CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: Mark 5:1-20
When we last left Mark, Jesus and the disciples were traveling back and forth on the Sea of Galilee and ministering to the crowds that gathered at their various stops. In Mark 4, Jesus calms a great storm on the Sea, amazing the disciples. Following this, Jesus goes ashore on the Gentile side of the lake. The “country of the Gerasenes” wasn’t conducive to crowds, nor would the inhabitants of the region be interested in a Jewish teacher. Here, Jesus could take a break from the crowds and teach His disciples. However, Mark 5 states that as soon as Jesus stepped out of the boat, He was met by a man with “unclean spirits”. This man was being controlled by supernatural forces. His behavior was seen as dangerous, and he had been cast out of society.
We must understand that in the culture of Jesus’ day, unusual behavior was very unusual! Everyone pretty much did what was expected of them. When people did the unexpected, their actions were attributed to “spirits” (Hebrew) or “demons” (Greek). The question was whether the spirits were good or evil; clean, or unclean. In this case the demons are obviously evil, causing the man much suffering. A “legion” was the largest unit of Roman soldiers, numbering about 5600. A Roman legion occupied the area, and the nearby herd of pigs would have likely been their food source. Spirits were more powerful than humans, but Jesus demonstrated clearly His authority over them by commanding them into the swine.
Setting the man free from demonic influence was only a partial healing. The man still had to be restored to his community. This was accomplished when the swine herders spread the word of what had happened, and a crowd gathered, shocked to find the local madman restored to normal behavior. This terrified them, and they begged Jesus to leave. The restored demonic wanted to become a disciple of Jesus, but Jesus instead sent him back to his own people. Earlier in Mark, Jesus had commanded those he healed to tell no one. This time, Jesus commissioned the man to tell everyone what God had done for him. Once again, Jesus got back in the boat, crossed to the other side, and was met by – lo and behold – a great crowd!
Out of the crowd, a synagogue ruler fell at Jesus’ feet. This was the posture of someone seeking a favor. This would be highly unexpected for someone of such social status, and shows his desperation. His daughter was dying. Jesus went with the man, but stopped on the way when a woman with a bleeding disorder touched Him. Women were not allowed to touch men. Rather than shame her, Jesus calls her “daughter”, again restoring someone to their place in the community. Meanwhile, Jairus’s daughter died. 60% of children born in 1st Century died by their mid-teens. The crowd mocked Jesus’ attempt to “heal” just one more dead girl, but Jesus once again astounded everyone by showing His authority over even death.
Today’s sermon will show just what Jesus does for powerless people.
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like to share anything exciting from their week.
• Did anyone do last week’s assignment? What was the result?
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as they would like.
1. Why do you think so many people accept Jesus as their Savior in hospitals and prisons? Are these conversions real?
2. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
3. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
• Go over this week’s assignment (below). Commit to work on it together.
Today’s Sermon
Key Truths –
• The demoniac was powerless over his behavior.
• Many of us feel powerless over our actions.
• Jesus took authority over the demons.
• Jesus will take authority over your demons!
This Week’s Assignment –
Having a CrossViewed life means experiencing miraculous, transformational power. What behavior is out of your control? Begin every day this week bowed at the Savior’s feet, allowing Him to take authority over your hurts, habits, and hang-ups.
CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: I Corinthians 15:12-28
Paul finishes giving his answers to questions dealing with spiritual abilities in chapter 14. The Corinthians wanted to understand these supernatural gifts that were manifested among them when they came together. Paul had reminded them that these abilities were to build up the church, not tear it apart. In Chapter 14, Paul primarily deals with the two most “popular” gifts – tongues and prophesy. “Tongues” in Corinthians refers to the supernatural ability to speak another language so that unbelievers might hear and glorify God. Prophesy was direct instruction from God to believers. When only believers were gathered, obviously prophesy was more useful than tongues. All supernatural utterances should be given in an orderly manner.
The final issue Paul deals with concerns the resurrection of the dead. When Paul originally came to Corinth, he proclaimed an innovative message. The wrath of God, brought on when humanity insulted God’s holiness through sin, had been satisfied through the death of Jesus, and God’s holiness had been proved through raising Christ from the dead. Many witnesses saw this firsthand, and all who believed their testimony would not only be spared that wrath, but would be raised from the dead themselves. However, in Paul’s absence this teaching had become corrupted somehow. Corinthians believed that followers of Jesus couldn’t die! As some of their members began to die, it caused much confusion to say the least.
“Since true believers can’t die, then those who died weren’t really Christians. Therefore, there is no resurrection of the dead.” This was the logical conclusion of the misunderstanding of Paul’s message. Paul refutes this by pointing out that if there is no resurrection of the dead, how then was Christ raised? If Christ wasn’t raised, then their whole faith was meaningless. Christians would still die physically, however, for Christ was still in the process of conquering all God’s enemies. Just as death came to all through one man – Adam – life came to all through Jesus. This would not be fulfilled until the Second Coming, when all the dead in Christ would be raised and death would be abolished forever.
In the rest of chapter 15, Paul continues to point out the logical problems with denying the resurrection of the dead. Baptism for the dead was a custom in which one’s baptism was said to apply to their entire household, including those who may be deceased. Of course we would not follow this today, but in principle it was a waste of time if there was no life after death. Also, there was no reason for Paul to suffer persecution if after death came nothing. But how could broken, dead bodies live again, some Corinthians wondered? In the same way that the fruit bears no resemblance to the seed, our resurrected bodies will be entirely different from our human ones. Like the sun and stars, they will bring glory to God through their beauty.
Today’s sermon will consider the Resurrection of Christ and what it means to us today.
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like to share anything exciting from their week.
• Did anyone do last week’s assignment? What was the result?
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as they would like.
1. How do you think our “glorified” post-resurrection bodies will differ from our current ones?
2. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
3. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
• Go over this week’s assignment (below). Commit to work on it together.
Today’s Sermon
Key Truths –
• The Corinthians were confused about the Resurrection.
• We fail to grasp the Resurrection today, too.
• Paul explained what the Resurrection meant for the Corinthians.
• We can celebrate what Resurrection means for us!
This Week’s Assignment –
Having a CrossViewed life means believing something we cannot prove – that we will live again. Do you believe it? Thank God every day this week for the promise of life after death, then live like you mean it.
CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: I Corinthians 13
Paul answered questions about eating in chapters 8-11. Why did Paul spend so much time on this subject? Eating was tied to everything – emotions, attitudes, even sex. In chapter 10, Paul reminded the Corinthians that their spiritual ancestors the Israelites had all shared a common meal, but God had allowed them to be struck down when they over indulged and complained. This ties back into the issue of meat offered to idols. When the Corinthians knowingly partook in meals eaten in honor of idols and the dead, they were really eating with demons! Since all who ate at Christ’s table were intertwined with one another and with Christ, participating in idol worship could bring God’s wrath on the whole church, just as it had in Israel long ago.
Paul dealt with an interesting issue in chapter 11 unique to Corinthian Christians. Were church meal gatherings to be like household ones, since they were all brothers and sisters? No. In that culture, men who covered their heads in public showed disrespect to God, and women who uncovered their heads in public disrespected their husbands. The same rules should apply to church gatherings. Paul chastised the Corinthians because they had factionalized, so the only time they gathered was to publically observe the Lord’s Supper. However, when they did this, the wealthier factions brought sumptuous meals and excess wine, while the poorer groups went hungry. This defeated the whole purpose of the meal instituted by Christ.
In chapters 12-14, Paul addressed the next topic brought up by the Corinthians. They wanted to know about unique phenomena induced by the Holy Spirit, which was obviously new territory to them. The first century Mediterranean society had no concept of a “gift”. Nothing was free – everything that was given had certain responsibilities attached. Obviously, God would never give a special spiritual ability to the Corinthians so they could utter “Jesus is cursed!” That could only come from an alien spirit, something left over from their “outsider” days. Instead, the Holy Spirit gave the Corinthians various levels of supernatural ability in order to bring honor to God and strengthen the Body of Christ.
All of the charismata (spiritual abilities) were not helpful if they were used for self promotion. In the most famous passage in Corinthians, Paul showed his children the “way” to utilize gifts (12:31). “Way” meant the moral instruction of a teacher and the behavior that modeled it. Paul’s “way” was the way of agape (love). In the first century, there was not much of a concept of love as a feeling or emotion. Love meant actions that showed honor and allegiance to another. A wife demonstrated love for her husband by braiding and covering her hair, for instance. Paul contrasts the Corinthians’ use of spiritual gifts, marked by arrogance and pride, with the Agape Way of utilizing gifts to show honor and allegiance to Christ and other Christians.
The Agape Way is still our guiding principle in the church today. We can’t do anything for God that does not also build up our brothers and sisters.
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like to share anything exciting from their week.
• Did anyone do last week’s assignment? What was the result?
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as they would like.
1. Which of the qualities in 13:4-7 are the most challenging to live up to today?
2. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
3. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: I Corinthians 8
The first section of I Corinthians deals with sin in the church, including factions, sexual immorality, and lawsuits among believers. Paul concludes this section in chapter 6 by attempting to shame the Corinthians. While even the weakest among them will one day judge angels, they are bringing shame upon themselves by exposing their conflict to “outsiders”. We think of lawsuits as two parties before an impartial judge in a courtroom, but the Corinthians were likely taking their disputes before Jewish wise men – the very ones who had rejected Christ and the Gospel. Paul compares the sin in Corinth to sleeping with a prostitute. Whenever a believer sinned, he was in fact bringing shame on the whole body of Christ, including Christ Himself!
In the next section of I Corinthians, Paul attempts to answer some questions. The believers at Corinth had practical questions about daily life. In chapter 7, Paul answers their questions regarding marriage, remarriage, and social status. Was it wrong for Corinthian Christians to marry, divorce, arrange marriages for their children, or marry a deceased brother’s widow (levirate marriage)? Paul’s responses are governed by three principals – 1) the time is short. Jesus will soon return, so don’t be too concerned with sex and marriage. 2) Stay the way you are – if you are unmarried, stay that way. If you are married, stay that way. 3) It’s better to marry than to sin. If you can’t control yourselves, by all means get married.
In chapter 8-11, Paul answers questions about the most important topic to the Corinthians after marriage – food and eating. Eating in the 1st Century was a very social act. There were no tables for one! The primary concern in eating was not taking nutrition into the body for the purpose of nourishment, but who eats with whom, when, where, how, and why. This meant that Corinthian believers who had left other social circles in order to join in the Body of Christ had to adopt a new set of rules for eating. This caused a lot of confusion and conflict, as meal habits that may have been acceptable under the old way of life were now destructive, and foods that were previously forbidden were suddenly ok.
The first issue Paul tackles is “concerning food sacrificed to idols.” There were two practices of concern here. One involved consuming food in front of a statue or image of a god, thereby eating in honor of that god. The other was the practice of taking food to the grave or image of a deceased ancestor, which was thought to still contain their spirit, and somehow “feed” them so they might perform favorable deeds for you. Paul assures the Corinthians that they cannot be hurt by eating food involved in these practices, since these various gods and ancestors have no actual power. However, not all new believers realize this, so eating food offered to these images might in fact lead them back to fear and bondage. Therefore, it was a practice best avoided.
The guiding principle – food can’t harm the body of Christ, but actions can. Therefore choose meals based on love, not knowledge.
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like to share anything exciting from their week.
• Did anyone do last week’s assignment? What was the result?
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as they would like.
1. Should Christians today eat any differently than non-Christians? Why or why not?
2. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
3. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: I Corinthians 3:10-23
We recall from last week’s study that Paul was writing to a fracturing church. Various groups had formed in Corinth around personalities, based on those who had baptized them (Paul, Apollos, Peter – or one of their disciples/representatives). These factions competed with one another for disciples, and were likely developing their own distinctive philosophical beliefs about Jesus. They would then use these belief systems to boast about their wisdom, and discredit other groups as having inferior beliefs. In other words, the Christians at Corinth had become no different than the Greek and Judean faction systems they had pledged allegiance to before being baptized into Christ.
In I Corinthians 2, Paul reminded these factions that it was not his eloquence, smarts, or persuasive ability that had convinced them to become Christ-followers. Nor was it a philosophy of great wisdom that changed their hearts. Paul had come with but one message – Jesus crucified. As a messenger of the cross, Paul adopted the very character of his message in his delivery – weakness and trembling. Such a message and messenger could never stand along side the other shiny philosophies and mysteries available to the Corinthians. However, God’s Spirit had gotten hold of their hearts through Paul’s crucified ministry. Paul warned the Corinthians that the very “wisdom” which was fracturing them is what led to Christ’s crucifixion in the first place.
Paul does however hint at deeper teaching available to more mature believers. There is learning beyond the cross. However, in chapter 3 Paul tells the Corinthians that they are quite frankly too immature to handle next-level truth. He uses three illustrations from common life to demonstrate spiritual reality – food, farming, and building. While the Corinthians should be able to handle solid truth by this point, they are still spiritual babies, only capable of digesting milk! What a degrading comparison for those priding themselves on their great wisdom. Rather than viewing Apollos, who followed Paul as pastor in Corinth, as a competitor for disciples, Paul casts both of them as fellow planters in the field – one sowing and one watering.
Today’s scripture focus uses the example of building. Paul had laid a solid foundation for the Corinthians when he preached the wisdom of a crucified Jesus. Now, other teachers like Apollos were building on that foundation – not competing with it. In fact, all the Corinthians were both building on that foundation, and were the building itself! Together, they were God’s Temple, in which God’s Spirit lived. Only when the Corinthian Christians were a single unified structure would the Holy Spirit dwell in them and reveal God’s wisdom to them. Ironically, when they allowed divisions and foolish arguments over “wisdom” to divide them, they risked destruction of the very thing over which they fought, and missing out on the very wisdom they sought.
In our sermon today, let’s examine the condition of our 21st Century temple.
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like to share anything exciting from their week.
• Did anyone do last week’s assignment? What was the result?
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as they would like.
1. Do the greatest challenges facing the Church today come from without or within the Church?
2. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
3. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
• Go over this week’s assignment (below). Commit to work on it together.
Today’s Sermon
Key Truths –
• The Corinthians’ “wisdom” was destroying them.
• Our “wisdom” is destructive, too.
• God’s Spirit dwelt in the Corinthian’s Temple.
• God’s Spirit dwells in our Temple!
This Week’s Assignment –
Having a CrossViewed life means putting God’s word in our minds and hearts. Memorize First Corinthians 3:16-17.