Miracles, Part 1
Pastor Zach Bearss
July 8, 2018
Questions for Discussion
CONNECT
Define what the word miracle means to you?
ENGAGE
Read Acts 3:1-11. Discuss the fact that Jesus walked by this beggar and did not physically heal him but Peter and John now did. Read the remaining verses in Acts to see how this healing was used to proclaim the gospel.
Discuss ways you have witnessed or experiences a miracle in your life. Then discuss ways in which you have not witnessed or experienced a miracle in your life? How does this point to God’s sovereignty?
APPLY
Read Isaiah 35:1-6. Where is God asking you to “encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble” out of your own life experiences and journey of faith?
PRAY
Read I Peter 3:15. Ask the Lord to prepare your heart for a word of encouragement to someone else in need through the prompting of His Holy Spirit.
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Miracles, Part 2
Pastor Zach Bearss
July 15, 2018
Miracles, Part 3
Pastor Zach Bearss
July 29, 2018
Questions for Discussion
The definition of a miracle is: “A less common kind of God’s activity in which He arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to Himself.”
CONNECT
Have you recently experienced a miracle in your life or witnessed one in others that brings glory to God?
ENGAGE
Read Mark 5:21-34. Contrast and compare the 2 stories of healing in this passage: the people involved, the approach they each made to Jesus, etc.
What was Jesus’s response to each? What was their response to Jesus?
The purpose of a miracle by Jesus is:
- A sign that the gospel message of salvation is from God
- A sign that Christ has come from God
- A sign that God’s kingdom has come to earth
- Removed hindrances from those who are serving Him.
How did each of these miracles fulfill the purposes listed above?
Discuss the role of faith in miracles (see Matthew 13:58, Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19). Discuss the role of God’s will and sovereignty to sustain you and uplift you when He does not perform a miracle in your life, even when you are filled with faith. (see 2 Corinthians 12:8-9).
APPLY
Where in your life do you need to bring before God “the whole truth” of your situation of life? (see Mark 5:33). Where in your life do you need to touch the edge of Jesus’s garment and trust by faith? (see Mark 5:28)
PRAY
Pray this verse for one another: “I do believe; help my unbelief.” (Mark 9: 24)
Miracles, Part 4: Deliverance
Pastor Zach Bearss
August 5, 2018
Questions for Discussion
CONNECT
Before the sermon, where did you sit on the scale from zero: I don’t believe in Satan, to 10: I attribute everything evil or everything that goes wrong in my life to Satan. Did your perspective change in any way after hearing the sermon?
ENGAGE
Read Mark 5:1-20. Contrast the possessed man before and after his healing.
Read: John 8:44. When have you believed a lie in your life where the enemy promised freedom but ultimately brought bondage?
Read Ephesians 6:10-13, Matthew 6:12-13, James 4:5-7. How are we instructed to resist the devil?
APPLY
Fill in the blank and share with others: God, will you restore _______in my life? Ask God to free us and restore us to be used however He wants.
PRAY
Pray for God to open up the eyes of our hearts to spiritual warfare and to not stop believing and praying for healing in an area of our lives, whether it be spiritually, emotionally, physically financially, relationally.
Miracles, Part 5: Divine Protection
Pastor Zach Bearss
August 12, 2018
Questions for Discussion
CONNECT
Tell of a time in your life when you have been confused by the circumstances because God intervened and His protection was evident one time but not another time.
ENGAGE
Read Acts 16:1-25. Discuss the fact that Paul and Silas were in the center of God’s will but still beaten and placed in prison. What was Paul and Silas’s response to their circumstances? What were the results of their response?
Read Genesis 50:19-21. Discuss Joseph’s life and then his response to his brothers. Do our responses matter to the evil around us, even when it affects us personally?
APPLY
Read Daniel 4:34-35. Do you trust in God enough to know that He sustains your life as well as kingdoms?
Choose a psalm to read together, looking for God’s attributes of who He is.
PRAY
Read Hebrews 13:15. Pray a sacrifice of praise for one thing in your life that is hard to understand, thanking Him that He is with you in the midst.
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IN THE VALLEY
(Song Sung on Sunday for the offertory)
Miracles, Part 6: Inner Healing
Pastor Tom Dages
August 19, 2018
Questions for Discussion
Q-What is your understanding of the miracle of inner healing?
Miracles, Part 7: Provision
Pastor Zach Bearss
August 26, 2018
Miracles, Part 8: The Greatest Miracle
Pastor Zach Bearss
September 2, 2018
Questions for Discussion
CONNECT
Has your definition and perception of miracles changed during this sermon series? If so, how?
ENGAGE
Read I Corinthians 13. Discuss the application in our lives today as a church body. Discuss how we measure outwardly our “success” as a church versus how God measures our “success” inwardly.
Read I John 4:7-21. Discuss the fact that Jesus is our true miracle and that the grace of God has placed His deep, abiding love in our hearts.
APPLY
Look up negative words in the dictionary that are the opposite of love: resentment, bitterness, anger, boastful, irritable, harshness. How do these seeds and weeds grow in our hearts and stop us from expressing the love of God to ourselves and to others?
PRAY
Pray for a miracle to change your heart towards love and forgiveness and acceptance towards one another. Pray that the Holy Spirit would give time and space to let Christ’s love grow in you.