Encounters

Weekly Discussion Questions

Week 8 | January 3

Read Luke 5: 12-16, 17-26

1. What is similar and different about each healing situation?
2. Why do you think Jesus was willing to heal these people? Was there anything the leper did that made Jesus want to heal him?
3. What is your internal reaction to Jesus healing the man with leprosy? Are you moved to draw near Jesus to hear him and receive healing for your infirmities?
4. In what ways can you be like the friends of the paralytic?
5. What do you need to hear from Jesus? What areas in your life need to be healed?

Week 7 | December 27

Read John 2:1-11 and Matthew 9:9-13

1. What critical decision have you made that affected the direction of your life?
2. How did making that one decision set in motion a series of choices?
3. What is the significance of Jesus’ miracle at the wedding of Cana?
4. How are the decisions of those at the wedding and Matthew to follow Jesus similar?  How certain do you need to be before becoming a follower of Jesus Christ (or to follow in obedience to all that He has commanded)?
5. If you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ yet, what is holding you back? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, is there anything holding you back from fully obeying His commands?

Week 6 | December 20

Read Luke 2:8-20

1. If you had been a shepherd, would you have been frightened by the angel's message?
2. What did the angel tell them?
3. Why do you think they sang?
4. Which Christmas carols do you know that mention the shepherds?
5. Why do you think they were selected to visit Jesus? [Shepherds know a pure lamb.] How important are the shepherds to the story?
6. If you were a shepherd, would you visit the baby Jesus?

Week 5 | December 13

1. If each person was given a grade at the end of their lives, what grade would you give yourself up to this point?
2. What if only the "A" students made it to heaven? How good would your chances be?
3. What does Jesus tell Nicodemus in John 3:3 about who goes to heaven?
4. What does the phrase, “born again” mean to you?
5. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, what must one do to receive new life?

Week 4 | December 6

1. Has shame impacted any critical decisions in the direction of your life?
2. How did making that one decision set in motion a series of choices?
3. What is the significance of Jesus’s conversation with the woman at the well?
4. How has your decision to follow Jesus been similar to the decision woman at the well?  How certain do you need to be before becoming a follower of Christ?
5. If you’re not a follower of Christ yet, what is holding you back?

Week 3 | November 29

1. For Simon, his nets gave him his identity as a fisherman.  What would you say is a "net" that you might use to form your identity?
2. Has there ever been a time that you felt that Jesus was calling you to "lay down your nets?"
3. What were your responses to Jesus in those times? How has that encounter become a part of your story?
4. Peter writes this in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (NLT).  Reflect upon and discuss this truth.
5. How do you personally respond to Jesus’s call to follow him and become a fisher of men and women?

Week 2 | November 22

1. Why did Jesus use a child to show them what being "the greatest" means?
2. In what ways is a child humble?
3. In what ways does a child express pure faith or dependence on others?
4. Recall a time you thought of someone else before yourself. What motivated you?
5. How can you develop or maintain a wide-eyed-wonder approach to heaven?

Week 1 | November 15

1. Can you recall a time in your life when you felt disqualified or inadequate?
2. What does 1 Corinthians 1:26 - 28 tell us about who God chooses?
3. What does God's criteria for choosing people tell us about him?
4. What does God's criteria for choosing people tell us about ourselves?
5. What can you do to foster a growing relationship with Jesus?