The Invitation - End of Week 5

INTRODUCTION
The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN QUESTIONS
If you knew your next meal would be your last meal on earth, what would that meal be?  Share in great detail, but be careful if you’re hungry.

HEAD

1. Read Luke 22: 1-30 together and share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts that come to you from the reading.
2. Why do you think Judas wasn’t betraying Jesus but helping Jesus fulfill his destiny?
3. Do you think the disciples understood what Jesus meant when he said that the cup was his blood and the bread was his body?
4. We know that the disciples argued on this night about which one of them most deserved to sit at the right hand of Jesus in his kingdom, which they thought would start soon (little did they know what his kingdom was, right?).  So how do you think you would have felt, fighting over the seat of honor while your king went around the table and washed your feet?
5. Read Luke 22: 39-46 together and share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts that come to you from the reading.
6. How would it have helped Jesus if he had found the disciples awake and praying instead of asleep?
7. Read John 18: 1-6 together and share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts that come to you from the reading.
8. Why do you think 1,000 men fell to the ground when Jesus said, I Am He (Yahweh)?  What does it mean to you that even on the darkest night, the light of Jesus still breaks through?

HEART

1. Judas was often put in a horrible light and disliked by the gospels' authors because of the way they wrote about him. But put yourself in Judas’ sandals.  Was he trying to force Jesus to do what he wanted?  Is that so wrong?  Do you and I ever do that in our lives?
2. What does it mean to you that Jesus was willing to go through the garden experience, sweat drops of blood, and fight the devil with all his might, all for you?
3. Have you struggled with unanswered prayers?  If so, what helps you keep going?

HANDS
If you’re with another person, partake in communion together.  If you’re not, you can do it alone with some bread (preferably unleavened) and grape juice.  Before participating, pray to thank God for all He’s done for you and ask for the courage to be willing to do the same for Him.  Then read through I Corinthians 11: 23-26 and enjoy the emblems, reflecting on Christ as you do.

LIVING WORDS FOR YOUR WEEK
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17 NLT