Cbc Of Savannah

1) In what ways are you more like Martha or Mary? 2) What are some distractions in your life that prevent you from spending time with Jesus in His Word? 3) How do you spend time with Jesus? 4) How would people that you most spend time with describe you….joyful, moody, angry, compassionate, etc? 5) If you serve at CBC, what is your motivation to serve? If you don’t serve, what are some reasons why you aren’t?

1) Can you recall a time in your life when you realized that you are a sinner, or had a sin nature? 2) Could you describe a time in your life (pre or post conversion) where you were living more by law instead of by grace (ie:if I do all these good deeds, God will overlook all the bad)? 3) Is there a “neighbor” in your life that you need to love and extend mercy to, but haven’t?

1) How would you describe your prayer life? 2) Can you share a time that you experienced an answered prayer? 3) Is there something that you are clinging to in your life that is causing you to be bitter and angry? How can you begin to deal with this?

1) In regard to serving the Lord, are there (or have there been) things in your life (ie:material things, job, people) that have prevented you from serving Him? 2) Would you be characterized by saying, “when I have time I will___________? And you fill in the blank, do devotions with my family, serve at church, join a community group, etc. Is it really about “time”? 3) Can you think of a time in your life that you realized the Lord had put you in a particular place to tell someone about Him? 4) How do you respond to those who reject Christ and/or attack the Bible?

1) Share some of your spiritual disciplines that help you to keep a correct and fresh perspective of who Jesus is? 2) Jesus was regularly being followed and interrupted to help others. How do you respond to interruptions in your schedule? 3) How are you intentionally caring for others who may be in need?

1) What part do spiritual experiences have in the life of faith? Should we seek such experiences? 2) Can you share a specific “spiritual experience”? 3) Martin Lloyd-Jones used to say that the main problem of the church today is that we do not really know God. What are you doing specifically to grow in your knowledge and intimacy with God? 4) Last week we discussed denying self and taking up our cross daily. Does this mean never having fun or enjoying life? Can you describe what joy means to you through living a life of obedience to Christ?

1) In Luke 9:20, Jesus asked, “who do you say I am”? Can you think of a time when you had the opportunity to tell someone “who Jesus is”? 2) What does it mean for you personally to deny yourself and take up the cross? 3) What does it mean, “whoever loses his life for My sake”? What are some examples in your life that show that you are “losing” your life for Jesus sake? Are there areas in your life that you are unwilling to let go of that prevent you from serving or obeying Christ….ie: time, a certain career, status, income level, retirement, a relationship, etc?

1) Jesus sends out the twelve, but tells them not to take anything. Can you think of a time in your life when you had to be dependent on God to supply a need? Can you think of a time when God may have withheld something so you would be dependent on Him, or trust Him? 2) In our text, Jesus tells His disciples, “you give them something to eat!” Did the disciples trust that He would help them fulfill this need? Can you think of a time when you were not willing to do something (ie: lead, serve, share the gospel, confront)? What prevented you (or prevents) you from taking that next step? 3) When the crowds followed Jesus, He welcomed them, served them, spoke with them and brought physical healing. How do you typically respond to people or things that interrupt your schedule?

1) Can you think of a time in your life when you felt utterly hopeless? Where did you turn for help? 2) In our text, the man healed by a demon was told by Jesus, “return home and tell how much God has done for you”. Do you intentionally cultivate relationships in your spheres of influence to tell others about Christ? If not, how can you begin to do this? 3) Sickness, suffering, and death are a result of sin and a reality in our fallen world. What are some ways that you are practically building trust and dependence on Christ?

1) What does it mean to believe in the Word of God? 2) How do you typically respond to the “challenges and trials” of life? 3) What “soil” best characterizes your life? 4) Should all believers produce fruit?

1) We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Do you tend to elevate the sins of others, but look at your sins as less? 2) How would you define “worship”? 3) Are there things that you “worship” that take the place of God….ie; time, work, hobbies, media, etc? 4) The “women” in our text was forgiven much, and therefore "loved much". Would people who know you well say that you have been forgiven much? If not, why not?

1) Name a time in your life when you doubted God. What was it that you were doubting? 2) During times of doubt or the unknown, where have you turned for help? 3) How have you, or how could you encourage/help those who are struggling with doubt? 4) What are you doing today to build trust in Christ with everything in your life?

1) Can you think of a time when you judged or were quick to assume someone’s motives before talking with them? What was the outcome? 2) Is there someone you need to reconcile with, or show forgiveness to, but haven’t? If so, why haven’t you? 3) If you spent a whole day with a complete stranger, would they hear or see the Gospel lived out? 4) Can you think of a time that you went through a trial? How did you show that your house is built upon the Rock?

-What does it mean for the beatitudes to be evidence of grace instead of a way in? -If the beatitudes are God's plan for Christian life, why might it be difficult for believers to live them out? -How can we be counter-cultural without being weird? -Who is your enemy? What's the real cost of forgiving them? -How much of your thinking is biblical and how much of it is American? -What would it look like for you to obey Christ when it's not fair.

-People often think Christians are killjoys. Why? -What would it look like for you to invite people to feast with Jesus? -What are ways you can cultivate rest? -Are there types of people you don't think don't deserve God's grace? -Are there places in your life where you have assumed your cultural rituals have made you holiness?

-Lepers were the untouchables of Jesus’ day. What is the modern day equivalent of a leper? How can we follow Jesus’ example and serve them? -What role does faith play in the account about the paralytic? What does Jesus say about faith? Do we have faith that our friends need to be brought to Jesus? What stops us from being so bold? -It’s possible that our attitude might be similar to the attitude of the Pharisees. Why might that be? -Jesus forgave the man’s sins and then He healed the man. How might that have been confusing to the people? Why did Jesus attend to the man’s spiritual healing before his physical healing? What can we learn from this?

-How have you obeyed Christ when it didn't make sense? -How are you going to serve the body this week? -Is it possible to be in too many Bible studies? -What is keeping you from being all in and following Jesus? -Do you have friends who are unbelievers? If not why not?

-The text says that Jesus’ authority is what impressed people about His teaching. What do you think made His teaching different from that of the religious leaders? (truth vs. human reasoning, His excitement as opposed to dry teaching, condemnation vs. love?) -How does Jesus choose to use His authority? -What does Jesus’ interaction with the demon possessed man teach us about Jesus? (compassion, power of the spirit world, fear and hatred toward Jesus from the demon) What does this show us about the power of Jesus’ words? -The text says that Jesus “laid His hands on every one of them and healed them.” What does this say about the extent of Jesus’ compassion? -What do we learn about Jesus from the miracles He performs in this passage?

-Who are the people in your life who are hardest to love? -If all true love is sacrificial, how can we best love those who are different? -No one thinks they're a Cultural Christian. How does scripture define a true follower of Christ? -If Jesus came to Savannah, where would he spend his time?

Community Group Discussion Questions: -Why is it important that Jesus Became a man? -In what areas of life is it hard to believe Jesus can identify with us? -The early church struggled with the idea of Jesus's divinity.Today we often struggle to understand his humanity. Why is this? -In what area do you need the most help? -What temptations are most common for you?