3/28/10 Guide

Who’s Your One?

Week of 2/28/10

Luke 15:1-7

Getting Started

What are some marketing slogans/jingles that you wish you could erase from your memory?

Digging Deeper

1) What was one thing that stood out to you from last Sunday’s message? Read Luke 15:1-7 and discuss the ways that Sunday’s talk relates to this parable.

2) Verse 1 says that the tax collectors and sinners “gathered around to hear him.” What was it about Jesus that attracted the irreligious to hang with him? How do we develop this quality?

3) Since becoming a Christian, how hard has it been to maintain relationships with non-believers? Why?

4) Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep in response to the comments found in verses 1 and 2. How does the parable address the specific concerns of the Pharisees and teachers of the law?

5) In verse 4 we see the phrase, “go after.” Where else in Scripture can you find encouragement to “go after” lost people? What do you suspect to be ineffective ways of “going after” people?

Matthew 20:4; 28:19; Mark 1:38, 16:15; Luke 4:43, 9:60, 19:10; Acts 16:10, Romans 1:14-15

6) How does Jesus (the good shepherd) fulfill this image of seeking out a lost sheep through his incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection?

7) Look up the word “lost” from verse 4 in your concordance and find the definition for the Greek word. How does this help us view people the way that Jesus did rather than the way the religious leaders did?

The Strong’s Concordance number for lost is 622. The Greek word is apollumee. It means to destroy, to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to, ruin, render useless, to kill, to declare that one must be put to death, to perish, be lost, ruined, destroyed.

8) Often, when we people talk about evangelism, they refer to the “go and tell” method and the “come and see” approach. What are those two phrases describing? Which are you more involved with?

The “go and tell” method could be described as evangelism proper. In other words, it is the activity of preaching the Good News to people from your own mouth.The “come and see” method is inviting someone to a setting where the Good News is being preached by someone other than you.

Putting it into practice:

This past week we were challenged to invite our “one” to church. Spend some time discussing what it means to have a “One,” as well as what might be the next steps of reaching out to them.

Distribute some fliers for the Easter service to your group members. Take some time to pray for our Easter service. Ask God to use our personal invitations and fliers to draw people to hear and respond to the gospel.

3/21/10 Guide

When You Need A Miracle
Mark 9:14-29
Week of 3/21/10

Getting Started

Have you ever run out of gas? How many times? Where? What did you do?

Digging Deeper

1) Read verses 14-17. What do you think was being debated between the disciples and scribes concerning the boy’s condition? Should the disciples have been doing something different than arguing? What are some ways that we tend spiritualize challenges to avoid being practical?

2) In verse 17, why do you think the father says to Jesus, “I brought you my son…” when he had in fact brought him to Jesus’ disciples? What does this tell us about the importance of representing Jesus well to people?

3) In verses 17,18 and 20, we have a vivid description of the effects of demon possession. How might some explain the son’s condition medically? How can we tell if a condition like this is spiritual or purely medical?

Keep the following considerations in mind.

Humans are a soul/body entity. The soul or the body can affect the soul, and the body or the soul can affect the body. For example, my hands may shoot up in the air due to some pure physical reflex (like a brain surgeon pressing on a certain portion of my brain), or because my soul desires to express worship to God. As applied the immediate subject, a person may experience a physical condition (such as epilepsy, some form of mental illness, death) for either physical or spiritual reasons. A person may be epileptic because of a malfunction of something in the brain due purely physical reasons, or because of demonic influence.

People may mistakenly handle a condition thinking it to be a physical one when it is a spiritual one. People may handle a condition thinking it to be a spiritual one when it is a physical one. The determination will sometimes be difficult.

It appears that at least in some of the cases in the New Testament, those demon-possessed displayed behavior that could not be explained physically. So with this boy, in Luke’s account, the spirit is described as “mauling him” when he leaves Luke 9:42. As Jesus approaches, the spirit “slams him to the ground.” In Mark, we read of a demoniac who display’s supernatural strength (5:1-5).

There also seems to be a presence of malevolence and evil that is not true of purely physical condition. The demoniacs are described as extremely violent (Mark 5). In Matthew’s account of this boy’s deliverance, the father describes him being thrown into fire and water (Matthew 17:15). This has the earmarks of a force purposely trying to harm this boy.

Perhaps this is where the gift of “distinguishing spirits” kicks in (1 Cor. 12:10).

4) Read verse 19. How did Jesus respond to unbelief? Was his frustration directed towards his disciples? Why?

The disciples experienced an atmosphere that should have promoted a faith great enough to help this boy. They were commissioned with authority over demons (Mark 3:15), and had it modeled throughout Jesus’ ministry.

5) The father entreats Jesus saying, “If you can help us, take pity on us” (vs. 22). How is the father’s faith challenged by his son’s (1) history and (2) his own vagueness on who Jesus is?

As to his son’s history, it is very natural to be resigned to live with a condition that has been ongoing. As to his vagueness, the father wasn’t sure if Christ could heal his son.

6) In verse 23, Jesus says “Everything is possible for him who believes.” How do we explain this verse in a way that encourages people to have confidence that God will act, while avoiding the extreme expectation that God will always act?

On the one hand, notice that the text doesn’t say everything will be actual for him who believes, but “possible.” “Everything” must certainly be qualified by God’s revealed will and secret will. On the other hand, the point of this passage is to encourage people to have an increased confidence that God will do things that seem to be impossible for us.

7) Read verse 24. Take a circumstance that you’re in or have been and fill in the following blanks: “I do believe you for __________; help me overcome my unbelief with _________.”

8) Compare verses 28 & 29 with verses 17 & 18. How could the urgency of the moment and the presence of the crowd have moved the disciples to skip the prayer necessary for this exorcism? Give an example of when you allowed the pressure of the moment to prevent you from taking the time necessary to seek God for guidance? What was the outcome?

9) Comparing the above verses once again, how might have the disciples’ attempt to help this child without prayer be an indication of self-reliance?

10) What is the relationship of growing faith and quality prayer? What are some biblical examples?

Putting It Into Practice

Spend some time discussing and praying for areas in your lives where you need greater faith.

Celebrate with Communion

3/7/10 Guide

When You Need A Miracle

Mark 5:21-43/ Luke 8:40-56

Week of 3/07/10

Getting Started

What super-power would you most like to have?

Digging Deeper

1. Read verses 21-29. Both Jarius and the woman display desperation for Jesus’ intervention. How were they the same? How were they different?

2. Read Luke 8:43 and Mark 5:25-26. When it comes to healing, what is the relationship between prayer and doctors?

• All healing comes from God.
• Most healing comes from God through instruments (doctors, medicine, etc…)
• Some healing comes directly from God apart from instruments.
• Prayer can occasion God healing with and apart from instruments.

3. Read James 5:14. When you get sick, is your first thought to call a doctor or call the church, to take medicine or pray?

4. In verse 28 the woman believes that “if I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Which assumption do you most often pray with: the assumption that God is eager to answer, or that He is reluctant? Why?

Mark 11:24 ²⁴ Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Matthew 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 21:22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

5. In verse 30, Jesus postpones his trip to Jarius’ house. Why would both Jarius and the woman have preferred for Jesus to continue on? In what ways do you think Jesus’ delay benefits both the woman and Jarius? How do delays similarly serve us?

• The delay draws the woman out to be instructed by Jesus about the nature of her healing, as well as to make public to us her act of faith as an encouragement to trust in Christ.
• The delay results in a circumstance that would require nothing short of divine intervention, moving Jarius and the skeptics of his home to have a greater faith in the person and power of Jesus.

6. Verse 30 asks, “Who touched my clothes?” Do you think Jesus knew who touched him? If not, why? If so, how would this question have helped this woman?

“It does appear to be absurd that Christ should pour out his grace without knowing on whom he was bestowing a favor. There is not less difficulty in what he shortly afterwards says, that he perceived that power had gone out from him: as if, while it flowed from him, it was not a free gift bestowed at those times, and on those persons, whom he was pleased to select. Beyond all question, he knowingly and willingly cured the woman; and there is as little doubt that he drew her to himself by his Spirit, that she might obtain a cure: but he puts the question to her, that she may freely and publicly make it known. If Christ had been the only witness of his miracle, his statements might not perhaps have been believed: but now, when the woman, struck with dread, relates what happened to her, greater weight is due to her confession.” (Calvin)

7. In Luke 8:48, Jesus says to the woman, “Your faith has healed you.” What did this woman do that showed faith? What does Jesus mean when He says that her faith healed her? Does faith have some type of healing power? - HERE

8. In verse 35, some men report to Jarius, “Your daughter is dead…Why bother the teacher any more?” What faith-hurdle did Jarius’ face with this news? How was he to overcome it?

9. Read Luke 8:49. Why do you think the people were advising Jairus to stop bothering Jesus? What does this tell you about who they thought Jesus was or wasn’t?

Putting It Into Practice

Spend some time praying for those who are sick (both inside and outside your group).