Monday, June 30, 2008

Nehemiah 1:1-11 - God begins the project

Nehemiah 1:1-11 - God begins the project

1 If you were going through a painful experience, what would you want your friends to do for you?

2. When did the events of this passage take place? (1:1)

3. Why did Nehemiah question his brother? (1:1-2)

4. How did Nehemiah react to the news about Jerusalem and the exiles? (1:4)

5. How did Nehemiah describe God in his prayer? (1:5)

6. What is the major theme of Nehemiah's prayer? (1:5-11)

7. What promise of the Lord could the Israelites claim, according to Nehemiah? (1:9)

8. How did Nehemiah describe the people of Israel in his prayer? (1:10)

9. What specific request did Nehemiah ask God to grant him? (1:11)

10. What admirable traits do you see demonstrated by Nehemiah?

11. What did Nehemiah's prayer accomplish?

12. How do you think you need to change your prayer habits?

13. What can we learn from Nehemiah's example about how to deal with disappointment?

14. How do you plan to react differently to setbacks from now on?

Monday, June 23, 2008

Luke 14:15-24 - God's Invitation

Luke 14:15-24 - God's Invitation

1. What kinds of excuses do you most resent others using?

2. How does it feel when you plan a big event and it is poorly attended?

3. What was one person prompted to say when Jesus spoke of repayment for kindness to others? (14:15)

4. How did the man let his guests know that the time for the banquet had arrived? (14:17)
5. What excuses did people make? (14:18-20)

6. How did the master find out about the excuses? (14:21)

7. What happened when all the other people came to the master's banquet? (14:22)

8. How did the master ensure that the banquet hall would be full? (14:23)

9. What was to become of the original guests? (14:24)

10. What was wrong with the guests' excuses?

11. How did the character of the banquet change, given the "new" guest list?

12. How is the kingdom of God like this banquet?

13. How does our responsibility to God correspond to the servant's role?

14. Whom can you invite to the kingdom banquet? How?

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Luke 13:22-30 - Who will Jesus save?

Luke 13:22-30 - Who will Jesus save?

1. In what areas of life do you tend to procrastinate?

2. What was Jesus doing on His way to Jerusalem? (13:22)

3. According to Jesus, what is worth every effort to accomplish? (13:24)

4. What happens once the door is shut? (13:25)

5। How will the owner of the house respond to those who want to go in after the door is shut? (13:25)

6. How successful will attempts to enter the house be after the door is shut? (13:27)

7. What will those who cannot enter hear and see? (13:28)

8. How will the usual order be turned around? (13:30)

9. What does the narrow door represent?

10. In what sense is the way to God narrow?

11. Who is the "owner of the house," and why will he refuse entry to people?

12. Why do people put off coming to God?

13. When are you tempted to put off responding to God's commands?

14. What was Jesus saying about human relationships when He said that the first will be last?

15. What can you do this week toward introducing someone to Jesus? How?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Luke 13:10-17 - Delighted to heal

Luke 13:10-17 - Delighted to heal

1. What rules about Sunday have you heard?

2. When was Jesus teaching in one of the synagogues? (13:10)

3. Whom did Jesus see in the synagogue? (13:11)

4. What led to the crippled woman's healing? (13:12-13)

5. Why was the synagogue ruler indignant? (13:14)

6. What example did Jesus give to justify His healing of the woman? (13:15-16)

7. How did different people react to what had happened? (13:17)

8. How did the Jewish leader view the Sabbath?

9. What do you think the crippled woman expected?

10. What restrictions do we foolishly put on God's work?

11. What opportunities to free others from physical or emotional pain do you know about?

12. What self-imposed rule or tradition do you need to modify to allow for God's work?

13. How can you help or comfort a person in pain this week?

Monday, June 2, 2008

Social ideas for Small Groups

Social ideas for Small Groups
From time to time your small group might like to run a social activity to help new members get to know each other and to build friendship.
1. Quiet games - Pictionary, Scrabble or other board games.
2. Active games - volleyball, basketball, scavenger hunts.
3. Group outings- picnics, BBQ's bowling, pizza, movies, concerts, cultural experiences, progressive dinners.
4. Meals together- pot luck, international food, dessert & coffee night.
5. Parties and celebrations - Christmas parties, group anniversaries, special birthdays, "green" night (everyone wears something green) hat night etc...
6. Service/ outreach/ mission projects. Volunteer gardening, painting, house moving...
7. Group discussions- choose a topic and some questions that allows the group to get to know each other member in a deeper way.
8. Group camp, Group retreat ( sometimes combine with another group). A day camp.

Luke 13:1-9 - Get right with God

Luke 13:1-9 - Get right with God

1. What have been some of your frustrating experiences with gardening?

2. What did Jesus hear about a group of Galileans? (13:1)

3. What explanation for the tragedy did Jesus propose? (13:2)

4. How did Jesus reply to His own question? (13:3)

5. What was the story involving the tower of Siloam? (13:4)

6. What were Jesus' listeners to learn from the two stories? (13:3-5)

7. In the parable, what did the man seek from his fig tree? (13:6)

8. Why did the man want the fig tree chopped down? (13:7)

9. What did the vineyard tender suggest? (13:8-9)

10. Why do we often assume that people suffer because they are uniquely bad?

11. What can we do to keep from judging people by their circumstances?

12. What did Jesus mean by His warning, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish"?

13. What second chances have you been given?

14. What does God want us to do?

15. What godly characteristic do you want to focus your attention on this week? How?