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Ponderosa Church Sermon Based Small Group Monday, December 21, 2020

The Earth’s Last Christmas -A Leader Guide-

For the Leader: The person leading the small group really needs to watch the Sermon titled “The Earth’s Last Christmas” on the Ponderosa Bible Church YouTube channel in order to have a full discussion for this small group.

• This guide is NOT MEANT to be studied in preparation for the small group you are leading but only to be looked over. This is a guide that is meant to compliment the Study Guide that is given out in the Sunday Morning bulletin. The only work that needs to be done beforehand is to listen to the Sunday Morning message and to use your Study Guide while listening to it. The study guide and the leader guide are your materials for the sermon based small group. “Digging Deeper” Fellowship time:

Fellowship time suggestion: Please make sure that you email or text everyone in your small group one time and remind them where the meeting is and what time you guys are getting together. This is the seventh week of our second module of small groups and so you and your small group should be comfortable with one another by now! This week is my favorite Holiday of the year…Christmas! With that being said I think it would be good for you all to spend the majority of your time fellowshipping and if you get a chance or desire to you can go over the study guide. This week’s digging deeper question will be fun and in the holiday spirit. Ask your group the following: “What is your favorite Christmas movie and why?” Remember, the goal is to make fellowship time fun and to get to know one another, so have a blast!

1 For the leader: The purpose of these questions are to foster relationship building and to deepen the fellowship of your group.

Sermon Based Study Questions: For the leader: A few things to remember while leading this study: (1) You are not TEACHING, you are facilitating! There will be small group leaders who have led a small group that will teach, but that is not the primary purpose of this leader guide, the primary purpose is to help you facilitate. Your job as a small group leader is to facilitate a discussion, not teach a lesson. The pastor has already taught the lesson, now you are trying to start a discussion on what was taught. You are putting a magnifying glass to the teaching and teasing out the details. (2) As a small group leader you want to bring out personal application of the Sunday message (which means you should have listened to it). Ask questions during the discussion, “How does this apply to you? What did you learn? How does this change your views on ?” Etc. Personal application is the goal of the Sermon based small group. (3) It is not the goal of this outline to get through the whole guide, the goal is to foster conversation. While progressing through this guide is a desired outcome, don’t consider getting to the end as “success.” Success as defined by the “sermon based small group” is defined as equal parts fellowship and a deepening study of the Sunday Sermon. (4) Not every sub-point under a question needs to be asked, these are suggestions for you to consider while you are talking about the question from the study guide. If you asked the study guide question and had a good discussion about it then you may not even need to discuss the sub-points. These points exist to help you encourage a discussion.

2 This week’s scripture: :1-10, “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my , and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.”

3 (1) Pastor Joe used the passage in Revelation 11 as an example of Christmas because people were giving gifts to one another. Are we sure that Christmas is mentioned in that passage? What is the real reason for using the passage as an example of Christmas??

**Ask ONE of the following UNLESS you think that asking both will make for a better discussion**

A. Why do you think that people would exchange gifts over the slaughter of the two witness? -or- B. With the big deal that our world makes out of “the right to life” and self- determinism, how do you think the slaughter of these two witnesses were justified and even celebrated with gift giving?

• For the leader: It is ironic that a world that prizes individuality, self- determinism, and hates the death penalty would allow these two witnesses to be slaughtered and not even allow them to be buried. However, this is where the world is headed to quickly. We can see this in our world today. Look at how much they ridicule us for the stance the Church takes on marriage and on homosexuality. The hatred is so intense that some denominations are making

4 compromises and allowances for gay-marriage, gay ministers, and even the LGBTQ+ movement. My personal opinion on this is that the killing of the two witnesses will not be seen as a celebration of death but as a “celebration of rights.” These two witnesses will be seen as an oppressive force that impedes man’s self-determinism and rights and when these witnesses are killed the world will celebrate because their “oppression” will have ended. Because these two witnesses who symbolize the “oppression of freedom of expression” are dead, the world will give gifts to one another and celebrate. In context of the world we live in today, this interpretation makes the most sense to me, but it is only a theory. Now days if the Church dare share the truth we are seen as “abusing the oppressed minority,” bigots, haters, unaccepting, and the like. The Church is seen as denying “basic human rights” in the culture today. Insert this narrative in the and it makes a lot of sense.

(2) Why do we as Christians know the truth of Christmas celebration but find ourselves influenced by the traditions of the world rather than the ways of the word?

**Ask ONE of the following UNLESS you think that asking both will make for a better discussion**

A. Do you see any of the traditions of the world’s way of celebrating Christmas as problematic?

5 -or- B. How should we celebrate Christmas?

• For the leader: Many Church leaders and Pastors want Christians to take hard stances against what they perceive as “worldly traditions.” About twenty years ago many Christians had stopped celebrating Christmas altogether because they believed it had “pagan roots.” But the fact of the matter is that there is research on both sides that say one thing or another. One bit of research says that Christmas was started as a Pagan tradition and was adopted as a Catholic tradition in an effort to convert the pagans in the land. This tradition was called “Saturnalia” and was a Roman holiday that had been in existence for some time. The problem is that even though this holiday was celebrated about the same time as Christmas is now, its traditions were far different from Christmas. In order for the Catholic Church to adopt it and appease the pagans they would have to have adopted many more traditions than we have now. Our Christmas celebration revolves around being born on the Earth, Saturnalia does not. Something else that Christians who “have done their research” like to point out is that the time of Christmas does not match up with when Jesus would have been born. They like to say that Christ was probably born between July and September and one reason they like to point this out is because there were shepherds in the field. The rationale is that if it were winter there would have been no shepherds in the field because it would have been far too cold. Once again there is a problem with this argument because sheep needed to eat whether it was hot or cold. Sheep had thick pelts of fur and could endure the cold. Shepherds also knew to dress warmly. The fact is the research tends to show that Jesus was born closer to the December 25th date than was previously thought and that Christians have

6 celebrated this particular date for the majority of Christianity far before the Catholic Church adopted it as the official date of Christmas. Most Christmas traditions are not bad and we are free to not celebrate the ones we are not comfortable with. What matters to God is WHY you celebrate Christmas. Not whether we put up a tree or not, whether we open gifts or not, and whether we put a yule log in the fire or not.

(3) When do the events of Revelation 11 actually happen?

**Ask ONE of the following UNLESS you think that asking both will make for a better discussion**

A. Do you believe the events of Revelation 11 are close to being fulfilled? -or- B. Why do you think that the events of Revelation 11 are important?

• For the leader: There are three major interpretations of the book of Revelation. The first is “” which interprets most of the book of Revelation as being fulfilled with the destruction of of Jerusalem and the Temple around 70 AD. Because of this, those who hold to this view have a pretty weak and cannot explain most of the places in the Bible that are classified as “apocalyptic” in nature (i.e, Daniel, portions of Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, and

7 Revelation). The second interpretation of Revelation is called “Historicism.” Historicism says that the book of Revelation was fulfilled through out the Church age. The see the 7 churches in and 3 as being a picture of the 7 stages in Church History with the last Church stage culminating in the return of Jesus Christ. The last interpretation is what is known as “” and is the position PBC holds to. This view sees most of the events of the book of Revelation as happening in the future with the exception of -3. According to this view, most of the events of the book of Revelation are seen as literal unless the context determines otherwise. With that it mine, the events of Revelation 11 will occur at a future date during the Tribulation. In commenting on this John MacArthur says: “Rev. 10:1–11:14 These verses serve as an interlude between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet (11:15). The seals and the bowls also have a brief interlude between their sixth and seventh judgments (7:1–17 16:15). God’s intention is to encourage and comfort his people in the midst of the fury and to remind them that he is still sovereign, that he remembers his people, and that they will ultimately be victorious.”

(4) What possibilities do we have as to the identity of the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11?

**Ask ONE of the following UNLESS you think that asking both will make for a better discussion**

A. Are there any theories that you have heard about the two witnesses that you think fit the bill of the two witnesses which were not discussed in Sunday’s message?

8 -or- B. Which one of the Pastor’s theories of the two witnesses appealed to you more?

• For the leader: As I mentioned previously, futurism demands that most events in the book of Revelation be interpreted literally unless the context says otherwise. In the context of -11 there is no indication that these two witnesses are metaphorical. There is no precedent set that allows us to give that kind of interpretation to these two verses. With that being said here is what the Expositor’s Commentary says about the two witnesses: “Perhaps more diversity of interpretation surrounds these two personages than surrounds even the temple in the previous verses. They are called “two witnesses” here, “two prophets” (v.10), and, more figuratively, “two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth” (v.4). Identifications range all the way from two historic figures raised to life, to two groups, to two principles, such as the Law and the Prophets. Tertullian (d. ca. 220) identified the two with Enoch and Elijah. On the other hand, Jewish tradition taught that Moses and Elijah would return, and this view is followed by a number of Christian interpreters. According to Jochanan ben Zakkai (first century AD) God said to Moses, “If I send the prophet Elijah, you must both come together” (Charles, 1:281; also Seiss, Smith, Gundry, Thomas; cf. Mk 9:11–13). Beckwith, 595, believes they are two prophets of the future who will perform the functions of Moses and Elijah. Others understand the figures to represent the church (so Primasius [d. ca. 552]). Swete, 132, observes, “The witness of the church, borne by her martyrs and confessors, her and doctors, and by the words and lives of all in whom Christ lives and speaks, is one continual prophecy” (cf. also Beasley-Murray). Ladd, 154, cannot make up his mind between the witnessing church to Israel and two historical

9 eschatological prophets. Bruce, 649, believes they are symbolic of the church in its royal and priestly functions. Others identify them as representative of the martyrs (so Morris, 147; Caird, 134). More recently, Johannes Munck has identified them with the Christian prophets Peter and Paul (cited in Bruce, 649). Rissi (“Kerygma of the Revelation to John,” 16) sees them as representative of the Jewish and Gentile believers in the church. Minear, 99, understands the two to represent all the prophets. Since opinion varies so greatly at this point, it may be wise not to be dogmatic about any one view. Minear’s arguments, however, seem to me more persuasive than the others. The two witnesses represent those in the church who, like John, are specially called to bear a prophetic witness to Christ during the whole age of the church (cf. Beale, Osborne). They also represent those prophets who will be martyred by the beast.”

(5) What will happen in the temple during the middle of the tribulation that will have world wide implications? See also :15-28 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

**Ask ONE of the following UNLESS you think that asking both will make for a better discussion**

A. What is the significance of the temple during the tribulation period? -or- B. Why do you think that God allowed the temple to be built at all during this period of time?

10 • For the leader: The leader and study guides are put together about 3 days before the message is spoken in order for people to have them on hand for their small groups. I say this because I don’t know what Pastor Joe is going to say happens to the Temple during the tribulation. What I do know is that the anti- christ will stand in the temple and declare himself to be God. This idea couples with what Matthew 24 and 2nd Thessalonians 2 has to say about what will happen to the Temple during the middle of the tribulation. The Bible Believer’s Commentary says the following about the abomination of desolation: “At this point we have come to the middle of the Tribulation. We know this by comparing verse 15 with Daniel 9:27. Daniel predicted that in the middle of the seventieth week, that is, at the end of three and a half years, an idolatrous image would be set up in the holy place (i.e., the temple in Jerusalem). All men will be ordered to worship this abominable idol. Failure to comply will be punishable by death (Rev. 13:15). “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand)…. The erection of the idol will be the signal to those who know the Word of God that the has begun. Note that the Lord wants the one who reads the prophecy to understand it.”

• For further study please check out: Ezekiel 40:20-23; Luke 21:24; Zechariah 4:3; Daniel 7:21; Isaiah 1:10; Psalm 79:2-3.

11 PLEASE READ, VERY IMPORTANT!!! How you close your meeting is very important so even if you do not get through all the questions and even if you stick on one point for far longer than you anticipated, please decide how you plan on ending your meeting before it has even started. It would even be good to choose a talking point to end the meeting on about ten minutes before it ends. Also decide who is going to pray to close out the meeting. Ending a meeting in an abrupt manner leads to a very awkward meeting. So have your last talking point ready to go along with someone chosen to pray in order to close the meeting smoothly.

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