02 Feb Discussion Guide: The Cross Week Four
Before We Get Started
For our discussion today, we will be using the sermon series discussion guides. If you would like to follow along you can access this discussion guide on the website at mosaicchurchaustin.com and then select “community group resources” in the menu options.
Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
This Week’s Topic
The Cross
Today’s Topic
At the Cross: Mary Magdalene
Discussion Questions
Have you ever been expecting bad news but received the opposite? What was that like?
Deliverance From Your Past
Luke 8:1-2
…Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out…
What do you imagine Mary’s life was like before Jesus delivered her?
In the message, Morgan talked about how gratitude for our forgiveness compels us to love and follow Jesus. What is something you are grateful to God for forgiving in your past?
How has gratitude shaped your life?
Faith in Your Present
John 20:1-2, 11-16
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Tis not that I Did Choose Thee – Josiah Conder
‘Tis not that I did choose thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee,
Hadst thou not chosen me.
My heart owns none before thee,
For thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee,
Thou must have loved me first.
What brought Mary to the tomb that day in John 20?
Why is it noteworthy that she recognized Jesus after he spoke her name?
How does showing up at the scene of our present challenges and tragedies create opportunities for us to encounter God?
Grace for Your Future
John 20:17-18
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
What promise is layered into Jesus’s words in John 20:17?
Why weren’t the other disciples there at the tomb that day with Mary?
What was the net effect of Mary’s message from Jesus?
Closing Moments
Have each person in the group name someone they know in need of healing or good news from Jesus and take some time to pray for them.