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3 And Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” 

10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

1.     How do Jesus’ words about marriage seem out of step with our culture?

2.     Do you ever change a story in your life based on positive or negative circumstances?

3.     If you are married, can you say God joined you together? When is that easier or harder to say?

4.     Do you see the similarity between God’s covenant with us and our marriage covenants? Does that help make sense of biblical sexual ethics?

5.     How do you feel about being a part of the bride of Christ? Is that an exciting way to think about eternity?

6.     Where does your hard-heartedness show up in your life? What does it look like for you to kill your Bachelor Self?

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Spark Joy," from Luke 10:1-3, 17-20.

This conversation is based on the sermon titled, "Sealed," from Rev. 6:12-7:17.

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Love, Life, and Death," from 1 John 3:11-18; 4:7-12.

Ephesians 2:11 - 18
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were  at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Sermon Questions: 
1. Where do you feel the chaos (tohu and bohu) in your life?
2. What are some harbors of false peace you've looked to?
3. How can you return to the sure foundation of Jesus' peace today?
4. What might it look like to preach the Gospel to yourself?
5. In what relationship do you need to examine your own heart (i.e. remove the log out of your eye)?
6. What trips you up and prevents you from following Jesus' peace making path (Matt 18)?

This conversation is based on sermon titled, "Fruit and Vine," from Galatians 5:16-26.

Luke 10:1-3, 17-20
10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.  Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.  Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Sermon Questions:
1. What is something that has brought you joy?
2. When have you expreicend Jesus' joyful presence?
3. Who is someone you've meet or know that is truly joyful?
4. What, in your life, seems to be combatting your joy?
5. How does knowing'home is secure' change how you 'run the bases' today?

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "The Four Horsemen," from Rev. 6:1-11.

1 John 3:11 - 18; 4:7-12
3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 

Sermon Questions:
1. When was a time you've felt overwhelmingly aware of God's love for you?
2. How does your heart tend to twist the definition of 'being loved'?
3. Who have you closed your heart to? (don't beat yourself up, return to the love of God TO YOU)
4. What are some everyday deaths God has put infront of you that could bring life to others?
5. What are some simple, everyday ways you can remind yourself, and beleive, that God loves you?

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

1. How do your heart and mind react, most often, to the fruit of the Spirit?
2. Which of these fruitful outworkings that seem easiest to notice in your life? hardest?
3. In diagnosing your own heart, what do you over-desire?
4. How can you begin to cultivate (put-off/put-on) the fruit in your life this week?
5. When have you seen God growing Christ-likness in you?