Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud Luke 18
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 9

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. On Sunday Troy interviewed Andy Naylor who works with the Baptist Union of Victoria. While Andy is a singer/ songwriter he is a person who has seen the benefits of people living with an open hand.  Where have you seen the benefits of people living with an open hand recently?

2. One of the main points from the passage (Luke 18) involves the idea that Jesus not only saw people and knew their names but he was also willing to be interrupted along the way. Share an instance where you have been interrupted and have been able to demonstrate living with an open hand to someone.

3. One of the questions Troy asked Andy was "when did God become real to you?" but that question could be asked of each of us so share when God became real to you? Was there a circumstance or a person who was influential in helping God to become real to you?

4. One of the ways Andy interacts with Jesus is through music. What is it for you, how do you draw close to Jesus?is it through going out into nature, interacting with people, listening or singing along to music (or any other ways that may come to mind)?

5. Have there been any times in your life when you have struggled with doubt, or God's presence or his care for you? In those times how do you ground yourself in God or what truths do you hold onto?

6. One of the greatest challenges for people in a busy, instant, over stimulated environment is to be intentional about meeting with God. What 2 or 3 things have been  the most helpful ideas or habits for you?

Maybe take some time to once again listen to the song Andy sung called Secret Place.

Also on Sunday Cindy introduced the research project she is doing for her studies at MST. if you are able to help her by completing the survey for her on the role sung worship has played in your own spiritual formation that would be appreciated. See Cindy's video below.

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 21:9-17
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 8

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. Yvonne spoke of Peter putting his clothes on when he jumped out of the boat - normally people get undressed before jumping into the water why do you think he got dressed before jumping into the water?

2. When the disciples recognised Jesus, Peter immediately jumped into the water while the other disciples rowed to shore - are you a jump in and run type of person or a steady and row type of person?

3.There are two passages within the New Testament that use the same word for charcoal fire, firstly (John 18:18) when Peter betrayed Jesus around a charcoal fire in the courtyard and second on the beach (John 21:9) when Jesus asks Peter do you love me. Often the Bible uses the same word to link the passages - why do you think these two passages are linked? What’s the significance for Peter and his ongoing call??

4. When have you had one of those moments when you think you’ve blown everything and then you get reinstated/ forgiven?

5. What does the call of God look like in your life?

6. Jesus says to the disciples bring some fish for breakfast but Jesus was already cooking fish and bread on the fire when the disciples arrived.  What do you think the significance of Jesus saying this is while he had already having cooked fish and bread?

7. Share an experience where God has not only demonstrated his call on your life but has also provided what you need for the situation at hand?

8. Share an experience where God has not only demonstrated his call on your life but has also provided what you need for the situation at hand?

9. Yvonne mentioned that there are two sides to the coin when it comes to our call - the open hand has both up and out, it also involves as Peter experienced following Jesus and feeding his sheep, following Jesus and leading people and of course trust him and having faith in him. Share an experience where this has been demonstrated in your life?

10. What do you need to do to hear the call? Yvonne made the comment that when her kids don’t come quickly for dinner they could still be full, maybe what she has cooked doesn’t seem appetising or they have their head phones in and can’t hear her.  What do you need to do to hear God’s call - Don’t fill life with Junk, don’t rank what he calls to unappetising open your ears and just trust him?

Sometimes if you haven’t heard him call you again it could be because you haven’t done what he has asked.

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 6:1-15
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 7

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. In this miracle of the feeding of the Five Thousand there is a clear invitation - Jesus invites us to open our hand to him for what we need - what are the needs that you have that you need to open your hand to God for?

2. There is also a comfort that God sees us, he knows us and he knows our needs - all we have to do is ask him. Maybe you have never (for what ever reason) asked him to fulfil the deepest desire of your heart. May be you could ask the group to share any needs or desires that they have never spoken of before?

3. There are often a number of reasons why people don’t bring their needs to God. What have been the reasons you’ve held back from asking God for things in the past?

4. In another passage in the Bible Jesus says to his disciples "ask and keep on asking." But sometimes we are afraid of praying for miracles because we are afraid that God won’t answer.  We never know if the answer will be yes or no or perhaps not yet.
When have you prayed for something that you feel like God hasn’t answered or maybe hasn't answered the way we hoped?

5. We have to remember that the answer isn’t up to us - it’s our job to ask.  What do you think of the quote that says the greatest tragedy in life is that prayers go unanswered simply because they go unasked?

6. There is also a challenge in this passage.  Chris asked us what the deepest need of your heart is? Maybe like the tree things look good on the outside but there is something else going on inside? What's the thing that is going on, on the inside for you?

7. Jesus sees the people and he doesn’t distinguish between who he provides for because in this passage everyone got fed and there were left overs. Maybe you feel like you’re not worthy or maybe that Jesus isn’t listening to you but be assured he hears you, sees you, knows your name and will answer your prayer. What do you need to keep praying about?

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 9:1-41
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 6

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. According to George Vailant in his study on ageing well, he makes the comment that in order to live a happy life people need to keep the doors open to new relationships and new experiences in life.
When was the last time you engaged in trying something new?
What do you think are three things that make for a happy life?

2. As was the case in John Chapter 9 people have long sought to find the cause of problems in their lives by concluding that the problems they face are a result of sin, satan and or some sort of sickness. The reality is that this is not the case. In many situations in life we will never know (this side of heaven) the answers as to why things happen. It is Jesus who declares to the blind man that neither you, nor your parents or anything else is responsible.  But a healing of this type does bring glory and praise to God.
When have you seen someone healed?

3. Do you pray regularly for healing for a particular situation? Share this with your group and get the group to pray for that person or situation.

4. Again this week we see a person who has encountered Jesus share their story of what Jesus has done for them and it leads to other people coming to believe in him. Share a time when you shared your own story wth someone and it caused them want to know more about Jesus?

5. While miracles don’t make faith or belief they do point to the miracle maker. Have you ever seen or heard of a miracle taking place - how did you respond?

6. When human beings dig their heels in and say I know everything they are effectively saying I refuse to change. It is when we open ourselves up to learn that people are open to change. Are you open to learn from others? In what ways have you demonstrated this from your experience of the past week?

7. Is there something you’ve believed about God that no matter what he would say your response would be "I know”?

8. Is there an area of your life where you need to adopt the posture that says help me see?

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 4:1-26
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 5

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. What is the significance of Jacobs well being the place where Jesus met the woman?

2. One of the first things that Jesus said to the woman at the well was "if you new the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink” How did you come to know Jesus?

3. One of the ways people come to know Jesus is through an introduction by a friend. In the latest research by the National Church Life Survey they found one in four people said they would come to church if invited by a friend - who could you invite to experience Jesus in our gatherings sometime this year? Or who could you introduce to Jesus by asking them if they might be interested in reading the Bible together with you?

4. Perhaps another way to introduce people to Jesus is by people seeing Jesus followers in action. Engage is a great way for people to participate in projects and experience the practical love of Jesus - there are a range of Engage projects on the app under the  Events/General/Engage page. Why not ask the group to select an engage project and be involved together?

5. When the woman asks for some "living water" there is an inference that she then won’t have to then keep coming to get water from the well. The reason she doesn’t want to keep coming to get water is that it reminds her and causes her to relive the hurt of the past experience . Is there a task you avoid because it reminds you of a hurtful  past experience that you have had?  If you feel comfortable share what that experience was and allow the group to pray for that person?

6. Andrew spoke of the difference between guilt and shame.  Guilt being the idea that "I did something wrong" and shame saying "I am wrong.” Is there a time when you have experienced shame? Do you still feel the effects of shame in your life? If so allow the group to pray for that person.

7. Andrew suggested that when Jesus said to the woman “go and call your husband” he was not doing it with a judgemental or accusatory tone but with care and concern for her.  Is this a different way of looking at this part of the passage to how you have previously viewed the passage?

8. Jesus said to the woman "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you’ve had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.” It was more than likely not her fault that she was in this situation - there may have have been a number of  reasons for her situation. But the experience she had made her feel disqualified from a range of things - community, conversations and doing a range if things with other people.  Has there ever been a time when you have felt disqualified from community or from an activity because something happened that was not your fault?

9. If you were walking towards the well (as this woman was) what would Jesus be waiting at the well to say to you today?

10. What effect does it have on you that you can have a conversation and a personal relationship with Jesus? Do you talk to him often?

11. When the woman found out who Jesus was she went back to her village and told them about her encounter with him.  They all then came out to meet him. What has he been saying to you recently? What are you going to do about it?  Who do you need to share your story with? 

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 3:1-16
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 4

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. When Jesus talked about God the idea was that our love for God would flow into our love for other people. Therefore it is not about religious activity but it is the relationship we have with God that overflows and intersects with the relationships we have with other people.
Where have you seen this recently in your daily life?

2. How did you begin your relationship with God? Take the opportunity to share some aspects of the story of how you came to begin your walk with Jesus.

3. How do you remain with God? - what practices assist you to remain with God?

4. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The idea behind the pharisees was that they would resist the creep of just becoming like everyone else. So they engaged in the practice of ceremonial hand washing or cleansing - and that also they engaged in the practice of keeping the Torah in order to distinguish themselves from everyone else. While never wanting to become like the pharisees how should followers of Jesus be different from everyone else? What should be some of our distinguishing traits?

5. The phrase born again can be represented in two aspects - born from above or born a second time. It is also referred to as being born from water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Which of these two ideas is easier to understand. How would you describe being born again to someone who doesn’t know Jesus or have never heard this idea before?

6. The idea of inner cleansing or a washing is a crucial thing that John talks about. That is where the idea of baptism comes from. Have you ever been baptised? What was your experience of baptism? Many people think they need to have everything together prior to being baptised but actually baptism was originally intended to be the starting point in the journey with Jesus. What’s stopping you being baptised?
N.B. You can contact any member of the Pastoral Team to organise this.

7. The Kingdom of God can be interpreted simply as a future orientation which is described in Isaiah 11:6
 'The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.’ But there is also an aspect of the Kingdom of God that has come to earth in the present. In what ways do we see the Kingdom of God operating in the present time?

8. In verse 8 John uses the words wind and spirit which are the same word in the original Greek. What was it like when God spirit breathed life into you? How did life change for you? Did your perspectives change? Did your priorities change?

9. Troy spoke about the fact that entering the Kingdom Of Heaven involves receiving (v11) the testimony of Jesus. What does it mean to receive?

10. Read 1-16 Troy spoke to us about the opposite of control being love and that knowing you’re loved equals giving over control. This can be helpful in our understanding of what love is. To what extent does love of God equal giving over control? To what extent does trust play the in our giving over control? How do I demonstrate that I am willing to trust him more?

Put your name in John 3:16 exchange it for the word ‘world." How do we understand Gods love for us?  

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 2:1-12
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 3

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?
Talk about what your typical response to a crisis is?
Panic?
Catastrophise?
Anger?
Shame?
Avoidance?
Fix it?
Go to Jesus in trust?

Specific Questions
1. Yvonne talked about the Panic/Trust arrow below.

How do we ensure that when a crisis hits or there is a problem that we are able to stop and remind ourselves to go to Jesus.
2. How can we create a habit of going to Jesus first?
 Some tips could be:

• Learn more about how trustworthy Jesus is so that trust comes more easily.
• Notice when Jesus is at work in your life and find ways to remember it.
• Build regular rhythms into your day and week to ensure that Jesus is not too far from mind when a crisis hits.
• Surround yourself with people that remind you to take your problems to Jesus.

What are your tips for doing this?
3. Jesus uses water barrels which were used for Jewish purification rituals to perform this miracle (John 2:6). What is the significance of doing a new thing in the world with the tools of an old system?
4. Why would Jesus abolish those old cleansing rituals?
5. How will the people be right before God without them?
6. The high powered master of ceremonies (or master of the feast) was a recipient of the miracle but he did not realise what it was about or who it is from (John 2:9) but the lowly servants did.
Why is it that often when something happens it’s the lowly people that receive and the powerful people don’t?
7. How do we ensure we are lowly enough to see, notice and receive?
8. Who is the real master of the feast?
9. Read the original signpost pointing to the great wedding banquet that was promised in Isaiah 25:6-8. Who is the banquet prepared for?
10. A sign is a special action by Jesus that reveals who he is to believers and confronts others to decide who they think he is. After reading this story, who do you think Jesus is?
11. Does Jesus always turn our water into wine? Does he always solve our problems in the way we expected? How can Mary’s words to the servants in John 2:5 help us?
12. A century ago, a young student at Oxford University was taking an examination in religious studies. The examination question was to write about the meaning in the miracle of Christ turning water into wine. For two hours he sat while other students filled their pages with long essays, he had not written a single word. The teacher came over to him and insisted that he commit something to paper before turning it in. He simply penned the following line: “The water met its Master, and blushed”   How can we be as willing to be transformed as the water was?

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 1:35-51 
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 2

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?
Talk about the process by which you came to follow Jesus.

Specific Questions
1. Talk about the process by which you came to follow Jesus. Did you have an “Andrew” or “Phillip” in your life?
2. If there is a process by which people will come to know Jesus in our current culture, what might that look like?
3. How can we allow people to genuinely  “come and see”? What might we need to stop or start doing better?
4. Nathanael had a “spooky” moment with Jesus (cf. 1:49) that sparked a somewhat basic confession of faith. At NC we want to enable more “power” encounters with Jesus by offering pause spaces, listening (prophet) words at the end of the gathering, and encouraging people to pray for others to encounter Jesus. However, do these kinds of encounters always produce faith? Why/why not?
5. Jesus seemed to live with an open hand to God and others. At the beginning of a new year, it is easy to simply repeat the same habits and routines with God. However, to live with a “fresh” open hand to God often requires us to give ourselves and God permission to be at work in us in a fresh way. Let’s think about re-posturing ourselves this year in order to experience God in a new way. For example: if you are not usually someone who opens their hands in worship, why not consider doing so this year? Why not consider beginning each day with a prayer that begins with a physical action of opening your hands to receive from God for others? Change often comes about through a new action that challenges our comfort zone. What might God be asking you to do, and what might stop you from doing so? Will you give yourself and him permission?
6. Going deeper. For those who want read 1:19-23. The Pharisees and scribes wanted to know who John the Baptist was. Here are some passages that refer to the various traditions behind their questions: for Messianic expectations read Daniel 7:9-14 and Isaiah 52:13-53:12; for Elijah, read Malachi 4:1-6; for a prophet like Moses read Deuteronomy 18:15-22.

Pray: Ask God to speak
Read Passage Aloud John 1:1-18 (perhaps ask two different people to read from two different translations)  
Re-tell the passage in your own words
Open Hand - Study 1

General Questions
What do you like about the passage?
What do you find interesting and or challenging about the passage?

Specific Questions
1. This week we commenced our new series in the Gospel of John. So we see John, the brother of James, writing this good news about Jesus and as he does he gets us to look back in order to have us move forward. So from verse 1 we are jettisoned back to an earlier story, a bigger story when Jesus was with God at the point of creation (see John 1:1).
Troy unpacked this idea of looking backwards in order to move forward. When has looking back helped you move forward in life?

2. Troy spoke about 3 bearings
1.  Jesus is the light of life
2.  Jesus holds all authority
3.  Jesus is Amazing
Which of these 3 bearings do you need to be reminded of the most for the year ahead and why?

3. There are lots of different Johns mentioned in The Gospel of John so don’t get confused. While we didn’t talk much about John The Baptist on Sunday in John 1:6-8 one of the main things about John The Baptist is that he came to point to Jesus. In what ways is your life pointing to Jesus?

4. Read John 1:14 and 18 - you will see in this account the way Jesus describes his closeness to God the Father through the use of Son / Father language which shows the nature of their relationship and connection. It's worth noting Jesus didn't go around describing himself as God. How might this Son /Father relationship be a useful image to reflect on the way you describe God to others?

5. It is the Son (Jesus) who makes the Father known - how do we make God known in our everyday lives?

6. Jesus continually lived with an open hand to God and to others - how do we mimic that behaviour in our lives?

 7. How do you embody grace and truth in your life? Give example of how you did that in the last week?