Can you think of a time when you gathered with friends/family around a meal and the time was filled with laughter and memories? What was that like?
Do you think you, personally, or we, as a church, are prone to giving the impression that our faith is only about victories and blessings? What helps you to keep from slipping into that?
What are ways that you are prone to be excited about the ends that Jesus will accomplish but also forget about his means to get there? How do you see this happening in our world today?
Do you agree that Jesus wants us to be more than nice? How do you see us being prone to passivity or complicity when Jesus calls us to act self-sacrificially?

If you were the man on the litter, what would you be saying to your friends as they carried you to the roof?
Have had the gift of spiritual friendship in your life? How have you been helped in your Christian discipleship by your friendships? How would you like to grow in your confidence as a spiritual friend?
Can you put in your own words the line of thinking (that is, the relationship between healing and forgiveness) that led Jesus to heal the paralytic?
Toward the end of the sermon, Allan said, “The paralytic’s friends wanted him to walk; Jesus wanted him to live.” Discuss. How might Jesus’ approach puzzled the paralytic? Changed him?
Are you haunted by some incident in your past (or present) that continues to embarrass you, or shame you? Can you imagine how forgiveness would change your life with Christ? your relationships?

David shares four pieces of good news: 1. The time has come; 2. The Lord is near; 3. The personal invitation to follow Jesus; 4. The gift of purpose. Which of these has felt like the best news in the past for you? Which one feels like the best news for you today? Which one does not feel like good news or makes no sense to you? Why?
Where do you feel most keenly the grief that longs for Jesus to be near?
Following Jesus does not mean that one cannot be a fishermen. How do we understand this story so that we are not saying that the only way to follow Jesus is to become a missionary or a pastor?
Have we tamed the gospel? Have we made Jesus so tame as to say that we can follow him and still be doing everything I am currently doing? What is Jesus calling you to leave behind?