1.  “Relationship is about getting your heart right, not getting your life right.”

If you were to get your life right, what would you have to do to clean up before you’d be good enough? Have you tried to attain this already? What happened?

What does come as you are mean in your life?

2.    What is the difference between a legal claim to Relationship and a working Relationship?

3.    Righteousness is a matter of:

a. good works

b. influence

c. money and power

d. how long you’ve been saved

e. the heart

4.  The younger son’s problems began long before he left home. At the basic level, his biggest problem was his _____________.

5. “He didn’t like the estate, he didn’t like the people who ran it, and he didn’t want to be like them. He refused to conform because he didn’t like conformity. He didn’t accept the patterns of conduct established on the estate because he didn’t like the culture. There were too many rules crimping his style, and he didn’t like that, either. In fact, the only thing he did like was the privileges.

Have you ever had similar thoughts? Re-write the statement above. Replace the underlined works with words that would describe your feelings and experience.

What was wrong with your attitude? Did you believe your feelings were justified? Were you rebellious?

What was the result of your rebellion?

6.   Have you had a PIGPEN experience? Tell about it. (Note: Some would call this hitting bottom.)

Did hitting bottom initiate change in your life? Explain.

7.   The Prodigal Son found that his inheritance wasn’t enough. Why is the promise of eternal life not enough to get you through in this life?

8.    Have you been offended at God? Have you suspicioned that He preferred others over you? Did you think He was in on your pain, or punishing you? Tell about it.

9.  “The way I had been living was a futile attempt at life management. It wasn’t working; it never had worked; and it was never going to work.”

Can you acknowledge that your life management skills DO NOT WORK? How?

10.   “He’d lost more than just his inheritance; he’d lost his dignity. This boy had been changed.”

How did sin change you? What did it cost you?

What do you need to see restored?

What might happen when you come as you are and enter into a genuine Relationship with Jesus Christ? What do you hope will happen?

11.    “When I made the decision to return home, I did so with questions unanswered and problems unsolved.”

What questions do you have that are unanswered?

What problems do you have that are unsolved?

Can you move forward without resolving these issues? How?

12.   When you surrender your life to Jesus, you surrender the mess along with all the rest of you. It might surprise you to know that God insists on this. Actually, it’s part of the ____________.

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BONUS QUESTION: “This young man was forced to get real with himself. Nothing was going to change unless he did some things differently.”

What must you do differently to see change in your life?