Life Group Discussion Guide
12.6.2020
A New Dawn: Advent Series
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Isaiah 40:1-5
40 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

OPEN
When you’re tired or stressed, when you’ve had a tough day, where do you go for comfort?
What do you reach for? (Ex. food, shopping, a Netflix binge, etc.)

NEXT
Read Isaiah 40:1-5 together. God commissions an entourage to carry a message of comfort
to a people who are living in captivity and exile. What tangible comfort does God offer to
these people?

Which of these proclamations of comfort apply to our current circumstances? Which do you
find to be personally comforting right now? Why?

Read John 1:19-23. Why does John the Baptist borrow from Isaiah 40 to describe “what he
says about himself?” How does John see himself living into this calling of being “a voice of
one calling in the wilderness” in his own day? How might this apply to us (the church) in our
day?

What does it look like in our day to herald the coming of the Lord? How can we live in
expectation of His coming? How can we prepare for His return? What does it look like in our
day to “make straight in the desert a highway for our God?”

CLOSING
What message of comfort do we have to share with those around us in a world that is so
desperate for relief? How can this group, individually and collectively, go about tangibly
sharing that message this week?

What can this group be praying over you or your family right now?