Greater Than

Next Generation Ministries: 5 Week Video Series Study with Francis Chan
Discussion guide made for Central Ohio Cru; Andrew Williams

Week One: Purpose

Launch
1. Have you ever done a scavenger hunt or an escape room? What was it like going through the
clues and hints along the way? How did you feel when you finished?

2. What might your reaction have been if there was nothing at the end of your search?

3. Have you ever been on a team or part of a group that felt pointless? What were your feelings as a
teammate/member?

4. Do you ever feel this way when it comes to life in general? Have you ever asked the question,
“Why am I here? What is the point?”

5. Have you ever felt this way when it comes to faith? What has been the purpose of your faith up
to this point in your life? (Help you when things are hard, What your parents told you, Gives you
a set of rule/morals to live by)

Explore
College can be a season of great unknown. What are you going to study? What types of friends
will you have? Why am I here? Who are you going to marry? What are you going to do for your
career?
Often, college can leave us uncertain about what we believe too. It’s a time when we begin to ask
big questions like “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” We all want our lives to have meaning
and purpose, but how do we figure that out? Without these answers we can be left overwhelmed
and hopeless.

1. One a scale from1 to 10, if you could be 100% sure of your life purpose right now, (maybe not
all the details, but the big picture) what number would you say?

We are going to watch a video that breaks down how God has designed our world and has given
each of us purpose within it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Ea0U9ruOY&list=PLzThH0lWsKYcSg6FWW74S9tgVq0qer
Maz&index=1

2. God tells us He is the Creator of everything. Do you ever have difficulty believing this? Why?

3. Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out the
starry host one by one, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is
strong in power, not one is missing.” If God knows all the stars by name, what might this say
about us?
 4. The video talks about God being holy, set apart, completely different from us, and it even talks
about how “He dwells in unapproachable light.” How might this picture of God change your
view of Him?

The video goes on to talk about a passage in Acts 17. Verses 24-27 say:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live
in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since
he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward
him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and
have our being.

5. What does this passage say about God? Us? Our relationship to God?

6. What do you think it means to seek God, feel your way toward him, and find him?

7. According to this passage, what purpose has God designed for man?

Apply
1. If our purpose is to “seek God, feel our way toward God and find him,” how might that affect
how we live?

2. What areas of life might make it difficult for us to live out of God’s purpose for us?

When we think about seeking and finding God, let’s consider one verse from John 14:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” (v. 6)

3. What do you think this verse is saying?

[If Jesus is the way to God, then knowing God comes from knowing Jesus.]

4. How might we experience the purposeful “life” that Jesus is referring to in this passage?

The only way we can experience the fullness of life with meaning and purpose is through a
personal relationship with Jesus. Thankfully, He offers this to us freely because of His
death on the cross. His death and resurrection stands in the place of our sin, and we are
then given access to God by accepting Him as Lord of our lives.