Discussion question for December 9, 2016.

Your Heavenly Father protects and provides for you.  There are three ways He provides: manna, harvest, and seed.  How do you guard against the taking responsibility to provide for yourself?  What is the current day equivalent to manna, which God provided for the children of Israel daily in the wilderness?  What is the current day equivalent to harvest, where God allowed them to benefit from orchards and farms they did not plant?  What is the role of seed, and what is its purpose?  How do you balance your faith in God with your desire to be a good steward regarding provision?

Discussion question for December 2, 2016.  Note: Thanksgiving Dawn Service on November 18.  No meeting on November 25.

There is a rich history of blessings being passed from father to son in the Old Testament.  What does it mean that this is not prevalent in the New Testament?  How should new covenant blessings be performed?  Who has the right to grant a blessing?  What was the greatest blessing you’ve received to date?  How would you go about blessing others?

Discussion question for November 11, 2016.

Jesus commands us not to judge, for in the way you judge others you will be judged.  How does judgment compare with profiling?  Where do your prejudices come from?  What are the downsides to profiling?  What are the advantages?  How do you keep yourself from sin in this matter?

Discussion question for November 4, 2016.

Jesus asked the disciples why they couldn’t pray with Him for even one hour, and Paul reminds us to pray without ceasing.  How do you make time for prayer?  How do you organize your prayer time to make it useful?  What changes do you see in your life when you pray?  How would you encourage a younger believer to engage in meaningful prayer?

Discussion question for October 28, 2016.  Note: No meeting on October 21.

There are things a person does intentionally, and there are things we do without prior thought.  What are your intentions?  How does your frame of reference influence your actions?  How do you make plans?  What about your unintentional responses – what makes you do what you do without thinking about it?  What can you think about to modify or strengthen those responses?

Discussion question for October 14, 2016.

Jesus was asked this question on the day He was sentenced to death, and it is still on peoples’ minds.  How do you define faith and lack of faith? How about belief and unbelief? What is wisdom and knowledge?  What do these terms mean for salvation, healing, and relationship with God?

Discussion question for October 7, 2016.

God puts forth His ways in terms of principle and precepts, and we respond in particulars and preferences.  Give some examples of life-choices using these terms.  Where do you draw the line for your guidance?  How do you accommodate different cultures and interpretations?  What does this mean for living in community?

Discussion question for September 30, 2016.

True relationship includes having a common goal.  How is your relationship with God influenced by His will?  How is He influenced by your will?  What do you believe God is trying to accomplish?  How does your understanding of this affect your Christian walk?

Discussion question for September 23, 2016.

John Piper noted that many Christians are obsessed with “O, How He Loves Me” and how a relationship with God affects them personally.  What does one get out of a relationship with God?  What does one owe in that same relationship?  How much emphasis should be put on “what’s in it for me” versus “what can I do for Him?”  How does your walk reflect your values and understanding?

Discussion question for September 16, 2016.

Many conversations become strained when one or more participants deal with fear, anger, or other strong emotion.  How can you know if your version of the truth is correct?  How can you interrogate the belief behind another person’s conviction?  What role does the spiritual realm play in this?  What strategies are effective in moving a conversation into truth?