1-In what ways have you experienced, life on life discipleship that deals with the messy parts of your life?
2-What did you learn through the teaching today about the role of the household in the formation of disciples?
3-What are some steps you can take to make discipleship a central theme of your household?
What fears come up for you when you think about sharing your mess?
Talk about past experiences sharing your mess. Was it positive or negative? What happened to that messy area of your life?
Share 1-2 messy areas in your life with a trusted friend or leader.
Review together the characteristics of the crowds that followed Jesus. Talk about the ways your following Jesus has at times looked too much like the crowd.
Talk together about how your life has been changed (or could be changed) by life-on-life discipleship — how being known in your failure has led you (could lead you) to heart change. What helps/hinders that from happening more?
What have you learned about the way Jesus leads his disciples that makes you want to follow Him?
What did you learn about the pattern of the disciples that you can identify with? In other words how are you like or not like the original 12 disciples?
What does discipleship look like in your life?
How do you respond to the call to disciple and be discipled. What is Jesus wanting you to do now? What are the next steps you can take this week to start moving in obedience?
Review the 8 Resurrection Realities. Which ones do you need reminded about most? How you can remind each other of those truths.
Talk about the areas of alarm and unbelief that come as a result of forgetting Resurrection. Pray for each other in those areas that you will experience resurrection power.
Faith Talks
Talk together about times/ways Jesus “rode into your life.” What helped you recognize Him? What hindered you from “receiving” Him?
Talk about some of the bigger mountains/obstacles you are presently experiencing that challenge your faith.
The contrast between Jesus and everyone else in today’s teaching makes the point that all of us fail and deny Jesus. How aware are you that you fail and deny Jesus?
Jesus’ example of finding strength by being watchful included leaning into community. Spend time together as a community of faith, talking about and praying together about some of your patterns of failing to follow Jesus.
1. How do the central elements of the Bread and the Cup in communion explain how Jesus restores our relationship with God the Father?
2. In this story, the disciples fail Jesus. Their spirits may have been willing but their flesh was weak. Did you know that disciples fail? The question is not will you fail as a disciple but rather how do you respond when you have failed God and others? Do you ignore it,rationalize it, deny it, or work to fix it?
3. Based on this story what do you think Jesus would say to you when you fail?
4. In the garden, what does Jesus do when he is confronted with his spirit being willing but his flesh being weak?
5. What is one way that you desire to be more like Jesus and less like the sleepy disciples?
What are the situations/circumstances where you tend to fall asleep spiritually or go “off duty”? (consider times when life is going well as well as when life is not going well.)
What are practices that you do or have heard of that might be helpful to you being more alert/watchful? Are any of these practices ones you might want to embrace for your household? Talk about putting them into practice
Having a Jesus-centered view of the end times is essential to every disciples. Why do you think it’s so easy to miss the central focus of Jesus when it comes to end times? Has you ever gotten caught up in all the speculation of the end times? How did you come to back to staying focused on Jesus?
What do you feel God has entrusted you to do while you wait for His arrival? How do you come to realize what He gave you to do? Share that with 2 others this week.
Faith Talks:
When you think of your future, what concerns do you have? Do those concerns reveal anything about what you are hoping in?
Read Mark 13:1-13, then talk about any truth in this text that gives you new hope for your future.
Jesus talks about loving God with all your heart soul mind and strength. He goes on to use the example of the window giving everything she has in the offering. If Jesus where watching the way you spend your money what would that tell him what you really love?
Often times it's hard to know how to start tithing. Talk as a household about your tithing patterns. What holds you back, or what motivates you to give? Share stories about Gods provision as you've been faithful in giving.
For Jesus, love is most important. Talk together about the evidence in your life, over the time you have been walking with Jesus, that you have grown in whole-hearted love towards God and others.
Jesus warns us to watch out for the natural tendency to be like the Scribes who live to impress others, who love to be praised by others. Talk together about the ways Jesus is setting you free of being like a Scribe.
Faith Talks:
In Mark 12 Jesus said to the Sadducees, a group of religious leader, “…you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God…you are quite wrong.” That is a pretty stinging rebuke from Jesus to a group of people that prided themselves on know Scripture and knowing God.
The Pharisees and the Herodians thought that paying taxes didn't have anything to do with their relationship with God. They believed there were sacred/religious areas of life and also that there were common/secular aspects of life that had nothing to do with God or their faith. What are some areas of life that people tend too think are separate from their faith?
Why is it dangerous to think that there are sacred/religious areas of life and also that there are common/secular aspects of life that have nothing to do with God or their faith?
Jesus showed us another way. In this story it was about taxes but the truth is that whatever we do, every aspect of our lives can be an opportunity for worship. What is one area of your life that you would like to see better aligned with worship and why?
"The big struggles of life are struggles with authority." Talk together to see if that statement is true in your life.
"We can never effectively steward what God has given us until we recognize Him as our authority." Where are you in the process of joyfully yielding all you are to the authority of God? Name the obstacles.
What are some ridiculous things you have asked of God? Has He answered any of those requests? What do His answers tell you about the will of God? Talk about this with 2 people this week.
Which of these five statements about Jesus is most true of you because of your faith in Christ? If Jesus were to make you more like Him in one of these areas, which one would need the most attention?
Faith Talks:
The Bible calls us, at times, to be childlike and at times not to be childlike. Talk together about the ways we should and should not be childlike.
Talk about ways in which you want to grow in childlikeness.
Faith Talks
Contact our Ministering Elders elders@lfachurch.org
Join the Life’s Healing Choices Class. 8-week class, Sunday 9:00am at CCS upper building room 128. Begins Jan 15, 2017
Consider Divorce Care Ministry https://www.divorcecare.org (group locator) Wednesdays 6-8pm. Begins Jan 25, 2017, Beacon Evangelical Free Church 420 S. 6th Ave, Galloway, NJ 609-748-0001
Talk together about 2016: What memories stand out from this year?
Talk together about 2016: What significant things did Jesus do in your life?
Faith Talks
Think about God restoring perfection to planet Earth; talk about what you most look forward to experiencing on that new Earth.
What do you most long for God to restore (make new) in your life?
Faith Talks
1. How can you identify with the need for peace?
2. The Angels made it clear that there is a connection between our experience of peace and God being glorified. Can you identify a time in your life when you experienced a loss of peace because you had made something less than God most glorious?
3. From the teaching tonight what did you learn are “the things that make for peace?”
Faith Talks:
Talk about a time when God’s light came to your place of darkness.
Talk about any dark places in or around your life — call out to God in prayer that His light of redemption would penetrate that darkness.
In the silent nine months leading up to Johns birth Zechariah started to see, understand and believe that they needed a savior and that the savior was coming. In what ways can you practice being still and quiet like Zechariah? What can you do this Christmas to slow down enough to recognize your need for a redeemer?
Zechariah said that Jesus would come and redeem his people. The two things that redemption looks like is a freedom from fear and a freedom to live holy/righteous. In what ways do you need freedom from fear? In what ways do you try to make yourself righteous?
According to this story in Luke what is your redeemer like? What do you think he is able and willing to redeem you?
Sin is lawlessness. How does this compare to your own definition of sin? How is it the same or different?
Which phrase describes you best:
- The law I live by asks "what serves me best"
- The law I live by asks "what does God desire"Explain your answer to a trusted friend.
John Piper writes, " Let every heart prepare him room . . . by cleaning house." What are some things that have replaced God in your heart that need to be dethroned? Share them with someone this week.
Try using this reading plan as you prepare to celebrate Christ-mas. "Good news of great joy" link: http://bible.com/r/C7
God makes all things good. Talk about the good things you see in each other. What are the unique characteristics of each person in your household?
Ask each person how easy/hard is it to believe what the others have said about you? Are there any of those positive characteristics they listed hard to believe? Why?
Brainstorm together about different scenarios when it might be helpful to use the PED tool. Pick one of them to practice this week.
Talk about two things in your household training environment or culture for which you are grateful to God.
Talk about one pattern in your household you would like to see God change. Pray about it.
If your “household” includes the next generation: talk together about the 4 Foundations. Which one do you want to put into practice in new ways? How will you do that?
If your “household” does not include the next generation: what are ways you could implement the 4 Foundations among the people you do life with? Talk together about steps you want to take, and maybe ways you can include the next generation.
Faith Talks
Faith talks
Talk about the way you imagine Jesus. What picture do you have of Him in your mind? What’s the look on His face? If you saw Him, do you think you would bow before Him in reverence or give Him a hug?
Think of a recent time when you were either worried, tempted, or disappointed. How did knowing Jesus effect the way you walked through that situation?
FAITH TALKS
In Mark 8, the disciples hear about Jesus’ sufferings, death, resurrection, and second coming for the first time. They also hear that they are to deny themselves and carry the cross for the first time. Why do you think Peter struggled with this? Are any of his struggles the same as your struggles? Explain.
When was the last time you discovered & treasured something about Jesus? Share that story with 2 people.
What are your three biggest obstacles in following Jesus into every are of life? Ask 2 friends to pray for you this week.
Pastor Nate talked about the “means of discovering Jesus” — the ways or places where God speaks to us and takes away our blindness (personal Bible reading, TFL, Bible studies, sermons, Christian music). Talk about your practices of discovering Jesus. Talk about steps you want to take to receive more.
Parents, leaders, friends are the “means” of revelation for people in their life. How much do you see yourself as the “means” of revelation for other people? Pray for each other that God would use you to reveal Jesus to others and that God would take away blindness.
For Jesus to be revealed to our friends, they must experience the miracle of revelation and faith. Pray together specifically for those two things over people in your life who need Jesus.
We learned from the Feeding of the 4000 that bread has to be broken before it blesses others. Talk about what Jesus may be breaking in your life. How are you responding? How do you need to cooperate? Pray for each other.
Follow Jesus to Freedom - Mark 7:23-37
The Making: Mark 7:1-23
The Making: It's all about Jesus. Mark 6:30-56
Discover Jesus as True Savior - Mark 5:21-43
Reveal Jesus Through Your Gospel Story
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Follow Jesus In Stewardship - Mark 4:21-34
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Discover Jesus in Scripture. Mark 4:1-20
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Follow Jesus to Freedom Among Family
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Discover Jesus as True Savior: Mark 2:18-3:12
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