Connect Small Group Questions - Jesus and Loving Others 7/30/2014

Connect Small Group Question – 7/30/2014

1)   Who is the most difficult person in your life to love? Why? Who is the easiest person to love? Why?

2)   How does social media add tension between you and your friends? Have you ever lost a friendship over something that was posted on social media?

3)   Describe the person or people that today’s students would call and “enemy”

4)   Why is it hard to pray for those that persecute you

5)   Why do spreading God’s love and spreading the Gospel have to go together?

6)   What are real, practical ways to show love to difficult people?

Connect Small Group Questions 7/16/2014

Small group questions 7/16/2014

Scripture: Matthew 22: 34 - 40; 1 John 3:10

1.      Why might it be important to know what the greatest commandment is?

2.      Why did Jesus add the second greatest commandment to his response?

3.      Keeping the law was what made a person right with God in the Old Testament; what has changed when it comes to being right with God in the New Testament?

4.      What are some ways we can live out the great commandment by expressing our love to God?

5.       What are some ways we can live out the great commandment by expressing our love to others?

6.      Why is the following statement true; to love God is to love others?

Connect Small Group Q's 7/9/2014

Week 4 Connect Small Group Questions – 7/9/2014

Luke 17:11-19

    1)   What are some things that you have learned about God and tough times the last four weeks?

    2)   What are some things that God has brought you through and that you are thankful for?

    3)   Which interaction do you think the one who returned remembered the most? The first healing or the second where Jesus talks about his faith?

    4)   Why is it easy to forget when things change for the good?

    5)   How does remembering to praise God for who he is help us remember to praise him for what he does?

    6)   If you where to write a Psalm of praise where would you start?

    7)   How does our gratitude change us?

Connect Small Group Questions for 7/2/2014

Week 3 Connect Small Group Questions – 7/2/2014

John 14:25-27 John 16:33 Matthew 11:28-30

    Overview of Lesson: Peace and comfort from the Lord are two things that elude us in the midst of tough times. Yet, when Christ let the earth he let us know that the Holy Spirit is always with us to comfort and guide. No matter how heavy the load Jesus promise that his yoke and burden are light.

    1)   Think of the Video Clip: When things are tough do you turn to Jesus for comfort? Who or what gives you comfort?

    2)   Does relying on God to give us peace mean we will always “feel good” about everything?

    3)   What were your definitions of comfort and peace?

    4)   How is God’s peace different than the world’s?

    5)   What does Jesus mean when he says his burden and yoke are light?

    6)   How do we move from head knowledge to heart knowledge?

Connect Q's 6/25/2014

Faith in Tough Times: Small Group Questions 6/25/2014

Scriptures: John 11: 1-3, 17-27, 38-44; 2 Corinthians 4: 16-18

1)    What did you notice when you put the paper towel in the water?

a.     The paper towel doesn’t dissolve or sink. Our problems that we wrote down didn’t disappear, but they did run and bleed. They changed. And this change symbolizes how Jesus takes our tough times and leads us through them, helping us deal with the emotions they cause. This is what it’s like when we put our faith in Jesus during the hard times.

2)     Reread verses 1-3. What do we know about Jesus’ feelings toward Lazarus?

a.     Jesus loved and cared for Lazarus

3)    Read verse 6. What do you think about this? How does this affect our expectations about Jesus?

a.     It can be hard for us to accept that Jesus had a greater plan here than making Lazarus well. If we had sent this message to Jesus we would have expected Him to come right away. But this speaks to how Jesus views our tough times. Making tough times go away isn’t always Jesus’ goal. Helping us through a tough time seems to be more important to Jesus.

4)    If you were in Martha’s place how do you think that you would react to Jesus’ “late” arrival? Would it be similar to Martha’s or different? In what ways?

a.     (answers will vary)

5)    Read verse 35. What do we learn about Jesus’ character and by extension the trinity as well?

a.     That He grieves with us. God is not detached from our suffering. If we believe, as those who have been saved by faith in Christ’s person and work on the cross, that God’s Spirit is truly with us, we have to believe that God is present in our suffering. Jesus hurt because He loved Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus. HE hurt because they hurt. He hurts for and with us as well.

6)    What does Paul mean when he tells us to fix our eyes on the “unseen” instead of the “seen”? How do we see Martha modeling this in her initial response to Jesus in verse 24?

a.     The “seen” refers to the things of this earth, these are temporary and un-lasting. The “unseen” is the eternal. It is the “heavenly,” the eternal lifetime of relationship with God we have waiting for us after this life. Martha could make sense of her brother’s death, and her frustration with Jesus, because she took an eternal perspective.

7)    What about you? Do you accept Jesus’ desire to walk beside us during tough times? Or do you blame Him for what He does or doesn’t do for you?

a.     (answers will vary) Guide the discussion by using your own story of times when you would rather trust in what Jesus will do, instead of the reality of having faith in who He is.