Month: December 2019

Question 1:  The passage this week is Mark 1:40-44.  Read the passage aloud before moving on. 

Question 2:  Leprosy (a term used for a collection of skin diseases) meant isolation from society, a lot painful medical problems, declaring uncleanness over your self and to others, poverty, and the like.  What do you imagine it would be like to be a leper?

Question 3: Pastor Josh pointed out that the earlier and more reliable manuscripts said Jesus was “filled with anger” (as opposed to the more common translation, “moved with compassion”) not at the man but at all he had suffered.  A common misconception is that God is angry with us rather than at our condition.  How do we focus on the more Biblical perspective?

Question 4:  Spend some time discussing or thinking about the paradox that clean touched unclean and both walked away clean (rather than both walking away unclean).  Another way to think about it is “contagious holiness.”

Question 5:  Discuss what it means that we are all spiritual lepers.  

Question 6:  What are some obstacles to deep, begging humility, the kind that the leper had before Jesus?

Introductory thought:  Each day we are given a “blank canvas” on which we may capture who Jesus is.

Question 1:   Pastor Josh shared a glimpse of his life as a young child growing up on a 400-acre farm.  The vivid colors and beauty he saw in the vastness of land surrounding him made an impression on him as to who God is.  What do you have in front of you that reveals God to you?

Question 2:   Last week Pastor Josh focused on Jesus telling His followers to rest and not to be burdened (see Matthew 11:28-30).  This week Pastor Josh emphasized Jesus’ words to His disciples when He said, “Your heart must not be troubled” (see John 14:1).  Pastor Josh noted that the context these two conversations was prior to the atrocities and cruelty the disciples were about to witness in Jesus’ crucifixion.  Jesus wanted His disciples not to be burdened or troubled by these events yet to come.  Are there upcoming events which seem daunting to you?  Let us release our burdens to Him and not be troubled.

Question 3:  Pastor Josh explained that Jewish families in Jesus’ day made room (even added rooms to their existing homes) to prepare for guests coming to reside with them.  In today’s culture, we similarly prepare for additions to our families.  For example, when we anticipate the arrival of a new baby, we may paint a room or buy furniture, etc.  Jesus said that He would be going to prepare a place for His followers (see John 14:2).  Pastor Josh said that the only way to experience the room Jesus added for us, we must believe in Him.  What preparation(s) have you made to make room for Him in your life?

Question 4:  When Pastor Josh read John 14:6, he urged us not to look at Jesus’ words as familiar or as a trite belief, but rather consider these exchanges given in this Scripture passage:

  1) Jesus needs to be the way, for we were once lost.

  2) The fact that Jesus is the truth counters the lies which bombard us.

  3) We once walked in death, but Jesus is life.

Of these three exchanges, which one ministers to you most in your life right now?

Question 5:  Pastor Josh said that Jesus is the lens through which we see God, the Father.  In Jesus, we see the eternal, and we see peace, love, joy, purpose, answers, provision, and healing.  What has Jesus’ life revealed to you about who God is?

Question 6:  List two or more of Jesus’ virtues you would like revealed to you.  Ask God to make these real to you this week.

Wrap-Up Thought:  Do not diminish being fully in the presence of God; but anticipate meeting God, the Father, face to face.

Introductory thought:  God desires for all of us to have relationship with Him; Jesus’ purpose is to reveal that desire to us.

Question 1:   In Matthew 11:27, Jesus said, “All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father…”  Identify something or someone that has been entrusted to you.  Consider how heavy the responsibility for that thing or person has been.  Imagine all things have been entrusted to Jesus!

Question 2:   Pastor Josh said that when we try to see the Father through religious obligation, it is legalism and a weight we do not need to carry.  Share some religious obligations you’ve experienced over the years.  Of those, how many do you believe have drawn you closer to God?

Question 3:  Read Matthew 11:28-30.  Pastor Josh showed us a yoke.  He had a person join him to demonstrate what it’s like to be yoked together.  Farmers will yoke a more mature ox with a younger ox while the young one is in training.  When we are yoked with Jesus, He is the mature One and trains/guides us as we walk with Him.  Pastor Josh illustrated this by having his yoke partner attempt to move away; of course, they stayed together.  Pastor Josh, being the larger (“more mature”) one, was able to stand still and wait for his yoke partner to relax.  He glanced at him saying, “Are you done yet?”  Think of a time when you tried to go your own way, and the Lord patiently waited for you.

Question 4:  Pastor Josh read from the Pillar New Testament Commentary:
“Those who bear Christ’s yoke know rest at the center of their being. They do not worry and fuss about what they are doing, for their commitment to their Savior means they recognize His sovereignty over all and the fact that He will never call them to something that is beyond their strength.”

Pastor Josh said that when we discover His (Jesus’) gentleness and humility, we will find rest, and rest is not the same as laziness.  What does “knowing rest at the center of your being” look like for you?

Question 5:  Pastor Josh warned us that whirlwinds and pain will still happen.  He said that we don’t have to be rocked by the storms of life.  And when we are yoked to Him, there’s a difference in how we respond to these things.  Pastor Josh also reminded us that we gain confidence to walk through the next thing because of the history of being yoked with Him.  Share about how being yoked with Christ was key to get through a difficult experience.  How were you challenged? How were you strengthened?

Question 6:  At the conclusion of our time together, we sang a contemporary version of the hymn, Blessed Assurance.  Some of the lyrics say, “Perfect submission, all is at rest.  I in my Savior am happy and blessed.” Think about submitting (being yoked) to the One who came to us and demonstrated His Father’s love for us.  We can be happy and blessed as we stop living in stubbornness and walk things out, being yoked with our Savior.  What is something on which you need to stop wasting energy and need to walk yoked with Him to get through it?

Wrap-Up Thought:  Establish a pattern of coming to Him.

Introductory thought:  During this season of anticipation, be mindful of His presence.

Question 1:   Pastor Josh told us that the elements of communion, which we were holding in our hands, are reminders of what Jesus has done.  And what Jesus has done changes who we are.  Forgiveness, healing, and a new identity enter into who we are.  Consider these three (forgiveness, healing, new identity), and share what you need most in your life right now.

Question 2:   Jesus is the Beginning.  Pastor Josh said that Jesus’ heart toward us and His love for us came before time began.  While this is difficult to fathom, we have the capacity to anticipate and even love people, things, ideas, dreams, and plans that have not yet been birthed.  Think hard and share about the process of seeing something you’ve longed for in your life come into being.

Question 3:  Jesus is the Word.  Pastor Josh described this facet of who Jesus is as a “message matched with activity.  Based on activity in your life, what message would be matched to it?

Question 4: Jesus is the Creator.  Pastor Josh said that we can live with a sense of wonder because of what was spoken into being in our world. He strongly urged us to be mindful of the miracle found in natural beauty every day.  Name something in nature that causes you to be in awe.

Question 5:  Jesus is Life.  Pastor Josh claimed that every area that seems dead needs an invitation of Jesus, for Jesus is Life. What area of your life seems dead?  Invite Jesus to bring life to it.

Question 6:  Who is Jesus to you today?  

Fill in the blank:  Jesus is _________ to me today.  

Pray that whatever you placed in the blank would be evident and active in your life this week.

For example, “Jesus is grace to me.” 

Pray, “Lord, may grace abound in and through my life.”

Question 7:  While this is not a question per se, consider what Pastor Josh said:  Our transformation from death to life can only be due to Jesus.  The moment we neglect to fill in the blank of who Jesus is or stop being curious about who He is, is when our relationship with Him becomes stagnant and begins to diminish.  Let us discover who Jesus is and continue to keep ourselves tethered to who He is by being in the Word!

Wrap-Up Thought:  The longer we’re alive, the more there is to discover about who Jesus is!