In the Workshop--Lesson 3--Jesus is the Template--Various Passages

Discussion Questions:

1.  Why does mankind struggle to trust God and stay close to Him?  Why does God keep seeking to have mankind return to Him? 

2.  Do you agree that sin makes a person less than human?  Why, or why not?  How does Jesus provide more than salvation (redemption & atonement) for this problem?

3.  How do you know what to build in your life to be fit for the Kingdom of God?  What template have you been taught to use?  Why is Jesus a better template than the Bible?  How did Jesus’ time on earth reveal what the image of God should look like in our lives?

4.  How have you seen people adopt ways of the world for building their life that are like swinging a hammer at a nail with a blindfold on?  Why do we fall so often for the world’s ways of doing things?  How are we like the starving pelicans?

5.  Why does God seem different in the Old Testament versus the New Testament?  What is the difference in knowing God based upon Law and knowing Him based upon grace & truth?  Was there any grace & truth in the Law?  Why is it different in Jesus?

6.  If you are being completely honest and vulnerable, what percentage of your life would you say is built upon what Jesus teaches versus the ways of the world?  Why this percent?

7.  What does it mean that Jesus loves us “to the end”?  How do you feel about God stooping to serve you?  If Jesus is your template (and He is), what does this example say about the way you should stoop to serve others, and love them “to the end”?  What responsibilities does this place upon us?

8.  Jesus models dealing with temptation, and He models living by faith. What are some other things He has modeled for you that help you build a life worthy of the Kingdom of God?  How is your life better because of the template He has provided?

In the Workshop--Lesson 2--A Call to Transformation--John 3

Discussion Questions:

1.  What is repentance?  What makes changing difficult to do?  Do you have some areas of your life that you don’t want Jesus messing with?  Why do you suppose God created us where we would need to be changed?

2.  What causes others to be resistant to our changes?  Why does the whole system need to be changed for one to be more capable of changing?  How does this show God’s design for us to be community beings?

3.  Why would Nicodemus struggle with a Jew, and particularly a leader of the Jews, needing to be born again?  How have you struggled with substituting doing more works for letting Jesus change you?   In what ways have we tried to replace repentance and being made new with religious activities?

4.  In what ways have you tried to tack Jesus onto something that is broken instead of being made new?  Why do you think mankind continues to fight against listening to what God says to us instead of surrendering to His wisdom and insight?

5.  How do you think being partially born again effects your ability to see God and His Kingdom?  Why can’t flesh evolve into Spirit?  Does Garden Ridge have some blind spot where we encourage evolving from flesh to Spirit instead of surrender and being made completely new?

6.  What does it mean to be born of water and the Spirit?  How is this a demonstration of us and God working in unison to bring about change in our lives?  How does this concept tie into the importance of becoming apprentices of Jesus?

7.  How is will power, the guidance from the teachings of Scripture, and allowing God’s presence to work in our life all important aspects of changing into what God desires us to be?  How can each of these elements be dangerous if they are misapplied?

8.  How have you seen the Spirit blowing where it wishes and leaving a path like a tornado in your life or the lives of those around you?

In the Workshop--Lesson 1--Live on Purpose; Not on Accident--Mark 1 & John 6

Discussion Questions:

1.  What is an apprentice?  How is being an apprentice of Jesus more of a challenge than merely accepting Him as our Savior?    

2.  What does baptism teach about the commitment and conviction one should have to walk with God?  Explain the lifetime of learning, growing and maturing that comes after one is baptized?  How does this demonstrate the importance of becoming a disciple or apprentice?

3.  Why do you think it was important for Peter, Andrew, James & John to literally drop their nets to follow Jesus?  What kinds of things are there in your life that Jesus wants you to drop to follow Him as an apprentice?  Do you think it is a coincidence that those who made up the inner circle with Jesus all dropped their nets to follow Him?  Why or why not?

4.  Why is looking at Jesus as a Savior who will make our life better a set-up for disappointment?  How is pain and suffering important for our spiritual development?

5.  Discuss what the following quote from John Piper makes you think or feel: “If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ was not there?”

6.  Why is developing an eternal perspective instead of a temporary one important?  How is an apprenticeship with Jesus designed to help us grow in this way?