Focus Your Thoughts on God--Part 1
Isaiah 40:1-17
Willing Series
February 4-5, 2012

Getting Started

1. What form, if any, do you use in prayer? (example, A-C-T-S etc.) What do you like about it?

Going Deeper

2. How would you describe experience of God in worship? Is worship or adoration easy or hard? Explain.

3. Have you ever felt that you’ve blown it so badly that not even God could straighten it out? Explain.

4. What damages have you suffered as a result of your sin? (physically, financially, emotionally, hurting others)

5. What’s so great about the Atonement?

We Pray Because We Love
January 21-22, 2012
Willing Series
Exodus 17:8-16

Getting Started

1. If you’ve given your life to Jesus Christ, describe your experience of God immediately after you were saved?

2. How long did it last? What brought that initial feeling to an end?

Going Deeper

3. Why should we pray for new believers?

4. Apart from simple obedience to God, why pray for the defenseless?

5. Consider the three roles people often take to express love in this world (Doers, Pray-ers, Supporters), which do you assume most often? The least often? Why?

Hungry for God
January 7-8, 2011
Psalm 63

Getting Started

1. How’s your prayer life?

2. How do you feel when someone asks you that question?

Going Deeper

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being severely dehydrated and 10 being completely satisfied, how thirsty are you for God?

4. What are some of the cheap substitutes we turn to to try to satisfy the hunger in our souls?

5. Do you have room in your life for God or are you overloaded? Review Swenson’s list of common areas of overload, underline all that apply.

• Activity overload
• Commitment overload
• Debt overload
• Expectation overload
• Fatigue overload
• Media overload
• Ministry overload
• People overload
• Possession overload
• Work overload

6. What do you think would happen if you started inviting Jesus as a friend into everything?

A Great Light
December 17-18, 2011
Series: A Child is Born
Isaiah 9

Getting Started

1. Isaiah 9 refers to people “walking in darkness”. What does that look like in our day?

2. How does God rescue people who are walking in darkness? How did he rescue you?

Going Deeper

3. Are you down? Do you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom? Is hitting rock bottom the worst thing that can happen to you? Why or why not?

4. How do you humble yourself? Make a list of some practical things you can do to humble yourself before the Lord.

5. Becoming a thorough-going follower of Jesus is about becoming a new creation, moving from darkness to light. Has that happened to you? Do you see this contrast in your own life? Explain.

Preparing for Revival
Big Thing Series
Malachi 2:17-4:6
November 26-27, 2011

Getting Started

1. Does it bother you that God’s interventions are so few and far between (i.e. Divine healing, miraculous signs, prophecies)? Why or why not?

Going Deeper

2. Does God have a clear shot at your heart right now? What obstacles need to be cleared out of your life to prepare the way for the Lord’s coming?

3. Has God ever broken into your life in a palpable way? Describe the experience. What was his purpose in coming?

4. Returning to the Lord requires a decisive break with your old way of life. What part of your old way of living is keeping you from experiencing the fullness of God’s presence?

5. Do you tithe a minimum of 10 percent of your income? Why or why not?

6. Does the mention of tithing illicit an emotional response from you either positive or negative? Explain.

Questions You Should Ask Yourself
Big Things Series
Malachi 1-2
November 19-20, 2011

Getting Started

1. Make a list of the privileges you enjoy as a child of God.

2. How should you respond to all that God has done for you?

Going Deeper

3. What’s wrong with the attitude, “Anything is good enough for God”? Where does it lead?

4. What is the cure for spiritual boredom? How bored are you?

5. Who are you when you’re alone? Do you struggle with secret sins?

6. How are you treating those closest to you? Are their relationships that need to be repaired? Changes that need to be made?

Confronting Spiritual Entropy
Big Things Series
Haggai 1-2
November 5-6, 2011

Getting Started

1. Define entropy. Give an example of entropy from every day life.

2. What is the sin of sloth? Are you slothful? How do you know?

Going Deeper

3. What is it that keeps you from immediate obedience to God?

4. What is the excuse that rises in your heart that convinces you that now is not a good time to serve?

5. Would the people who know you best describe your relationship with God as vibrant and growing? Why or why not?

6. Describe the first time you had an encounter with the presence of God. Have you had subsequent experiences? Why or why not?

7. How tempted are you to live in the past?

What it Means to Live by Faith
Big Things Series
Habakkuk 1-3
October 29-30, 2011

Getting Started

1. What do you do in anxious times? How do most people respond?

Going Deeper

2. How do you feel when your prayers go unanswered? What should you do about it?

3. Has God ever answered your prayers in an unwanted and unexpected way? Explain.

4. Do you ever struggle to square the ways of God with what seems right to you? How do you resolve the conflict?

5. How much time, in a given day, do you spend alone with God? How would you rate your devotional life? Explain.

6. How can we learn to live by faith? What do we need to do?

People Versus Things
Big Things Series
October 22-23, 2011
Jonah 4:5-11

Getting Started

1. What is mercy?

Going Deeper

2. Have you ever experienced the sting of prejudice? If so, explain.

3. When was the last time you expected God’s judgment, but instead received God’s mercy? Explain.

4. Is there anyone you’ve secretly wanted God to judge? Why?

5. Are you certain that you have an eternal treasure waiting for you in heaven? Why or why not?

6. How much do you cling to things here on earth? How do you know something or someone has a hook in you?

Three Problems We Have With God
Big Things Series
October 15-16, 2011
Jonah 3-4

Getting Started

1. Have you ever met anyone who acts one way toward God and then, when things don’t go the way they think they should, they flip a switch and are totally the opposite? How do you explain this behavior?

Going Deeper

2. Do you have a problem with God? If so, please explain.

3. Are there any people or situations in your life that you think are hopeless? If so, why?

4. What effect, if any, do we have on God’s actions?

5. How do we know someone is angry with God? What are the signs?

6. Be honest. Are you angry with God? If so, complete the following sentence. “I’m angry with God because...”

7. What should we do about anger directed at God? What steps should we take?

Tough Questions about Hell
Revelation 14:9-10; 20:10; 15:22
September 17-18, 2011

Getting Started

1. Why is there so little talk (teaching) on hell in the western church?

2. What do you believe about the existence of hell? Why?

Going Deeper

3. With the growing number of teachers/churches dropping the idea of a literal hell, why shouldn’t we? Why should you believe in hell?

4. Is the doctrine of hell compatible with God’s love for all humanity? Why or why not?

5. Knowing what we know about hell, why would anyone choose hell over heaven?

6. How is hell described in the Bible? What do you think these things mean?

7. Will anyone actually go to hell? Why or why not?

What Happens After We Die?
Hidden Things Series--Supplemental
Revelation 21-22
August 27-28, 2011

Getting Started

1. What does the Bible say about heaven?

2. What is your understanding of what theologians call “the intermediate state?”

Going Deeper

3. How was Jesus’ resurrection body the same, yet different?

4. How will the new earth be the same, yet different?

5. Consider the three images of the future offered by the Apostle John (a marriage, a city, the Garden of Eden). Which one resonates most with you? Why?

6. What is God’s plan for creation? How can we join him in his work here on earth?

Showing Up
Hidden Things Series
Luke 12:35-40
August 13-14, 2011

Getting Started

1. What do you believe about the Lord’s return?

2. How will it effect you personally?

Going Deeper

3. Do you feel the need to perform for God’s approval? Why or why not?

4. Is the master’s agenda your only agenda? If not, what needs to change for this to happen?

5. When was the last time you had a meaningful conversation about the return of the Lord? Is the Lord’s return dear to you? Why or why not?

6. List some of the ways selfishness has pervaded our culture. Are there areas of your life dominated by selfishness? What needs to be done to address the problem of the self-life?

7. Are you serving instead of being served? If not, what’s keeping you from serving?

8. How would you evaluate your level of faithfulness in every aspect of your life? Do you serve when it’s inconvenient? Do you serve when you’re not in the mood? Are you a person who can be counted on?

The Lord’s Supper
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
August 13-14, 2011

Getting Started

1. Why do the followers of Jesus celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Communion)?

2. What is the significance of the preposition “for” in I Corinthians 11:24? How would you describe the extraordinary exchange that took place on the cross?

Going Deeper

3. Jesus drank in the judgement of God so that we could experience a new exodus, a new freedom. Is there anything that holds you in it’s grip? If so, explain.

4. Do you have a problem with remembering? Do you forget what you should remember and remember what you should forget? Do you dredge up what God has already forgiven? Explain.

5. Have you ever experienced the presence of Jesus Christ in the taking of Communion? Do you regularly commune with him in the Lord’s Supper? Explain.

6. Part of “examining ourselves” is answering the question: Is there anyone I am unwilling to forgive? Are you harboring bitterness, unwilling to reconcile? If so, why?

Accumulation Acumen
Hidden Things Series
Luke 12:13-21
August 6-7, 2011

Getting Started

1. Are you easily distracted by things -- the wanting, the hunting, the shopping and the getting of things? If so, why?

2. How many of your decisions are subtly or overtly affected by greed? How much of what you do is driven by greed?

3. How content are you really with what you have?

Going Deeper

4. How in tune are you with Jesus’ two assumptions about money -- all material things belong to God and we are stewards of our possessions and responsible to God for what we do with them?

5. Have you ever had a falling out with a family member or friend over money? Explain.

6. Define the phrase “entitlement mentality.” How entitled are you? Are you thinking that the world owes you something? Are you looking to others to do something for you rather than focusing on what you can do for yourself?

7. How much of your financial decision-making is driven by fear? If so, what are you afraid of?

8. What do you do with surpluses, when you suddenly come into money, when you’ve been abundantly blessed?