The Weight We Cannot CarryINTRODUCTIONThe 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 been in a place that you strongly felt the presence of God or a deep sense of holi...  Read More

THE LOVE THAT OUTLIVES OUR FAILUREMark 14:47–50 (NLT) “Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away.”There’s a moment in the Gospels that can feel almost too human to sit with: the disciples, every last one, run. Not just Judas with his kiss, not just Peter with his sword, but all of them. The whole community Jesus poured Himself into slinks away into the dark. If you’ve ever loved people who ...  Read More

THE KISS THAT BREAKS THE HEARTMark 14:43–46 (NLT) “As Jesus was speaking, Judas appeared… Judas had given them a prearranged signal: ‘You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.’”A kiss is never just a kiss, not in Scripture, not in the ancient world, and honestly not in ours. In the first century, a kiss could communicate deep loyalty. Disciples kissed rabbis as a sign of resp...  Read More

THE FAILURE JESUS DOESN’T HOLD AGAINST YOUMark 14:37–42 (NLT) “Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, ‘Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?’”There’s something painfully honest about this moment in Gethsemane. Jesus doesn’t ask His disciples to cast out demons or preach a sermon or perform some heroic act. He asks them to stay awake and be present with Him, but they...  Read More

THE PRAYER WE KNOW BUT RESISTMark 14:35–36 (NLT) “‘Abba, Father,’ he cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.’”This is the prayer most of us know by heart but struggle to pray with honesty: “Your will be done.” Sometimes praying can feel like gravel in the mouth, hard and uncomfortable. It’s easy to pray ...  Read More

THE WEIGHT OF SAYING YESMark 14:32–35 (NLT) “He took Peter, James, and John, and he became deeply troubled and distressed. He told them, ‘My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.’”Before Jesus ever carries the cross, He carries the weight of choice. Gethsemane is where the real surrender happens, not on Golgotha, but here, in a quiet garden, late at night, when no one is watching.I thi...  Read More