Just for fun

See if you can answer these questions while you participate in the online service.

• How many instruments can you identify in today’s worship?
• What is the preacher’s name?
• What is the name of the play he was in? Or, who was his character?
• Who are some people in the Bible who had regrets?

Before today’s sermon

Today we are talking about regret. Regret is defined in today’s service as “feeling of sadness or severe disappointment about a choice or something that has happened.” Share a time when you did something you knew was wrong, and after you did it, you regretted it.  Share how you felt about it.

After today’s sermon

Think about what you did wrong and how you felt when you regretted it.  Now follow the steps Garrett talked about and see what difference it will make in how you feel.  

1. Acknowledge it
2. Confess and forgive
3. Rest, rinse and repeat

Discuss today’s sermon 

• Some regrets are things we’ve done wrong, sin. Some regrets are not. Give an example of both. (Regretting a sinful choice: I hit my brother and now I feel bad because I knew that was wrong. Regretting a choice that in and of itself is not sinful: I shared my bike with a friend and they fell off and scraped up their knees and now I feel sad that happened.) Whether from sin or not, we must acknowledge to God how we feel and allow him to bring healing and peace to our hearts for the sin or the circumstance.
• When referring to a sinful regret, what does it mean to rest in the truth that God has forgiven you?  (Read Psalm 32:1, 7)
• If God is forgiving and freeing us from our sinful regrets, then who is trying to remind us of our guilt and shame? One way to be reminded of what God says (not what Satan says) is to go to God’s word. Review these encouraging scriptures from today’s sermon: Romans 8:1;  2 Corinthians 5:17; John 8:36; and Psalm 103.

Later this week 

Do this pencil object lesson. (You’ll need a pencil with a good eraser and a blank sheet of paper)

Hold up the pencil and say, “Notice a few things about this pencil. 

First of all a hand must direct the pencil.  We can only create something with this pencil by directing it and choosing what it will draw. (The pencil can’t do it on it’s own).  

Second of all, the pencil needs to be sharpened (just like God wants to sharpen us, to allow his Spirit to shape our lives more and more into His image)

Third, the most important part of the pencil is the lead on the INSIDE.  God looks at what’s on our inside, He sees our hearts”

Now scribble on a piece of paper and then erase what you drew.  

“Finally a pencil trace can be erased. When we make a mistake and do something we regret, we can acknowledge, confess and ask God to forgive us and it’s like he erases our sins and makes us clean again.”  

Draw a cross or something that reminds you of God and say “When we put our lives in God’s hands, our life (like this pencil) can leave an incredible trace.  Through us God can create the most beautiful picture of himself so show the world His love.”