Evan Bartholomew

Introduction: We have all had strange encounters, or encounters with strange people.

Question: What is one of the strangest or scariest things you have ever seen?

We are going to be looking at the story of a demon-possessed man who had an encounter with Jesus. Our discussion is not really going to be centered on demon-possession, or exorcism, but how someone’s life can be changed by a single encounter with Jesus.

Introduction: We live in a time that is called the “Information Age”. (“Digital Age” or “Computer Age”) We have access to more information than any other generation before. We can learn about almost anything at the touch of a button, or a click on our computer mouse or trackpad. But with so much information, what sometimes gets confused is truth.

Question: How do you know if something is true? (Scientific method, feels right, makes sense, etc…)

We’re going to look at a story where a man had a hard time figuring out what was true and what was counterfeit.

Introduction: One of the things that we tend to think about a lot is our future.

Question: If you had the opportunity to know everything about your future, would you want to know? Why?
Question: What are some things that people do to prepare for the future?

Let’s look at a scripture that talks about our futures.

Introduction: We are going to be talking about name dropping. Name dropping is when you use someone else’s name to get ahead, or for some sort of strategic advantage.

Question: Who is someone (extra-biblical) that you know a lot about?
Question: Do you think there’s a difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone? Why?

We are going to take a look at some people who decided to “name drop” in the Bible.

Introduction: Every person and every culture has their idea of what it means to be tough, or to be “a mighty warrior”.

Question: Who is a tough guy or gal that you have looked up to? Why?
Question: What does it mean to be tough?

We are going to look at some scriptures about a “tough” guy that really didn’t appear to be very tough at all. We are going to look at some scriptures about a guy names Gideon.

Introduction: We all have a curious side to us.

Question: What is something that you are curious about?
Question: Is curiosity a good thing or a bad thing? Why?

We are going to look at some ways that curiosity can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what you are curious about.

Introduction: Almost everyone at some point in their life has been to the zoo.

Question: What is the coolest animal, the coolest thing, or the coolest experience you have had at the zoo?

It’s been said, “Life’s a zoo!” Sometimes, that is true. Life can be full of chaos and feel like a zoo. However, that is not necessarily a bad things. You can learn a lot at the zoo. We are going to look at three animals in the Bible that you can learn a lot from:

Introduction: There are a lot of rules or regulations in life that we all have to abide by.

Question: If you could change or cut out one rule/law that exists in society, which one would it be? Why?
Question: Are rules/laws important? Why?

Different than cutting out rules and laws created by government, we are going to see what happens when someone cuts out rules and laws created by God.

Introduction: According to BBC, there are over 8.7 million different species of animals.

Question: If you could be an animal, which animal would you be? Why?
Question: What would it be like to be an animal?

The reason we will never know what it will be like to be an animal is because animals don’t talk. Or do they?

Introduction: Everyone experiences crisis from time to time. There are all sorts of crisis: financial, natural disasters, emotional, etc…

Question: What do people do when there is a crisis?

Crisis are not unique to us. Pandemics have been happening from the beginning of time, and are all throughout the Bible. We are going to read about a pandemic that happened during the exodus.