Are you meeting regularly with a discussion group? If you meet just once a week, you can find all of this week’s discussion questions in one place right here.

Question: What signs and data do you follow to make plans for the future?

Question: What parts of this dream gave hope to a terrified, oppressed, and exiled people who felt they’d lost everything?  What parts do you not understand?

“As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. (Daniel 7:9-11 ESV)

Question: Draw the scene from this week’s readings, either on paper, an iPad or in your mind.  What emotions does this evoke in you?  Where are you, relative to this scene?  What does Jesus do for you?

“I saw in the night visions,

and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the Ancient of Days

and was presented before him.

And to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all peoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

(Daniel 7:13-14 ESV)

Challenge: How do you react to wild, scary, beastly forces in this world, and in your life?  What does this week’s reading tell you about their power relative to God?  When faced with evil, what can you say or do to confront it and diminish its power over you?