Greetings Church,
This week we return to our study in the gospel of Mark. Chapters 1-10 of Mark covered the three year ministry of Jesus, but chapters 11-16 will cover the final passion week of Jesus’ life. This week we will begin to look at the final week of Christ’s earthly ministry.
To start your group, have everyone share something that God is doing in your life this past week.
3 Simple Questions for Small Groups:
1. How did the Holy Spirit use this week’s sermon to convict you?
2. How did the Holy Spirit use this week’s sermon to encourage you?
3. What is one thing you will do this week in response to the sermon?
Going Deeper with your group:
Read Mark 11:1-11:
A. Worshipping the King who is always in control.
1. In what ways is Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem an overt statement about his kingship?
2. Read Zechariah 9:9. How does Mark 11:1-11 fulfill this prophecy.
3. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was planned out by Jesus, he was in complete control. We know from chapter 8 that Jesus knows that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem. How does Jesus’ level of authority and control in this whole situation give you hope in the situations you are facing this week?
B. Worshipping the King who meets our deepest need.
4. How does Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem demonstrate that he is a different kind of King?
5. What kind of king did the people want? What kind of king do you want or expect Jesus to be?
- Therapist King: Jesus is there to make me feel better, not challenge me.
- Wal-Mart King: Jesus gives me what I want at the lowest cost.
-Religious King: Jesus is my example for moral goodness. If I am good enough I will be saved.
6. Pastor Mark said, “Jesus is not the king they expected, but he is the king they needed.” What is our greatest need as humanity?
In our lives as Christians it is important for us to understand that our own sin is our greatest problem, not our circumstance and not other people. Jesus didn’t come to change the circumstance that the Jewish people faced (Roman oppression) but rather he came to cleanse them and forgive their sins.
How is this truth still so relevant to us today? In what ways do you spend your time blaming your circumstances or blaming others rather than looking at your own sin?
7. Jesus is the King that can change you without crushing you. How will every other thing in your life, if made into your king, end up crushing you? For example: Your marriage, your children, your career, your money, your morality?
Why won’t Jesus crush you? What makes it possible for him to change you without destroying you? Remember to think about grace and forgiveness versus works righteousness.
8. How can we trust a king that calls us to a hard journey? How does remembering Jesus’ hard journey for you, help you to trust God in your own hard journey of life?
