Leader Guide 6-15-08 / Luke 22:39-46

Small Group Leaders Guide
June 15, 2008

Under Pressure
Luke 22:39-46

Getting Started:
1. When you pray, how do you know what the answer is? What do you do when you get a “no” answer?

2. Can you think of a time you really wrestled with doing God’s will, but obeyed anyway? Share that experience.


Going Deeper:
3. Jesus refers to a “cup” in this passage. Why does He pray for the cup to be taken from Him? What cup is He talking about? What other scripture passages speak of the cup in this way?

• Psalm 75:8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.
• Jeremiah 25:15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.
• Revelation 16:19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.

4. What about the cross bothers Jesus? Do you think it is the physical pain or something else?

5. In this passage, Jesus twice tells His disciples to pray that they will not fall into temptation. Why do you think Jesus is so concerned about the disciples at this time?

• Satan is attacking the disciples. Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat.
• The disciples begin falling away. Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: ““I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.””
• Darkness is now reigning. Luke 22:53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. but this is your hour – when darkness reigns.

6. When Jesus prayed for the cup to be taken from Him in verse 42, what was the Father’s answer? Did Jesus find the answer during His prayer time or was it revealed to Him as the night wore on? What makes you think so?

• Because we know how the story ends, we know God’s answer was “no.”
• I think Jesus got the answer during His prayer time when the angel appeared to strengthen Him.
• In John 18:11, Jesus clearly knows that God’s will is for Him to drink from that cup.

7. When Jesus received the answer to His prayer, how did He respond?

• Even after the angel came to strengthen Him, He was filled with agony and prayed even more earnestly.

8. What strikes you about Jesus when you read the description of His anguish and sweat pouring out like drops of blood? When have you ever been in that type of anguish? How does this help you understand the “humanness” of Jesus?

9. When do you find it most difficult to submit your will to God? Is your will sometimes so opposite that of God’s that it would cause you great anguish to follow God? What should you do in that case? What do you do in that case?


Putting it into practice:
10. Are you struggling right now with putting God’s will over your own in some matter? Pray about this in your groups.



Quote Of The Week:
I believe the will of God prevails; without Him all human reliance is vain; without the assistance of that Divine Being I cannot succeed; with that assistance I cannot fail.
--Abraham Lincoln