Greetings! Below you will find questions which reference the sermon preached on Sunday, August 31st, 2014 at The Park. This week we studied Chapter 17. Have someone in your group read this section of scripture.
Each week new questions are posted to track along with the sermons. Work hard to facilitate discussion. Listen to the hearts around the room and close with prayer.
Intro to Gospel of John:
This Gospel is unique with regard to the 4 first-hand accounts of the life of Jesus. It was likely the last of the 4 written and focuses much of it’s view on the deity of Jesus. Like today, the question of Jesus’ nature and source of power is constantly being debated and the heart of John’s gospel is to give us a clear, concise, unashamed view of the Son of God. It is here in John that Jesus makes claims like, “I am the Bread of Life”, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, and “I am the Light of the world”. Reading the Gospel of John will provide you with an exalted view of Jesus as God in the flesh, sent to proclaim the good news.
- Typically when we pray, we bow our heads. Why do you think Jesus looked up?
- Why do you think Jesus didn’t pray for the world, but for the ones The Father gave Him?
- How can we ‘be one’, as Jesus and God are one? (verse 11)
- How does it affect you that verses 20 and 21 are a specific prayer for you by Jesus Himself?
- What are ways you have experienced perfect unity with other believers? What are things that keep unity from being kept?
- What does it mean to be ‘sanctified by the truth’? (verse 17)
- As Jesus was coming closer to the cross, he stops here in John 17 and prays for His followers. If you were in His shoes, what might you have been praying for?
- In verse 26, Jesus prays that he has “made known to them your name”. What do you think this means and why was it important for Jesus to do this? Also, Do we believe that God has the same love for us that he had for Jesus?
- If unity together in Christ (and thus in the church) is essential to our witness in the world, what are you doing today to promote/destroy that unity?