Peter's Yes

Questions for Discussion

Leader Note: The key questions in this session are 5 and 7–9. Questions 1–3 set up the discussion and may be helpful to get your group moving, but use them until you feel like the group is ready and then move ahead to the deeper substance. Questions 4 and 6 are included for completeness for groups that move quickly, but are not necessary for the arc of the study.

1. Which of Peter’s “yes”es would have been the most difficult for you personally? Why?

2. When has God called on you for a big “yes” in your life?

3. What other “smaller” times did God call on you to say “yes” that led up to that “big yes”? Did you recognize how the steps connected at the time?

4. The first “yes” we studied was John 1:40–42: the yes to come with his brother to see Jesus. When has God used another person to get you to say “yes” to Him?

5. The second “yes” we saw was Luke 4:38–39: the yes to ask for help. How has God used a challenging circumstance in your life to get you to say “yes” to Him? Have you ever let a challenge harden your heart and make you say “no” instead?

6. The third “yes” in Peter’s call was Luke 5:2–3, when Jesus used Peter’s boat as a platform to preach. When have you said “yes” to one thing, but found more than you expected?

   Group leader note: Peter knew he was loaning Jesus a place, but also had the chance to hear the Word because his obedience put him in the right place at the right time.

7. The fourth “yes” was Luke 5:4–7. Peter said “yes” to trusting Jesus over his own years of experience as a fisherman, over his own exhaustion, and over the objection of undoing the work he had just finished washing his nets. Why is a costly “yes” a pivot point in our lives?

   Group leader note: Consider follow-up questions to steer discussion: When have you ever had to go against your own instincts to say “yes” to God? What obstacles are keeping you from saying “yes” now?

8. The final “yes” we considered was the one that included a lifetime of others. Peter left everything to follow Jesus (Luke 5:10–11, Matthew 4:19–20, Mark 1:17–18).

   Group leader note: When we trust Jesus, our “yes” is “Yes, You can have my life,” “Yes, I will count everything else loss for the sake of You,” and “Yes, I will submit to Your timing and not my own.”

   How could you say “yes” to God in a way that would remove the safety net of being able to turn back?

9. Although Peter said “yes” to follow Jesus, he still had to make the choice to keep following each day. Does the memory of a surrender of your life make it easier to follow Jesus in the present or harder? How do you balance the idea of a total surrender and a daily surrender theologically and practically?

Logos Practice

Try out these tasks in Logos before the next session.

1. Reproduce the passage list from the video, including headings that make sense to you. Experiment with rearranging the items in the list. The Scriptures we used were Matthew 4:19–20, Mark 1:17–18, Luke 4:38–39, Luke 5:2–3, Luke 5:4–7, Luke 5:10–11, and John 1:40–42.

2. Search for Peter. We did the search person:Peter in the video (you can also do person:"Peter" but you do not need the quotation marks unless the name is two words). We can refine this by finding times that Jesus is also mentioned. In Logos precise search, typing AND in all-caps will find verses that include both terms. Search for person:Peter AND person:Jesus. Look at the color coding and identify the pattern.

3. Try Smart Search. Switch from Precise to Smart in your Bible search and search for “Peter obeying Jesus.” Can you find any other “yes”es later in Peter’s life?

4. Use the Go Box. Pick one passage from the study to put into the “Go Box” and open the Passage Guide study for that section. Play with the layout! You can’t mess it up. Unless you overwrite it manually in the layouts menu, it will return to the default the next time you open it.