One word: Fellowship

The Big Picture
We are currently going through a series on Paul.  This week, we focused on Jesus’ confrontation with Paul.  Marty shared the idea that when God confronts us we have a choice: we can run away from God, we can run over God, or we can respond to what God says.

Questions from this week’s sermon

1.  How do you respond to confrontations with other people?  Does this impact the ways you respond to God when he confronts you?

2.  Describe some times that God has confronted you or some one you know.

3.  Why is so tempting to “run over God”; to focus the attention on ourselves and our actions rather than God?

4.  Why is to so tempting to run away from God? 

5.  Which tends to be a bigger temptation for you: Running away from God or running over God?

Read Acts, 9:1-9

6.  God speaks to us in many different ways.  What are some ways that He has spoken to you?  What has he said?  Are there any ways that God has spoken to others, that he doesn’t seem to speak to you through?  Why do you think that is?

7.  Marty challenged us in his sermon to slow down and try to discern what God might be saying to us.  Have you done this?  Why or why not?  Overall, what do you think God is saying to you, right now?

8.  Marty also observed that sometimes God speaks through the people around us.   Is God speaking to you about anyone in the group?  (Obviously, some discernment and tact ought to be used here.  If a small group discussion isn’t the best place to share what God has placed on your heart, please find a different venue to share with the person)

A possible extension

Sometimes God speaks to us in silences.  Many of us fill up our lives with noises and activities for this very reason.  Spend some time in silence as a group.  Perhaps instead of praying “out loud” tonight, you’ll spend some time in prayerful silence.  I’d encourage you to push the envelope a little bit, spend a little more quiet time than people feeel comfortable with.  It can be really powerful to do this and spend some time sharing what God put on your hearts afterwords.