Holy No’s: Knowing Whose Business We Are About

Holy No’s: Knowing Whose Business we are About

·         Start by opening in prayer and asking God for the wisdom and strength to make Him the priority of our lives.

·         Read Luke 2:41-52

·         What do you picture in your head when you see the word ‘caravan’?

·         It took a while for Jesus’ parents to realize he was missing. Why do you think took so long?

·         The story says it took 3 days for them to find Jesus. What do you think was going through the mind of his parents during these 3 days?

·         Where all do you think they looked?

·         When they finally find Jesus he is in the temple ‘sitting in the midst of the teachers’.  When his mother questions him he simply says, “Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” At least one version reads, “Did you not know whose business I must be about.”

·         What does Jesus mean by this?

·         With so many distractions around us, it is easy to forget whose business we are meant to be about. What are some of those distractions?

·         In those times where you take your focus off of God, whose business do you normally focus on instead?

·         What are some things we can be doing to help prevent us from taking our sights off God?

·         The million dollar question… if we are meant to be about God’s business, what is God’s business?

·         Often the answers to the above question focus on the afterlife (Saving souls etc..). Without taking anything away from the importance of that mission, WHAT ELSE does God care about?

·         How is St. Marks UMC currently doing at caring about the things that God cares about? (it’s ok to think there’s room for improvement…there always is)

·         Where do you fit into that picture? If you’re not sure, what is an area of ‘God’s business’ that you’d like to get more involved with?

·         Close with a prayer asking for the wisdom to discern what is God’s business and what is not, and for clarity, that we might know the ways in which God intends to use us.