Community Group Leader’s Guide
For the week of April 7, 2019
REMINDERS
- Find out how your group can serve in our upcoming VBS by emailing us at groups@stfchurch.com to get a bucket full of supplies and instructions of how you can help glue/cut/color/count/sort whatever needs to be done.
- Check out upcoming mission trips and discuss with your group
ATTENDANCE
Submit your group’s attendance online through your email you receive at the conclusion of your meeting.
MY STORY
- If you you had a year’s wages to spend on friends, which would you choose:
A. Big party for all
B. Glorious trip for a few
C. Extravagant gift for one
2. When in your life were you most disappointed with yourself?
3. Was there one point from this week’s sermon that particularly caught your attention, challenged you or maybe even confused you more than normal?
DIGGING DEEPER
Review the events of Mark 14 on your own, and answer the following questions.
Read Exodus 12:1-13, 21-28.
1. What was the significance of Passover? Why was Passover an appropriate time for the events of Mark 14 to unfold?
(The time is significant because there was at Passover not only a great expectation of the Messiah, but Jerusalem was also crowded with these Messiah-expecting multitudes. Since Passover remembered the time when God raised up a great deliverer and freed Israel from foreign oppression, it was a time of great patriotic messianic anticipation. The Romans were on guard and ready for any hint of revolt. Even thought he religious leaders didn’t want to seize Jesus during the feast, they ended up doing it anyway. Exodus 12:5 makes it clear that the sacrifice must be without defect is similarly as Jesus was like a “lamb without blemish or defect” 1 Peter 1:19. Jesus is our Passover lamb sacrificed “once for all” – Hebrews 7:27, for us.)
2. Read Mark 14: 1-11. What is Jesus trying to teach his disciples about priorities? Whereas the woman gave lavishly for Jesus, Judas wanted to see what he could get from him. In what ways are you like the woman? In what ways are you like Judas?
(John 12:1-8 tells us that it was specifically Judas who was indignant about the expense. His indignation was entirely self-serving. John 12:6 says, “This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take was put in it.” “It is interesting that the word translated ‘waste’ in Mark 14:4 is translated ‘perdition’ in John 17:12 and applied to Judas! Judas critiqued Mary for ‘wasting money,’ but he wasted his entire life!” -Wiersbe)
3. Read Mark 14:17-26. How does Jesus’ use of the bread and wine change the emphasis of Passover? What is the meaning of verse 22 & 24?
(During this Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus transforms the Passover from a remembrance of God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt to a time of remembering God’s deliverance of humanity from sin.)
4. Read Jeremiah 31:31-33. How would you describe this new covenant Jesus brought about?
(The covenant is focused on an inner transformation that cleanses us from all sin: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” Jeremiah 31:34. This transformation puts God’s Word and will in us: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.” Jeremiah 31:33. This covenant is all about a new, close relationship with God: “I will be their God, and they shall be My people.: Jeremiah 31:33. No mere man could ever institute a new covenant between God and man, but Jesus is the God-man. He has the authority to establish a new covenant, sealed with blood, even as the old covenant was sealed with blood, Exodus 24:8)
TAKING IT HOME
1. What “beautiful” thing could you do this week for Jesus (or “the least of these”)?
2. With which disciple do you identify most and why:
A. Judas – I’ve sold out on Jesus?
B. Those around the table – I want to follow Jesus but I still want to be successful in the eyes of others?
C. Peter – I am passionately committed to Jesus but sometimes I fall flat on my face?
D. The naked disciple – I follow Jesus but in the moment of crisis I tend to run away from him?
3. How does Jesus’ decision to “drink the cup”(Mark 14:36) help you in your obedience to God? What issue of obedience is challenging to you?
4. When, if ever, have you felt that your failures made it impossible for you to serve Christ again? How did you overcome these feelings? How can your group pray for you?
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PRAYER REQUESTS |
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ANNOUNCEMENTS |
Please take a “feather” at the BP campus to help us be VBS ready. Your CG can also take a “to-go” bin and do a craft project to do DURING your CG time. For more information, please email Karen McClure at karen@stfchurch.com or groups@stfchurch.com
EGGSTRAVAGANZA!
Join us for our Preschool Eggstravaganza Event! There will be an Easter egg hunt, bounce houses, a petting zoo, and so much more! This is a preschool family event on Sunday, April 14th from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Ballast Point Elementary School.
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WAYS TO SERVE |
STF GO TEAM needs donations! Check and see what you can offer to give. For any questions or where to drop off donations, email marc@stfchurch.com
For Donation to fill the Trailer with “gently” used items
- Multiple ext cords
- Lots of flat shovels
- Need additional hoe and edge trimmer.
- Branch clippers and small hand saws.
- Chainsaws
- Steele Dolly (for moving things)
- Need inventory of gloves, various sizes.
- Plenty of rakes, both dirt and leaves.
- Tools or Large Tool kit, Tool box or chest, socket kit, etc
- Car Battery Jump Starter/ Tire Air Filler
- Wheel-barrel
- Need several hand push gas mowers
- Need First Aid Kit.
- Need cans of wasp, bug spray
- Need weed whacker, and electric hedge trimmer.
- Pressure washer, gas or electric
- Gas tanks, large or small
- Axes, hatchets, machetes
- Lubricating oils and WD 40.
- Should have some basic cleaning supplies, hand stuff, etc.
- Small files to keep cutting tools sharpened while on the job.
VBS Into The Wild!
Join us on our adventure Into The Wild? Click one of the buttons below to volunteer for VBS 2019.