We begin this month with a testimony from Sue as she shares what following God looks like in her left

 Watch Marian share some insights from Mark 14-15:39 before you think thrrough the Questions

Questions for discussion

In your groups go through the passage Mark 14:1 – 15:39 and ask these questions.

Q1     What people do we encounter in this passage? 

How did they respond to Jesus in this time of crisis? 

How did their response fit with how they had responded to Jesus earlier in His life?  Think back over the previous chapters of Mark that we have studied.  Are their responses consistent with how they had responded to Jesus before?  If they are different, why is this? 

Why is it significant that the only people to recognise Jesus for who He is was a woman and a Roman soldier? 

List some of the words that describe some of the responses to Jesus.  What does this tell us about how they saw Him? 

Q2     What can we learn from Jesus as He faces his trial and death?  What other passages can tell us of His attitude?  How was this seen by the woman who anointed Jesus and the Roman centurion who watched Him die?   

Q3       How does the number three feature in this passage?

            What does this tell us about God ?

How can we be encouraged by this?

Q4     Look back over the last year, as we have seen our own time of crisis, on what and on whom have you relied as a Christian?  Is it God and His word?  Is the church and its structures?  Is it other people and their teaching?  Is it ourselves and our own efforts?  Is it the world and all it offers?  Is it a combination of all of these? 

How much refining do we need?  What sort of silver and gold does the Lord look for?  What does it look like in our lives? 

Q5     How can we help each other bear the ‘refiners fire’?  How can we encourage each other not to stumble in a time of crisis?  How can we be prepared?

Pray for each other in the light of these responses and ask for the Lord to refine us into gold. 

Women to Women April 2021

Mark chapter 12

Before we look at the passage, Lorna Nunn will share a testimony about what Following Jesus looks like for her. 

Lydia Hardesty will introduce the passage to us and then we can look at the following questions together

Mark 12

Give to God what He is due because of who He is.

Remember that as Jesus interacted with the religious leaders, He saw and spoke to the heart behind the questions more than He spoke to the questions themselves. As we study these passages, it is important for us to do the same. Let’s take a step back and look at the passages in context, in light of the parable and it’s application—“Give to God what He is due because of who He is.”

Read vv. 13-17

• In Greek, the word hypocrisy illudes to actors in a drama—people who behave differently than they believe. What is they “hypocrisy” Jesus speaks of in v. 15?
  
  
• Caesar’s “image and inscription” was on the denarius. Who/what bears God’s “image and inscription?” Look at Genesis 1:26.
  
  
• What was the heart-issue of the religious leaders that Jesus pointed out and spoke to? How does this relate to the tenants in the parable?
  
• What would it look like for the religious leaders to give God was He was due? What does it look like for you and me to give God what He is due?

Read vv. 18-27

• If the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection (didn’t believe in anything beyond this life on earth), why would they ask Jesus about marriage in Heaven; what was the heart behind their question?
  
  
• What was the heart of the problem that Jesus pointed out and addressed?
  
• How do the Sadducees relate to the tenants in the parable?
  
  
• Who does Jesus reveal God to be in vv. 26 and 27? How does this speak to the Sadducees’ heart problem?
  
  
• There are many people today who don’t believe in life after death. How does this affect their understanding of who God is? How does this affect how they live? Can they truly give God what He is due? Why or why not?

Read vv. 28-34

• According to these verses, what is God due?
  
• Jesus partially commended the scribe. But Jesus said that he was not far from the Kingdom of God—not that the scribe had entered the Kingdom of God. What did the scribe get right? Read Hosea 6:6. What was the scribe missing? John 14:6.
  
  
• What is the consequence today of trying to obey God without knowing who He really is? Can you think of an example of when/where this happens?
  
• Is it possible to give God what He is due (love Him; obey Him) devoid of Jesus? Why or why not?

This month at W2W we will be looking at the three time Jesus announces that he will die and rise again. 

Join Liz as she shares her testimony of followingJesus 

Listen to Kaete introduce us to the passage

and then take some time to think and chat through these questions below.  (bold ones are the priority if you are short on time)

Zoom link for the 7:30 W2W meet up is found here

W2W Questions for March Meeting 2021:

Passages: Mark 8. 31-33, Mark 9.30-35, 10.32-45

Discussion Questions:

A few general questions to kickstart:

1) Have a quick brainstorm! In what ways would you say that Jesus’ way of defining greatness is counter-cultural?

Mark 8.31-33

2) Just considering these three passages, why do you think Jesus tells his disciples in advance what’s going to happen to Him?

3) What do you make of Peter’s response to rebuke Jesus? Why do you think he does that?

4) We aren’t told what Peter says. But how might we infer that he was setting his mind on man’s interests, not God’s?

5) What do you make of Jesus’ response? What does he mean by calling Peter Satan?

6) Are there times/situations in our lives when we might be tempted to rebuke God? How can our understanding of who God is steer us towards a different response when God does things/says things we don’t quite understand?

7) Personal reflection question - are there areas in our lives where we are ‘setting our minds’ (eg focussing our thoughts, attentions, worries, concerns) on our own interests, not God’s? Here’s an even greater challenge: are we letting these things so distract, so preoccupy our minds, that they inhibit our ability to hear the Lord? Is our fixation on some concern so consuming that there’s just no space to hear from God?

Mark 9. 30-35

8) So often in the Gospels (following the example of His heavenly Father throughout the Hebrew Scriptures), Jesus asks his followers questions, even when He already knows the answer. Why do you think he does that?

9) Why do you think the disciples are afraid to tell him what they were discussing on the road? Are we ever afraid to answer God?

10)Why do you think the Kingdom of God functions this way - first being last, last being first, greatness = serving. What does this kind of greatness look like for us -
individually, but also as a church? More importantly, what does this teach us about our King?


Mark 10. 32-45

11)What do you make of James and John’s request? Why do you think they asked this?

12)V41: Why does James and John’s request upset the other disciples? If you have time, take a quick look at James 3.13-18. Contrast the fruit of the ‘wisdom from below’ versus the ‘wisdom from above’!

13)Jesus concludes his point about Kingdom greatness by referring to his own coming suffering. Why do you think he does this? How does that encourage us, as His followers?

Final question:

14)Heart check - what preoccupies your thoughts? What do you ask God for? How might Kingdom-mindedness transform some of those things?