📖 Show & Tell
Life Group Leader Guide
📌 LEADER'S BULLETIN
Leader Heart Check Leading a Life Group is its own kind of altar work. You show up week after week, sometimes tired, sometimes unsure if it's making a difference, and you keep repairing what's been worn down in the people God has entrusted to you. This week's message is an invitation for you too: let God rebuild what's broken in your own devotion before you lead others toward His.
Attendance Reminder
Please log your group's attendance in the Church App by Sunday. Your faithfulness in tracking helps us stay connected as a church family.
📢 CHURCHWIDE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Share these upcoming events with your group this week:
Altar Care Training — September 19, National City Location
Restoring Hope Marriage Conference — September 25–26, National City location
Legacy Marriage Class — Starting September 28, National City location
Young Adults Retreat — October 29–31, Julian, CA
Events link: www.heartrevchurch.com/events
🔑 CONNECTION KEY (Leader Briefing)
Core Theme: God isn't looking for a generation that just talks about His power; He's looking for a people willing to repair their altars, drop the performance, and let Him show up.
Key Discussion Goals:
Help group members identify where they've been "faltering between two opinions" instead of fully committing to God
Distinguish between performing for God and responding to a God who has already initiated love toward us
Create space for honest reflection on the condition of each person's personal altar (their devotion life)
Lead the group toward a tangible, faith filled response this week, not just a good conversation
Leader Tip: This topic can surface some discomfort, especially the section on "removing the performance," because many believers have unknowingly built their spiritual lives around effort and appearance rather than relationship. Give people room to admit this without shame. Some in your group may have grown up in environments where striving for God's approval was normal, so be patient and pastoral rather than corrective. Watch the energy in the room during the discussion questions on Point 2; if it gets heavy, bring it back to Romans 5:8 and remind everyone that God initiated His love before anyone earned it.
Key Phrase: "The enemy is after the heart, and God is after the heart."
3 Ways We Make Grace Visible.
Repair The Altar.
Before fire ever fell on Mount Carmel, Elijah had to rebuild what had fallen apart. The altar of the Lord was broken down, a picture of a devotion that had been neglected, not destroyed by one dramatic moment but worn away by years of hobbling between two opinions. Our desires reveal our true direction, and when we neglect the altar, that flame doesn't just disappear, it has to be fanned back to life. Repairing the altar starts with remembering God's grace toward us, the way Elijah remembered the twelve tribes God had named as His own, and it grows through the kind of fervent, earnest prayer that moves heaven. When individual believers start repairing their altars, it's not long before the whole church starts praying together.
Reflection Questions:
Where in your life have you been "faltering between two opinions" instead of fully committing to God?
What does a neglected altar look like in your own devotion life right now?
What would it look like this week to intentionally fan your relationship with God back into flame?
How can your group encourage one another toward fervent, persistent prayer this season?
Remove The Performance.
The prophets of Baal shouted, danced, and cut themselves for hours, and heaven stayed silent. The less power they actually had, the more performance they needed to fake it. That's a warning for us too: religion can learn how to look alive from a distance while producing nothing real, like the fig tree covered in leaves but bearing no fruit. Performance says, "If I do enough, maybe God will respond to me," but the gospel says God already demonstrated His love for us before we did anything to earn it. Elijah didn't need a show; he simply prepared the altar, soaked it in water, and prayed, because he knew the God who answers by fire doesn't need to be impressed, only trusted.
Reflection Questions:
Have you ever caught yourself "performing" for God instead of resting in His love? What did that look like?
What's the difference between striving to earn God's response and responding to a love He's already given?
Where might you be looking spiritually alive "from a distance" without real fruit behind it?
What would it look like to trust God to show up rather than trying to make something happen yourself?
Restore Hearts Back To God.
When the fire fell, it didn't just consume a sacrifice; it turned an entire nation's hearts back to God. Elijah's prayer wasn't about winning an argument with the prophets of Baal, it was about restoring a wandering people to the God who never stopped calling them His own. When people encounter the real presence of God, something shifts internally before it ever shows up externally; hearts burn, secrets get exposed, and people fall on their faces in worship. God's pursuit has never been about proving a point, it's always been about winning back the heart.
Reflection Questions:
Has there been a moment when you sensed God clearly restoring or realigning your heart? What happened?
What does it look like practically to "come back" to God this week, the way Jeremiah 3:22 describes?
How can your group create space for people to respond honestly to God rather than just discuss Him?
Who in your life needs to see God's power demonstrated rather than just hear about it?
🛠Practical Application
The Challenge
This week, identify one specific area of your devotion life that has quietly fallen into disrepair, whether that's prayer, Scripture, or honest time with God, and take one concrete step to rebuild it.
Audit / Reflection
Ask yourself honestly: am I currently trying to perform for God's approval in any area of my life, or am I resting in the love He's already shown me?
Prayer Focus
Pray as a group that God would restore any wandering hearts in the room, that He would expose areas of performance, and that He would reignite genuine devotion. Consider praying Zephaniah 3:17 over one another, that each person would know God rejoices over them with gladness.
📣 Weekly Declaration
I will stop faltering between two opinions and fully follow the Lord my God. I choose to repair the altar of my devotion rather than let it quietly fall apart. I release the pressure to perform, because God has already demonstrated His love for me. I ask God to restore my heart fully back to Him, and I trust Him to answer by fire when I simply show up in faith. The enemy is after my heart, but God is after it more, and I choose Him. Amen.
