Word Night, December 18th-24th

Matthew 2:1-12

God used Astrology to attract Pagans to his son Jesus.  Wow.  How does this story redefine your viewpoint of the ways God can work to bring people to himself?  He was shattering the religious mold when he wrote the story of Jesus being born.

This morning, Pastor Nathan talked about the message being closed and non-negotiable, but the methods are limitless and have no boundaries apart from sin.  What are the non-negotiables of your faith and theology?  What are some ways you've seen people think outside of the box in their methodology?

Share your story of meeting Jesus.  How different are you now than you were before you met him?  What were ways in your own life that you were "unable to return the same way" after you had an authentic encounter with Jesus?

Here is a recap of the Story Telling Method that we mentioned last week.  Answer these questions and talk about what this passage means for your group today.

1. Retell the story.  Tell the group the story from the passage above.  It doesn't have to be word for word, but be familiar enough with is so you aren't having to read it but you don't leave out any of the important details.  Telling a narrative story can be a lot more engaging that simply reading text from a page!

2. Allow the group participants to respond to some or all of the following questions:
a. What is God trying to say to you?
b. What does this passage say about God?
c. What do you like/not like about the passage?

End with this question: Now, what are you going to do about it?  What are you going to tell people about this passage?