Otautahi: our city

Life group questions 22 November 2020

Read Jeremiah 29:1-14

The exiles in Babylon were hoping to be quickly returned to Israel, the land that God had promised them, so they wouldn’t have to mix with people they considered pagans. However, when God thrust them out of their own country, He had said that they had behaved worse than the countries that surrounded them. Despite their actions and attitudes, God makes clear in this passage that He wants to extend his grace both to the Israelites and the Babylonians.

In verses 4-6, God makes it clear that the Israelites are to establish lives in the city – to build, plant and increase.

• What do you have to celebrate from this year in the lives of you and your family?

However in verse 7, they are also to seek the peace and prosperity of the city, and pray for it.

• What have you been able to do to make a difference for others in your neighbourhood, workplace or place of study?
• How have you been praying this year, and what has God done in these spaces?
• How might you as a group be able to step up in seeking the peace and prosperity of our city going foward?

From v. 10-13, God reassures the Israelites that he will bring them back to the land He promised them – both having been transformed in their actions and attitudes but also having made a difference where they were.

• When you think about God’s plan for your life, do you think about it more in terms of personal transformation or impact on others?
• How might you need to change the way you think and act to balance this picture?
• What kind of plan and accountability might you need to support this change?