Text: Acts 2:42-47

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. What is the danger of believers continually looking for God to work the extraordinary in their lives? Have you even been guilty of wanting God to do the extraordinary, when in fact God was working in the ordinary? Explain. Share.

2. What are the “means of grace” mentioned in this portion of scripture? Are you devoted to these means of grace in your own life? Share.

3. What are the names of the 12 apostles? 🙂 It would serve you well to have these memorized, as we are to devote ourselves to their teaching.

Family Application: How are you doing in your family devotions? Share with your group.

Evangelism Application: Staying true to the theme of the sermon, what ordinary and plain things can you do in your life to evangelize to the people around you on a regular basis? Share.

Text: James 5:19-20

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. Are you allowing others to help you in your Christian walk, or have you been more prone to try to do things on your own strength and wisdom? Give examples.

2. Is there a Christian you know who has been living or acting in intentional sin or who has wandered from the truth? Do you believe that God is calling you to be involved in confronting or exposing their sin in some way? Share.

3. Are you living with intentional affection for your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ around you? Are you living with a love for those who are lost? Share.

Family Application: How is sin be addressed in your household? How are you keeping your family engaged in the Christian faith, so that they do not fall into sin?

Evangelism Application: As Christians, it is our job to be the light of the world, not to convict the world. What can you do (or what have you been doing) to try and reach out to worldly and sinful individuals. Share.

Text: James 5:13-18

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. How has this potion of scripture been taken out of context and improperly applied throughout church history? Explain.

2. Does God still heal today? How? Share.

3. Do you run to God or away from God when difficulties take place in your life. Explain. Share.

4. Do you have any sins that need to be confessed to your group? Confess, share, and pray.

5. Spend time as a group paying expectantly for prominent issues and topics in your group.

Text: James 5:12-17

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. Are you being patient in the midst of a fallen and broken world? Explain. Share.

2. None of us respond perfectly to the difficulty of suffering. Some of us fight back or lash out at others. Others of us complain or blame God or attempt to escape our pain through pleasurable distractions. Of these sinful responses, which are you most likely to fall into when you suffer? Try to describe your own typical pattern of responding to suffering. Share with your group.

3. Patience requires hope. Grow your hope by reading each of the following passages that describes what life will be like when our King returns. What do you learn about your future in each of these passages?

      • Isaiah 11:1-9

      • Isaiah 65:17-25

      • Revelation 21-22

4. How are you doing with your struggle of judging others (both believers and non believers)? Share.

5. How can you practically apply James 5:7-12 in this upcoming week? Share.

Text: James 5:1-6

Notes: Emmauscf.org/sermons

1. Why does James abruptly direct his focus toward the unrighteousness in James 5? Why is this important for Christians reading the text?

2. As Christians, how should we approach the unrighteous wealthy individuals that surround us in our society? What does scripture teach on this topic? Share.

3. How are you doing with your struggle with acquiring finances, yet not being controlled by them. Share.

4. What advice would you give a rich man (whose idol was his wealth) who came to you wanting to learn about God and come with you to church? Explain.

5. How are you (or how will you) (or how did you) teach(ing) your children a Godly concept of money and finances? Share with your group.

Text: James 4:13-17

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. What are three of the main points James wants his readers to understand thus far in his book? Discuss.

2. Are you approaching the future with humility? Or have you been planning future events with little to no regard for God’s will?

3. How would you respond if a brother or sister in Christ asked you the question, “what is God’s will for my life?”

4. Do you trust God with the future? Share with your group.

5. Has there been a time in your life that you became certain God was calling you to do something, so you did it? Explain.

Text: James 4:1-12

Notes: emmauscf.org/sermons

1. Are you currently growing closer to God? Or do you feel you are being distracted and pulled away from God? Share with your group.

2. In what areas of your life are you committing  spiritual adultery” with God? Share.

3. What advice would you give to a brother or sister in Christ who felt that they were falling away from God and did not know how to grow close to Him again.

4. Do you experience grief over your sins? Why or why not. How. Explain share.

5. When you commit sins, do you run to God in light of His promises and Love? Or do you run and hide in your shame? Share.

1. What connection should we recognize between Jesus and Moses in Matthew’s Gospel in general, and the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) in particular?

2. What does Jesus do with the law of Moses in applying it to citizens of his kingdom?

3. What does Jesus mean in Matt. 5:21-22 when he says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire”?

4. Are you harboring hatred in your heart towards anyone? If so, what ought you to do?

5.  Has anyone offended you? If so, what is your obligation according to Matt. 5:23-24?