Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
Discussion questions
What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?
What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?
How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?
What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?
How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?
From our special, online-only Christmas Day worship celebration.
Read Galatians 4:3-5
Pastor and author Tim Keller says, “If we impose our understanding of schedule & timing on Jesus, we will struggle to feel loved by Him.” Galatians tells us that God caused his son to be born, “when the fullness of time had come.” His timing is intentional in sending Jesus, in salvation, and even in the days of our lives. God knows what he is doing, but our view of things is so limited that it can be hard for us to trust sometimes. This time of year, remembering that Jesus' birth was planned and came to pass at the “fullness of time,” can help us continue to trust God and persevere in faith.
Discussion Questions
Have you ever struggled to trust God’s timing?
Do you have a testimony about a time when God’s timing proved to be just right?
Talk about God’s perspective and sense of timing compared to our own.
Pray that God would help you have an eternal perspective, to trust in him in the here and now and to hope for the time when he will make all things new.
Read Chapter 2 of Is Christmas Unbelievable: Can we take the Bible seriously?
Family Activity Time to bake those Christmas goodies! In any baking recipe every ingredient has a purpose. For example, in a cake flour gives the structure, eggs bind the ingredients, baking powder and baking soda make it rise, fats like butter and oil make it less chewy, and sugar sweetens and keeps it moist. Every part has a purpose, and the time spent in the oven matters too.
In the Christmas story, we know that all the details are important. They speak of things that were prophesied that then came to pass. The Bible also tells us that Jesus was born at the exact right time in history. Why didn’t he come earlier to lead the people instead of Moses or King David? Why didn’t he wait until later when your grandparents were little or even now? We don’t really know, but God does. In the book of Galatians it’s called, “the fullness of time.” This means the time was just right. Ask kids what would happen if we took our Christmas goodies out of the oven too soon. What would happen if we left them in too long? Have you ever burned the cookies before?
When your treats are ready to taste, thank God together that he sent Jesus when he knew that the time was just right!
Advent Reading and Discussion Questions
Read Luke 1:46-56
Mary sings for joy at being seen and chosen by her mighty God. Up until this point, she was someone who had lived in expectation of the coming Messiah. We see in this passage that she was aware of how God was using her to fulfill his promise, but she was also likely aware that this would be a difficult and disruptive call on her life. While we will probably never experience it to the degree that Mary did, we can often rejoice when we see God at work without truly understanding how much perseverance and difficulty might be involved in the process.
Discussion Questions
Mary knew a lot about Jesus’s identity and mission. What more do we know with the full revelation of Scripture? How should that inform our lives?
Has God ever worked in and through your life in a way that felt difficult and uncomfortable? How did God show himself mighty through your situation?
Talk about what it might be like to be a 1st century Jewish person awaiting God’s promise to send a Messiah.
Pray that God would grant you patient endurance in the journey he has you on as a follower of Jesus.
Pray for an appreciation of the incredible story of salvation given to us in the Bible.
Read Chapter 1 of Is Christmas Unbelievable: Was Jesus even a real person?
Family Activity Think of how long the Jewish people waited for a messiah or even how Mary had to wait months to meet the child that was promised. As we start off this advent season make an appointment or two as a family, a time when you will watch a favorite Christmas movie, a time when you will go look at Christmas lights, or maybe if you are traveling for Christmas talk about the upcoming travel date.
Whatever your family likes to do, put it on the calendar in advance. Talk about it as a family and then regularly remind the kids that it is coming. Talk about what it would have been like for the Jewish people to wait for the messiah for hundreds of years! If you had to wait for that long for a fun Christmas activity, do you think you would stop being excited about it after a while? Do you think you would start to doubt that it would ever happen? When the event finally comes to pass, remember to talk about Mary welcoming Jesus into the world and what a long anticipated event it was!
Discussion questions
Read together Jude verses 20-25 and share the characteristics of God that stood out to you.
In the pursuit of building ourselves up in the faith, how is God calling you to grow in the areas of praying in the spirit, staying in God’s love and looking to eternity?
As Jesus commands us to love others as he loved us, what are the reasons why you would hesitate entering into this type of loving relationship with others?
How does being secure in Jesus allow us to enter into loving relationships with others?
Share the people God has brought into your life who have helped build you up in the faith.
Prayer points
Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower you in the pursuit of growing in the faith.
Praise God for the godly men and women in your life who have helped build you up in the faith.
Pray for the love of God to be revealed to those who are wavering in their faith.
Pray that Sound City Bible Church would be filled with people who are grounded in Jesus and seek to enter into loving relationships with others.
Discussion questions
What is your attitude and posture towards the realities of spiritual warfare?
False teachers and teachings often infiltrate and masquerade as truths. How can you identify differences between the two?
How does the Bible teach us to respond against false teachers and teachings?
Why is it important to worship Jesus as lord and king? Are there areas in your life the Holy Spirit is calling you to surrender to Jesus and worship him as Lord and King?
Prayer points
Pray that the Holy Spirit would help saturate you in God’s word and protect against false teachers and teachings.
Pray that Sound City Bible Church would be filled with people who surrender to Jesus and worship him as Lord and King.
Pray for healing of people who have experienced pain through false teachers and teachings.
Discussion questions
Read together Jude v1-4 and answer the following questions.
What stood out to you from v1-2 and v3-4?
Share other passages from the Bible where we read about the need for our identity in Christ preceding behavior.
Describe what happens when our behavior leads before our identity?
How are you prone to wander from your identity in Jesus and seek elsewhere for your purpose, love, and safety?
Share with one another areas of your life where Jesus is continuing to grow your love, purpose, and safety.
Prayer points
Pray that the Holy Spirit will remind us of our identity in Christ and protect us from the attacks of the enemy.
Pray that the people of our church would love and serve one another out of a heart of belonging to Jesus.
For those you know and love that don’t yet know Jesus, pray that the gospel would save them and break down their false assurances of purpose, connection and safety.
Discussion Questions
Read together Leviticus ch. 27:1-8, 28-34. In what ways does the theme of Dedication & Devotion appear throughout the passages?
As you examine your own life, does God truly have your heart’s deepest devotion? Have you counted the cost of following Jesus?
In what ways can we help one another grow in devotion to God?
As we conclude our sermon series in the book of Leviticus, discuss some of your biggest takeaways.
In a few sentences, how would you summarize what the book of Leviticus is about?
Prayer Points
As difficult to understand and culturally removed as we may feel, praise God for his words from the book of Leviticus!
Pray that the Holy Spirit would help us grow in our devotion to God.
Pray that Sound City would be filled with people who share the gospel message and desire to see our neighbors live a life devoted to God.
Discussion Questions
Discuss how progressive nearness and progressive estrangement helps us stay connected to the realities of heaven and hell.
Compare and contrast your understanding of discipline from the perspectives of your family of origin and the Biblical view of discipline serving to prevent judgment.
Discuss what it means that God’s covenant faithfulness is accessed by ongoing repentance.
How can you help one another keep your eyes on eternity? Phrased differently, how can you encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ to live by God’s mercy, continue repenting and reinforce hardships as loving, forming and shaping discipline?
Prayer Points
Praise God for the grace and mercy we’ve received as his children.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would remind us of God’s mercy and help us live a life of continual repentance.
Pray that Sound City would be filled with people who speak the truth in love to all those around us so that progressive nearness to God would become their reality.
