Next Steps--Lesson 12--How Could You Do This to Me?--Acts 27-28

Discussion Questions:

1.     Tell of a time you felt shipwrecked and snakebit in the same day?  How did you see God use those situations for good?

2.     How have you seen the Holy Spirit act like the wind and blow where it wishes?  In what ways have you fought against the wind and tired yourself out?

3.     God blocked Paul’s way and blew him to a destination he didn’t expect.  How has He done the same thing to you?  How was this act favorable for Paul and for those he encountered in Malta?  How might the same thing be happening when you are blown off course from your plans?

4.     How have you seen God be more concerned with what you are becoming than where you are?  What role does character play in being fit for God’s Kingdom?  Why is this an important thing to remember in your spiritual development?  How did the Israelites struggle with this in the wilderness?

5.     How did the two thieves on the crosses next to Jesus display the importance of looking at our worst day circumstances with eyes of hope and faith in the LORD?  How does this example help you in your own difficult situations?

6.     What kind of story do you believe the Author is writing for you?  How do you know what He is writing?  How does your faith help/hinder you from waiting for Him to reveal the next step?

7.     Why did Paul tell the sailors they had to cut away the lifeboat and let it fall?  What message should we take from what is happening in this shipwreck?  How does hearing other people’s experiences help you to develop a level of trust that enables you to cut away the lifeboat and trust in the LORD?

Easter Sermon--Exiled Behind a Veil-Now What? --Various Passages

Discussion Questions:

1.  How have you felt times of exile (that there was a veil between you and God) in your life?  What brought about those feelings of exile?  How have you seen God working to remove the veil between you and Him?

2.  How does the story of what God allowed to happen in Joseph’s life discourage you and encourage you?  Are there any areas in your own life that you could see Him doing the same thing with you and your situation?

3.  Why is it important to know that God had a plan prior to creation to choose us in Jesus and make us holy and blameless?  How did that plan twist and turn through the history of the Israelites?  What helps you keep your focus upon His plan rather than your circumstances?

4.  Gideon lamented about God’s presence being missing among his people.  Have you had times of feeling the same way?  How might God call you to go in your strength and change things because He is with you?

5.  Do you think it is a coincidence that Gideon trusted in the presence of the LORD and then they experienced 40 years of peace?  How have you seen God bring peace to your situations that seem impossible and/or overwhelming?

6.  Discuss the statement Scott made about needing acts of God and a mediator in order to take what is unholy and restore it, or take what is dead and bring it back to life.  What do the two great acts of God that happened when Jesus died upon the cross (Veil tore and dead rose from the grave) teach you about God’s plan for you? 

7.  Considering what God did through His great acts and the mediation of Jesus, what is there between you and God?  How does this provide you hope?  How will that hope make a difference in the way you live this next week?

Next Steps--Lesson 11--Would You Like to Be Free? Various Passages

Discussion Questions:

1.  What kinds of things would be in your backpack of rocks?  What kinds of burdens do you wish you could drop and not pick up again?

2.  Are there times you have lived so God would love you rather than because He loves you?  What difference does this make in your spiritual vitality?  Why do we fall into this kind of thinking?

3.  Why is knowing your true identity in God important?  How have you been lied to by the evil taskmaster to hinder you from being set free and experiencing a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light?

4.  How do you see people in our time and culture saying, “Let’s go back to Egypt?”  As God tries to lead us to the Promised Land, how are we similar to the Israelites and the way they dealt with the various trials they encountered?  How are we different?

5.  Do you fear having separation from God?  What kinds of things cause separation between you and God?  How do you respond to the statement, “The only thing between us and God is Jesus.” (If we are a believer)?

6.  Why is independence so appealing?   How have you seen independence get in the way of being set free?

7.  How does the Sabbath demonstrate God’s desire to set us free?  What makes keeping a sabbath time a burden?  Is it fair to say that giving into a schedule of busyness is like the Israelites wanting to return to Pharaoh as an evil taskmaster?  Why, or why not?