HOW TO USE THIS DISCUSSION GUIDEAs you lead the discussion, we follow a discipleship framework that helps move us from learning to transformation: Head → Heart → Hands → Share → Check-In
Leader Reminder: There are multiple questions in each section. Leaders should prepare ahead of time and use discernment to choose the questions that best serve their group. The goal of this discussion is not just conversation but transformation. Encourage participation, honesty, and practical obedience.
ICE BREAKER
- What is something that has taken a lot of your attention lately?
- When was the last time you saw something so impressive that it stopped you in your tracks?
- What is one distraction that can easily make you lose track of what is happening around you?
SERMON RECAP
It is easy to live with our eyes down — consumed by needs, relationships, responsibilities, fears, dreams, and distractions. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul describes the gospel as God turning on the light in our hearts so that we can see “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The Christian life begins and continues with gospel vision: seeing Jesus clearly and allowing the reality of who He is and what He has done to right-size everything else in our lives.
The gospel tells us that we were created for relationship with God, sin separated us from Him, and Jesus came to put things right through His incarnation, substitutionary death, and resurrection. We receive this new life by faith—not by earning God’s acceptance. The gospel is not “do, then be,” but “be, then do.” We are loved, accepted, forgiven, and received in Christ; then, from that secure identity, we learn to live under His lordship. As the gospel captures our hearts, life becomes less about ourselves and increasingly about Jesus. We lift up our eyes, surrender what has consumed our attention, and become people who share Christ and serve others.
SCRIPTURE
READ: 2 Corinthians 4:5–6
HEAD
What does scripture show?
- What words or images stand out to you in 2 Corinthians 4:5–6? What challenges or surprises you?
- What does Paul say God has done in our hearts? What does this reveal about God and His desire for us?
- According to verse 5, what changes when people see Jesus clearly? What do Paul’s words reveal about the way the gospel reshapes how we see ourselves and others?
- What does this passage teach us about “gospel vision”—seeing the glory of God in Jesus? How might seeing Jesus clearly change the way we see everything else?
HEART
What do we believe?
- What tends to consume your attention and keep your eyes focused on the immediate concerns of life? How does the gospel help you see those things differently?
- What do you see when you look at Jesus on the cross? How does knowing you are fully loved and accepted by God change you?
- How does the gospel change your understanding of holiness and why we pursue it?
HANDS
Practice Together in Community
- What is one thing God is inviting you to believe, do, or change because of this passage?
- What has been consuming your attention that you need to intentionally place in Jesus’ hands this week? How can you practice lifting your eyes to the gospel when that concern comes back into focus?
- What is one specific way you can share Christ or serve someone at your own expense this week? How can the group encourage you in that step?
Complete this sentence: "This week, I will live out this sermon by ______________________________."
SHARE: MISSION
Living Out the Message This Week
Who will you share this takeaway with this week?
Who will you intentionally pray for this week?
NEXT WEEK CHECK-IN
Encourage the group to return next week ready to share how they practiced the HANDS step and how they lived out the SHARE: MISSION step.
PRAYER
- Ask God to lift our eyes from the things consuming our attention and give us a fresh vision of the glory of Jesus.
- Thank Jesus for the cross and resurrection and for the assurance that we are loved, forgiven, accepted, and made new by grace.
- Pray for freedom from both license and legalism, asking the Holy Spirit to help us live from our identity in Christ and joyfully surrender to Jesus as Lord.
- Ask God to make us people who proclaim Christ and serve others, giving us courage to share the gospel with those who do not yet know Him.
OTHER SCRIPTURE
Genesis 1:1–3, Colossians 1:15–17, Hebrews 1:3, Numbers 6:24–26, Romans 5:1