THE POINT OF THE VIDEO: Confession isn’t simply about guilt. It’s also a gift. Confession is a gift that gives us security, forgiveness, and family.

1. When you hear the word confession, what is your first thought?

2. Have you ever thought about confession as a gift? How have you found this idea to be true?

3. Confession gives us security, forgiveness, and family. What’s another gift you might add to this list?

4. Security. We live in a world that is infected with insecurity. What is the source of our culture’s rampant insecurity? How could confession help?

5. Forgiveness. We know confession leads to forgiveness—but we don’t always act that way. What is it about the gift of forgiveness that is so difficult to receive?

6. Family. In his book, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, 

“He who is alone with his sins is utterly alone...in confession the break-through to community takes place...if a Christian is in the fellowship of confession with a brother he will never be alone

again, anywhere.”

How does confession bring people together and enhance friendship?

7. We typically think confession is for the bad things we’ve done—which are often referred as as sins of commission” But confession is also for the good things we have not done—also known as sins of ommission. How can our failure to act be sinful? Think of some examples.

8. Repentance is a key phrase in the process of confession and forgiveness. Unfortunately, “repentance” is often reduced to mean the same thing as an apology; saying “we’re sorry” after caught in the act. But repentance is so much more. Not only does it mean we’re sorry for our sin, but repentance means we grieve what our sin does to ourselves, God, and others—so much so that we turn our backs to that sin and go the other direction to make things right. Repentance isn’t just apologizing. It’s intentionally righting our wrongs.

Have you experienced the difference between confession with and without repentance? What impact did repentance make?

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