The Gospels • Set 18
Discussion & Heart Check Questions
Small group discussion questions and accountability tools designed to help disciples grow in their love for God, connect with others, serve others, and share the gospel.
These questions were created to accompany The Gospels Discipleship Journal, but they can also be used by any small group, discipleship group, family, or individual studying these passages.
This Set’s Big Idea
Jesus gives grace generously, redefines greatness through service, seeks and saves the lost, receives wholehearted worship, and enters Jerusalem as the humble and rightful King.
As you read, watch how Jesus confronts comparison, teaches His disciples to serve rather than seek status, transforms Zacchaeus, receives costly devotion, rides into Jerusalem as King, and cleanses the temple in righteous authority.
How to Use These Questions
These questions are a guide, not a script. You do not need to answer every question. The goal is to help your group engage Scripture, encourage one another, and take a clear next step of obedience.
Before meeting, encourage everyone to complete the set’s readings and record at least one observation and one application from the passage using PETS or another preferred Bible study method.
Suggested Small Group Meeting Flow
Use this as a flexible guide for a 1–1.5 hour weekly gathering. Adjust as needed for your group.
Connect, catch up, and celebrate how God worked during the week.
Pray and invite the Holy Spirit to teach through His Word.
Share PETS observations and applications from the week’s readings.
Work through selected discussion questions together.
Use Heart Check questions for honest accountability and encouragement.
Share prayer requests and close by praying for one another.
Leader Tips
- You do not need to answer every question.
- Select the questions that best fit your group.
- Keep the discussion centered on Jesus and practical obedience.
- Encourage everyone to participate, but never pressure anyone to speak.
- Leave time for accountability and prayer.
This Set’s Readings
- Matthew 20:1–19 — The Workers in the Vineyard and Jesus Predicts His Death
- Matthew 20:20–34 — Servant Greatness and Jesus Heals Two Blind Men
- Luke 19:1–10 — Jesus Seeks and Saves Zacchaeus
- Matthew 26:6–13 — A Woman Anoints Jesus with Costly Perfume
- Luke 19:28–48 — Jesus Enters Jerusalem and Cleanses the Temple
The Gospels • Set 18
Small Group Discussion Questions
Icebreaker
- What is one act of generosity, service, or kindness that made a lasting impression on you?
Digging Into the Text
- In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, why were the workers who began early upset with the landowner? What does their response reveal about comparison and entitlement?
- What does the landowner’s generosity teach us about the grace of God?
- Immediately after speaking about grace, Jesus predicts His suffering, death, and resurrection. How does the cross show both the generosity and costliness of God’s grace?
- James and John’s mother asked for positions of honor for her sons. What does this request reveal about how people naturally define greatness?
- Jesus said the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. How does this redefine leadership, influence, and greatness?
- The crowd tried to silence the blind men, but Jesus stopped and responded to their cries. What does this reveal about His compassion and the people He notices?
- What changes do you see in Zacchaeus after Jesus comes to his home? How does his response show the difference between genuine repentance and empty words?
- The woman in Bethany poured expensive perfume on Jesus while others criticized her. What does her action reveal about wholehearted worship and the worth of Christ?
- Why do you think costly worship can sometimes be misunderstood or criticized by others?
- What does Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem reveal about the kind of King He is?
- Why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem and cleanse the temple? What do these actions reveal about His compassion, holiness, and authority?
- Across these readings, what contrasts do you see between comparison and grace, status and service, greed and repentance, criticism and worship, or outward celebration and genuine submission?
Leader Note
These passages reveal the values of Jesus’ kingdom. Grace is received, not earned. Greatness is expressed through service, not status. Repentance changes the way we live. Worship recognizes that Jesus is worth more than what we surrender. And welcoming Jesus as King means submitting to His authority rather than merely celebrating Him outwardly.
Help your group see that each passage confronts a different competitor for the heart: comparison, ambition, greed, fear of criticism, or outward religion. Jesus invites His disciples to receive grace humbly, serve sacrificially, repent genuinely, worship wholeheartedly, and submit completely to the King who gave Himself as a ransom for many.
Love God
- What truth about Jesus’ grace, compassion, sacrifice, or authority encouraged you most this week?
- Has comparison, entitlement, or disappointment made it difficult for you to celebrate God’s generosity toward someone else?
- What would wholehearted worship and genuine submission to Jesus look like in your life right now?
Connect with Others
- Are competition, ambition, jealousy, or desire for recognition affecting any of your relationships?
- Who around you may feel ignored, silenced, or overlooked like the blind men beside the road?
- How can this group help one another pursue servant-hearted greatness rather than recognition or status?
Serve Others
- Jesus said He came not to be served but to serve. What is one practical way you can follow His example this week?
- Is there a task, person, or need you have avoided because serving would be inconvenient, unnoticed, or beneath you?
Share the Gospel
- Jesus said He came to seek and save the lost. How should His mission shape the way we see and move toward people others may reject?
- Who is one person you can intentionally pray for, welcome, and point toward the grace of Jesus this week?
Closing Challenge
Jesus gives grace generously, redefines greatness through service, seeks and saves the lost, receives wholehearted worship, and enters Jerusalem as the humble and rightful King.
The workers compared themselves with others. The disciples pursued status. Zacchaeus responded to grace with repentance. A woman poured out costly worship. Jerusalem celebrated the King while many still resisted His authority.
Where is Jesus calling you to move from comparison to gratitude, ambition to service, greed to repentance, casual devotion to costly worship, or outward praise to genuine submission?
Small Group Accountability
Weekly Heart Check
How to Use These Questions
These questions are designed to move the conversation beyond information and into transformation. Answer honestly, listen well, pray for one another, and remember that the goal is not perfection, but growing together as disciples who receive grace, serve humbly, repent genuinely, worship wholeheartedly, and submit to Jesus as King.
Love God
- How has your time in God’s Word and prayer been this week?
- What did these readings reveal to you about Jesus?
- Have comparison, entitlement, disappointment, or envy affected your gratitude toward God?
- Is Jesus receiving wholehearted worship from you, or only what feels convenient and comfortable?
Connect with Others
- Have your relationships reflected humility, generosity, compassion, and servant-hearted love this week?
- Is there anyone you need to forgive, encourage, reconcile with, welcome, or serve?
- Have ambition, competition, pride, or desire for recognition affected the way you treat others?
Serve Others
- How have you used your time, gifts, influence, or resources to serve someone this week?
- Have comfort, busyness, pride, or desire for recognition kept you from serving faithfully?
Share the Gospel
- Did you intentionally move toward someone who may feel far from God or rejected by others?
- If so, what happened?
- If not, who is one person you can pray for and move toward with the grace of Jesus?
Honest Accountability
- What comparison, ambition, greed, pride, fear, selfishness, or hidden sin has been most difficult this week?
- Is there anything Jesus is calling you to repent of, restore, surrender, or place under His authority?
- How can this group specifically pray for you today?
Leader Reminder: Keep pointing the group back to Jesus. He gives grace freely, serves sacrificially, seeks the lost, receives wholehearted worship, and reigns as the rightful King. Encourage the group to move beyond admiring these truths toward receiving grace humbly, serving others willingly, repenting genuinely, worshiping Christ sacrificially, and submitting every area of life to His authority.
Continue studying: Return to The Gospels Set 18 Study Resources
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