The Entrance We Didn’t See ComingINTRODUCTIONThe 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.OPENING QUESTIONHave you ever met someone famous? A musician, an athlete, an actor, an author? What was i...  Read More

THE ROOT WORK OF PRAYERMark 11:20–25 (NLT)“The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots.”If you sit with this passage long enough, one phrase rises to the surface: from the roots. Mark could have said the tree died. He could have said it withered. But he adds that small detail, roots first. Underground first. The hidden place f...  Read More

THE TABLES THAT STILL NEED TURNINGMark 11:15–19 (NLT) “Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices… ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.’”There’s a historic church on the East Coast with a front entrance that looks like something out of a postcard, broad marble steps, arc...  Read More

THE TREE WITH PROMISE BUT NO LIFEMark 11:12–14 (NLT) “He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off… but there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat your fruit again!’”I remember the night we landed in Rome—9:37 p.m., jet-lagged, starving, wandering the streets looking for anything open. We found a family-run rest...  Read More

THE KING WHO DISAPPOINTS OUR EXPECTATIONSMark 11:7–11 (NLT)“Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.”At this point in the story the crowd has rolled out a red carpet of cloaks and palm branches. They’re shouting “Hosanna!” expecting Jesus to st...  Read More

THE DONKEY THAT CHANGES EVERYTHINGMark 11:1–6 (NLT) “Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ‘Go into the village over there,’ he told them… ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’ The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door.”There's a hotel in Monte Carlo where rooms cost more per night than most family vacations. When you arrive, your transportatio...  Read More