The Beautiful Upset (S2) WK 2 - 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:  Where in your religious and spiritual journey, have you seen people or organizations ‘miss the point’ of the gospel and that which matters most? 

SCRIPTURE READING
Read together:  Mark 2:1-28, Mark 3:1-6

Jesus taught with authority because he didn’t have to reference other rabbi’s in order to teach, he simply taught truth, wisdom, and insight that truly impacted hearts and lives, not to mention his authority over darkness. When we claim his name, we are under his authority and can walk courageously in his steps approaching the throne of grace with confidence.

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. Notice in Mark 2:5, it says “seeing their faith” Jesus forgave the man’s sins. Do you think it was “seeing the faith of his friends” or “seeing the faith of them all”? What does it say about 
3. So the teachers of the law were upset when Jesus claimed to forgive sins, but “They were all amazed and praised God” when the man was healed. Why the difference?
4. What do you think the disciples thought when Jesus called Levi Matthew, a tax collector? The religious leaders saw the “sinners” Jesus was eating with “scum.” What people groups have we stopped seeing as people, as children of God, and simply labeled? What do labels do to our humanity?
5. How were the disciples “harvesting grain” by picking off the heads to eat? What experiences in your life have you seen the Sabbath abused or misunderstood?
6. Why do you think Jesus was angry and “deeply saddened” by the religious leaders concerning the main with the withered hand? And why were the Pharisees so determined to kill Jesus after this incident?

HEART: Personal Reflection

1. Where in your religious and spiritual journey, have you seen people or organizations ‘miss the point’ of the gospel and that which matters most?
2. Who are the people in your life right now that you’d metaphorically tear a whole in a roof if it meant getting them to Jesus? Who would do that for you?
3. Who are the people in our world that are the “scum” from the religious elite, the people that we should have around our tables and in our churches?
4. How do we keep from putting our understanding of Scripture, before Jesus and loving on people?

HANDS: Practice This Week
Spiritual Practice: how we start the day

• Knowing that the devil doesn’t care what we’re focused on, as long as it’s not Jesus, this week the challenge is to spend time each morning, even if just 5 or 10 minutes, focusing on Jesus before going out to your day. Here are a few ways to practice this concept:
• 
  
  • Listen to an audio version of Jesus’ death and resurrection, like John 19-21
  • Memorize, then each day, recite John 3:16-17, imagining Jesus standing before you as you do
  • Just whisper his name in the morning, breathing in His love and spirit, and breathing out your worries and concerns
• At the end of the week, journal about your daily experience and if you were able to keep Jesus your main thing, even amidst the busyness of the world around you.

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

CLOSING PRAYER (The Shield of St Patrick)
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.