreligious Solutions to Life
   • Religious–keep all the rules to impress God and others
   • Irreligious–break all the rules.  You are your own god and you set your own rules
2. Forgiveness in human relationships (horizontal)
   • Two options: vengeance or forgiveness
   • Illustration:  Interpreter
   • Forgiveness takes time
   • We don’t have delete buttons in our brains so…
   • The Greater the Offense, the Greater the Suffering
   • Put forgiveness in economic terms
3. Forgiveness in vertical relationships (vertical)
   • Lord’s Prayer–Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors
   • Mark 8:31-34
   • Spiritual Bank Account
   • Mark 10:45 (ransom)
   • Forgiving yourself