Below is an outline for the sermon preached on Sunday morning. Accessing these notes allows you to take the sermon home with you. Feel free to add your own notes!

At the end of the sermon you can email yourself those notes from that day.

We hope this is a helpful resource for you as you dive deeper into the Scriptures and the messages preached at New Life Church.

• Open your group in prayer. Then, read these verses out loud: Genesis 1:26-28, 2:19-20, 3:8, and 12:1-3. What did you notice from these excerpts?

• How have you thought of God’s presence before? Is it something you’ve longed for? Has it felt distant? Confusing? Share your thoughts with the group.

• Through the message, we saw that we were made to be in God’s presence - that faith isn’t just about doing. It’s very much about being with God. Do you feel like being with God characterizes your faith? Why or why not?

• In Genesis 3, we learned that sin separates us from His presence. It drives a wedge between us and God. Take a moment to consider: is there currently a wedge in your relationship with God? If you feel comfortable sharing, we encourage you to do so. If not, we ask you to consider this and hold it in your mind as we continue.

• Despite the wedge that sin creates, the beauty of Immanuel (God with us) is that He still chose to pursue us! How does that piece of Gospel truth impact you? Particularly when you think about your answer to Question 4?

• We want to respond to His pursuit of us by pursuing Him back. How can you do that this week?

• Close your time in prayer, lifting up the wedges people named. Pray that through the Spirit, those wedges can be removed! That this Christmas season, we can experience His presence in a deeper way.