Content for a Class Discussion
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The TASK
As a family, get together to discuss a few of these questions, based on Ken’s passage on Sunday August 9.
As a class, while we may not be able to get together, we CAN get on the phone and have a spiritual conversation. Will you commit to this process, to get more out of what Ken preaches on Sunday?
You can get on our “BIG3 List” – after the service, Ken will text out at least three reflection questions to help you think about the message from Sunday and reflect on its application to your life. They are great for conversation starters with friends and family. Simply text only the word BIG3 to 757-330-4484 and you will get on our BIG3 List.
The LIFE GROUP QUESTIONS
To Follow is… a significant change, Matthew 9:9
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
- Tell about the time you heard the call of Jesus on your life.
- Where were you, with whom, and how did you understand that calling?
- What does it mean to follow Jesus?
- How has following Jesus made a difference in your life?
Opening Illustration: Dr. Linda Gottlieb – “people are no longer desiring change in self”
3 Changes that come when following Jesus.
Adjustments are required (You cannot stay where you are and follow Jesus).
Watchman Nee: “If we give ourselves unreservedly to God, many adjustments may have to be made in family, or business, or church relationships, or in the matter of our personal views.”
- What adjustments have been required in your life now that you are a follower of Jesus?
- What has been the most difficult thing to give up? Why? or Why not?
- Why is it so much easier to follow Jesus in America (or at least be a Christian) that it was back on the Roman world, or any other time or location in history?
Three promises that push you past your comfort zone:
- The Promise of Possibilities – Matthew 19:26. “what is impossible with man is possible with God.”
- The Promise of Power – 2 Timothy 1:7. “God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and discipline.”
- The Promise of Purpose – Philippians 1:6. “God has begun something good in you, and He will bring it to completion.”
- The Promise of Provision – Hebrews 12:2. “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Henry Blackaby comments, “To go from your ways, thoughts, and purposes to God’s will always requires a major adjustment daily.”
- How are these promises able to help you get out of your comfort zone?
- What is the most comfortable thing you are not willing to give up? Why?
- What are a few things you have already given up to follow Jesus? How has this made all the difference in your life?
Affections must be examined and questioned.
3 significant areas of misplaced loyalties and affections.
- Relationships. 2 Corinthians 6:14 – How has following Jesus changed your relationships?
- Materialism. 1 John 2:15 – How is it more difficult to follow Jesus in affluent America?
- Self. 2 Timothy 3:2 – Read this list again… is there anything convicting in this passage? Anything you recognize?
Attitudes will be challenged.
Thinking that reflects God and not our present circumstances.
- How do you see God?
- How do you see yourself?
- What helps you to better see an accurate picture of who you really are?
- How does God convict you into making needed attitude or life changes?
Kierkegaard, 19th Century Danish philosopher Open Doors Ministry: the story of converted Muslim, Bagus.