Despite what many think, Los Angeles is a very spiritual city. While many do not consider themselves religious, most pursue spirituality in various ways. In Acts 17, Paul explores Athens, another very spiritual city. Instead of presenting Christianity as one spiritual option among many, he shows that their approach to spirituality cannot satisfy them. Only an unadjustable God who saves us by grace can satisfy the spiritual longing of our souls.

Application Questions: 

1. How do you see a desire for spirituality in your own life—whether you’d call it that or not?

2. How have you seen yourself or others “remix” spirituality to suit their desires and preferences? 

3. Why does Paul think the gospel provides a true spirituality that nothing else can? How might that apply to your life this week?

How do we know what is right or wrong, good or evil? Who has the right to say? God in His perfect goodness and authority speaks to a world so often confused about good and evil.

Application Questions: 

1. How does authority relate to morality?

2. How does truth relate to morality?

3. Why is the "I choose" approach to morality empty?

4. How does the "we choose" approach to morality fall short?

5. Why is it better for us if "He chooses" our morality?

Los Angeles is a city filled with people striving to find their own meaning in life. The options seem endless, and the idea of discovering our own purpose seems exciting. But can we really have the deep purpose we crave if we are making it up ourselves? Only Jesus can give us a stable purpose that we don't have to earn.

Application Questions: 

1. In what ways do you see those around you in our city striving to invent meaning in life instead of inheriting it?

2. Which of the 7 "C's" are you most tempted to find your ultimate purpose in life in?

3. How does the gospel free you to enjoy that area in life without it carrying the weight of being your ultimate purpose?

4. In light of the gospel, what is the purpose of your life (hint: there is one right answer)?

5. How might this week look different if you remembered your ultimate life purpose?

Easter is a time of generic hope ("after winter comes spring"), but Jesus says he brings hope into our lives now. We tend to downplay Easter so we can fit it into the ways we already understand the world, but Jesus bursts our categories. Dying for our sins and rising from the grave, Jesus opens the door to a new kind of life here and now, and ushers us into eternal life with him forever.

Application Questions: 

1. How do you see death affecting your own life? What are the ways you tend to cope with it? 

2. What are some ways Jesus’ resurrection interrupts the way you normally think about the world? 

3. Are there ways Jesus is inviting you to experience a new way of life now? What would it look like to take him up on that invitation?

Jesus famously calls us to "abide" with him as a branch abides in a vine. But what does that mean? What does it practically look like to live a life of abiding? And how do we know if we're abiding or not? 

Application Questions: 

1. How has the gospel already given you a vital connection with Christ?

2. How does your relationship with your phone (or the internet) inform what it might mean to live a life of "abiding"?

3. What evidence of abiding do you see in your life?

4. What evidence of abiding do you see in the lives of the Christians around you? Share these with them.

5. How have you seen a life of obedience be the life of greatest joy?

Everyone is searching for meaning, and purpose, and abundant life. Jesus makes it clear that the only way to the life we were created for is through Him. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

Application Questions: 

1. What answers are you looking for from God that He doesn't promise to give you?

2. What promises can you cling to instead?

3. How does Christ being the "way" speak into your hopes and dreams?

4. How does Christ being "the truth" relate to Him being "the Light of the World"?

5. What life does Christ offer? Are you embracing the abundant life offered in Him?

People in Los Angeles aren’t very familiar with sheep, but Jesus compares himself to a shepherd to help us understand who he wants to be in our lives. Shepherds know their sheep, love their sheep, and lead their sheep. When Jesus is your good shepherd you will follow him more closely than anything else. 

Application Questions: 

1. Jesus knows you even better than a shepherd knows his sheep. How might that encourage you this week?

2. How does Jesus laying down his life for you touch down in the things you are dealing with in your life right now?

3. Where do you think Jesus is calling you to follow him right now?

In a passage where people are arguing with Jesus about his identity, we find his strongest claim to be God in the flesh. It leaves us with a radical choice: we must either follow Jesus as God in every area of our lives, or reject him entirely. Only when we understand these high stakes will we see the deep love Jesus shows for us by going to the cross in our place.

Application Questions: 

1. What are some ways that your thoughts of God are too small? How might that be affecting your life?

2. How does the size of God make Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for you more incredible? What would your life be like if you meditated on that more?

3. Jesus asks for a radical choice when it comes to his identity—and what it means for your life. How are you grappling with that choice?

At the beginning of John 6, Jesus feeds almost 20,000 people miraculously. By the end of John 6, the only followers He has left are His disciples. Challenging His disciples, Jesus asks them if they will leave Him as well? Peter responds with a declaration of faith and desperation that is true for all Christians everywhere.

Application Questions: 

1. What does spiritual desperation look like in your life?

2. How can you live a life of dependence on the words of Jesus?

3. In what way can you build your life upon Christ's words of eternal life?

Jesus is the light. He is the singular means by which we can truly comprehend and understand everything in the world. He allows us to understand ourselves, our lives, and the world around us as they truly are. And as his followers we have been given his light to illuminate the world around us.

Application Questions:

1. In what ways does the gospel of Jesus help you understand the world (or yourself) in ways you couldn't otherwise?

2. What do you think it means to follow Jesus and not walk in darkness?

3. How would you view yourself, or your place in the world, differently if you remembered that you possess Jesus' light?