The Beautiful Upset (S2) WK 4 - GROUP GUIDE

INTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.

OPEN:  Share with the group a time in your life when you were incredibly startled, whether by a friend, an animal or insect, or some other situation that made your soul leap from your body. 

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together:  Mark 5:1-42

This chapter really emphasizes the power of Jesus over evil. The incident with the demoniac and the pigs is one of the only places where we hear dialogue between Jesus and the demons. Notice, there wasn’t a question as to whether or not the demons had to do what Jesus said. There is power in the name of Jesus!

HEAD: Explore the Text

1. Share any wisdom, insights, or thoughts you received just from listening to the text, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead.
2. We don’t know how long this demoniac has lived amongst the tombs and caves. Can you imagine how lonely, how much of a struggle, the demoniac man would have had up to this moment? Talk about what that must have been like. 
3. Why would he cut himself? Was that the demons or him or both?
4. There were many demons in this man, but it only took “permission” from Jesus for them to come out. What does this say about Jesus’ power of darkness?
5. What have you heard growing up about why Jesus let the demons go into the pigs?
6. This region Jesus traveled to was a Gentile part of the country. Nearby, it is rumored that the Roman’s 10th Legion Army camped out. The mascot of this army, one of the deadliest and most powerful in history, was a boar (aka pig). So with that information - why do you think Jesus traveled to a Gentile region instead of a Jewish region? What might the casting of demons into the pigs who then ran to their death, communicated to the Gentiles about the power of Jesus?
7. Why do you think the people were afraid of the demoniac once he was sitting and clothed and in his right mind?
8. Usually, Jesus asks people he heals to keep quiet and not tell others, but this time, he’s told to share with his family. He’s given permission. Why the change?
9. What do you think the healing of the woman who had been bleeding, as well as the daughter of the synagogue ruler, communicated to the people about Jesus and his mission?

HEART: Personal Reflection

1. Have you ever been afraid of evil or felt personally attacked? If so, what did you do? What could you do?
2. How might we be able to tell the difference between someone having a mental issue, vs someone having a spiritual attack?
3. The woman who reached out for Jesus risked her life to get to him. Have you ever been desperate enough for Jesus that you’d do anything to get to him?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: reaching out for Jesus

• The woman who reached out for Jesus knew that if Jesus couldn’t heal her, she was dead anyway. As she got close, she reached out for all she was worth, with all her strength.
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  • What needs healing, or the Master’s touch, in your life right now?
• In your devotional time this week, sharing with Jesus what needs healing, and then imagine reaching out and teaching the hem of his garment. As you take hold, where does his power go to in your life? What change takes place the more you practice this in your life?
• Journal your insights through this experience as you meditate on these truths this week.

Invite the group to check in next week about their experience.

CLOSING PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I come to you with all I am
I know I can trust you, for you gave me all you are.
As I reach for you today, come in and touch the part of me that needs you most
Bring healing, bring wholeness, bring hope, bring restoration and reconciliation.
Then help me go forth into the world, and help clear the way so others may get to you.
In the precious, powerful, holy, resurrected name of Jesus I pray…Amen