The One Where Some Young Women are Smart, and Others are Dumb | Matthew 25:1-13

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non-Christians in your life?

The One About Bugging Your Neighbor in the Middle of the Night | Luke 11:5-13

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non-Christians in your life?

The One Where Nobody Shows Up | Luke 14:15-24

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One About a Farmer Planting Seeds | Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One With a Dead Fig Tree | Luke 13:6-9

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One Where a Guy is Not Very Forgiving | Matthew 18:23-35

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One Where Everything is Lost and Then Found | Luke 15

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One Where Two Guys Each Build a House | Matthew 7:24-29

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

The One About a Tiny Seed Growing into a Huge Tree | Mark 4:30-32

Discussion questions

  1. What specific need or issue is being addressed by Jesus in this parable?

  2. What truth does the parable reveal to a believer? What truth does the parable hide from an unbeliever?

  3. How does this parable help you imagine life in the Kingdom of God?

  4. What action steps do you need to take in light of this parable?

  5. How does this parable move you toward prayer: for yourself, your family, our church, and for non Christians in your life?

Aaron Ruins 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' | Ephesians 1:7-12

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!

John Ruins 'Mary, Did You Know?' | Luke 1:26-38

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! 

Take Care of Yourself and Others | Jude 20-25

Discussion questions

  1. Read together Jude verses 20-25 and share the characteristics of God that stood out to you. 

  2. 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? 

  3. 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? 

  4. How does being secure in Jesus allow us to enter into loving relationships with others? 

  5. Share the people God has brought into your life who have helped build you up in the faith. 

Prayer points

  1. Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower you in the pursuit of growing in the faith. 

  2. Praise God for the godly men and women in your life who have helped build you up in the faith. 

  3. Pray for the love of God to be revealed to those who are wavering in their faith. 

  4. 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.