Bad authorities may ask you to do things you know you cannot do.
Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own, and get together with your running partner, life group, or friends and family to talk through what you are learning.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is something you have purchased that may have seemed frivolous at the time, but was worth every penny?
2. Take the time to read through all of Daniel 3 and answer the following questions:
What stands out to you about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s actions in this story?
What stands out to you about the king’s actions in this story?
How does God show up?
What happens as a result?
3. Where is your comfort in difficult times? Is your comfort in God delivering you from difficulty or in the reality that God is WITH you?
4. Read Luke 14:25-33 and answer the following questions:
◦ Make some observations about this passage (What does the text say):
▪ Who is talking?
▪ What is the circumstance?
▪ Any repeated phrases?
▪ What surprised you?
▪ What stood out to you?
◦ Make some interpretations (What does the passage mean)
▪ What questions do you have?
▪ Summarize the passage in 1-3 sentences – what are the main points?
▪ What do you learn about the nature and character of God as you read this?
▪ What do you learn about yourself and your choices?
◦ Now make some applications (what’s my response)
▪ How do you respond to what you are reading?
▪ How does this apply to your life?
▪ What is the central truth that you could put into practice from this?
▪ Who could you share this with for the sake of encouragement?
5. If you are a follower of Jesus, what has it cost you to follow Him? What have you gained as a result?
▪ If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, what things in your life seem too valuable to give up to give your life to Jesus?
6. Read Matthew 10:39. Spend time in prayer. If you know Jesus, ask Him for the courage to live boldly for Him and to reveal where you are blending in when He wants you to stand out. If you don’t yet know Jesus, and you want to, ask for the courage to count the cost of following Him. What is He inviting you to lay down?
KEY SCRIPTURE
Luke 14:25-33 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Matthew 10:39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
