Sunday, Dec 4
“Love Like Jesus” – Week 4
John 5

• What thoughts have you had about the way Jesus loves people versus the way we love people? Give examples of when it is similar and when it is different.
• What are different needs in the community and how have you met, or plan to help meet, these needs?
• Review the story. Where did the story take place? What do you know about this place? Who was there? Why were they there?
• What’s significant about the one-man Jesus encountered? What did Jesus say to him? Why did He ask this question?
• How did Jesus respond to the man’s answer? Why didn’t Jesus correct his belief about the healing power of the water? What topics do we sometimes choose to focus on that may turn people off the Gospel?
• What instructions did Jesus give the man? What did the man do? How did the religious leaders respond? Why? What does their response indicate about their hearts?
• What are red flags alerting us that we might struggle with the same issues the religious leaders did?
• How did Jesus meet the man’s spiritual needs? Discuss the importance of not only meeting physical needs in people’s lives. What are the consequences if we don’t address spiritual needs as well?
• Think creatively and discuss ways you / your group can both meet someone’s physical needs while also meeting their spiritual needs.
• What are different ways to turn conversations toward Jesus after meeting a need?

Sunday, Nov 27
“Love Like Jesus” – Week 3 
John 6

• What have you learned about loving like Jesus? What has been reinforced that you already knew and what have you been challenged with so far?
• What needs do you see in our community that seem overwhelming? Do you see anyone trying to help? What are they doing?
• What keeps us from helping meet these needs? Does it seem fruitless? Does it seem overwhelming? Have you tried before and gotten burned?
• Review the story. Who’s in the story? Where are they going? Why are they going there? How do the plans get changed?
• What problem do the disciples face? What is the immediate response? Give an example of how we respond in a similar way when we feel overwhelmed by the needs we identified earlier.
• What does Jesus suggest? Why is He testing them? What does He hope to accomplish? Why does Jesus reveal needs in our community that are too big for us to meet?
• Discuss how the story ends. What did Jesus do? What was the outcome? What is significant about the number of leftovers the disciples collected?
• What are some areas of need you have previously considered too overwhelming to help with? What can you do as an individual to help?
• Is there a need that was brought up today that your class could help meet? Discuss what that could be and how you could do it.