CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: Mark 2:13-27
In Mark 2, we find Jesus back at home in Capernaum after a brief preaching tour in the neighboring villages. Word had gotten out about Jesus’ authority, and a crowd soon filled the house and courtyard. In Mark, crowds are always an obstacle to finding Jesus, rather than a sign of success. Palestinian homes at this time included an outdoor staircase that led to a flat straw room, paved with mud. Four men of faith dug through this roof to lower their paralyzed friend to Jesus, who was so moved that He pronounced the man’s sins forgiven. This greatly offended the rabbis, who murmured that Jesus was a blasphemer – a sin punishable by death. Jesus proved his authority to forgive sins by instantaneously healing the man, astounding the critics and crowd.
The gospel of Mark is all about authority. Jesus’ miraculous actions – casting out demons and healing the sick – legitimized His authority as both Son of God (Mark 1) and Son of Man (Mark 2). In the rest of Mark 2, Jesus exercises authority over manmade customs. While teaching the crowds beside the lake, Jesus calls Levi (later Matthew), a hated tax collector. Tax collectors were secular Jews viewed as extortionists and collaborators. Levi immediately follows Jesus without question. Next, Jesus hosts an intimate banquet in Levi’s home with wicked people. The ultra conservative rabbis, who didn’t recognize Jesus’ authority, made Him guilty by association. Rather than quibble with them, Jesus merely reminds them it’s the sinners who need Him.
Jesus’ teaching represented something new, and something worth celebrating. There were two other popular movements at this time – John the Baptist’s disciples, and Phariseeism. We don’t know a lot about John’s disciples, but the Pharisees represented about 1% of the population, and were the only religious sect to survive the destruction of Jerusalem. Both groups regularly engaged in fasting – the practice of denying the body food in order to show serious devotion to God. The people questioned the disciples for feasting, rather than fasting. Jesus said for His followers to fast would be as ridiculous as wedding guests refusing to eat at a reception. The good news couldn’t be contained in old ways of thinking.
The final story in Mark 2 deals with the subject which most clearly defined Judaism: the Sabbath. The Sabbath was instituted in the fourth commandment. It lasted from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, and no work of any kind was allowed. Tradition covered every possible action on the Sabbath to categorize it as acceptable or unacceptable, even the setting of broken bones (unacceptable!) The Pharisees tattled on the disciples for plucking and eating heads of grain while they walked, considered “harvesting”. Jesus reminds the Pharisees that even David violated the Sabbath. This is the first of many times in Mark Jesus points to David, and it is no accident. Jesus is Son of David, and has authority even over the Sabbath.
Today’s sermon will focus on Jesus’ authority in matters of custom and routine.
• 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. Is there ever a time when your entire family eats together? What are some favorite dishes that are shared? Do you eat around the table, or another location? Do you do anything special afterwards?
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 –
• Customs were important to the crowds.
• Our customs are important to us today.
• Good news: Jesus took authority over Jewish customs.
• Good news: Jesus takes authority over our customs.
This Week’s Assignment –
Having a CrossViewed life means following Jesus, even if it messes with when we eat, who we hang out with, and how we worship. Are there any customs in your weekly routine that are more about your comfort than following Jesus? Do something different this week!
CrossGroups Connection Guide
Today’s Scripture Focus: Mark 1:1-13
Each year we spend twelve weeks in the gospels, divided up into three four-week periods. This year, we will focus on the Gospel According to Mark. John Mark is credited with its authorship. This is the same Mark from the book of Acts, whose mother’s house served as an early meeting place for Christians. He traveled with Paul and Barnabus, and eventually assisted Peter. After the destruction of the Temple and the death of the Apostle Peter, many Roman Christians felt the need for eyewitness accounts of Jesus to be recorded in writing. John Mark had served as a traveling companion of Peter, and tradition tells us he began to write down everything Peter preached about Jesus. Some have called Mark “The Gospel of Peter”.
For centuries, scholars treated Mark as a hurried copy of Matthew, which is why it appears second in the New Testament. We now know both Matthew and Luke used Mark as the source for their gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke make up what are known as the synoptic gospels. Using Mark and other documents now lost to us, Matthew wrote a gospel for Jews, and Luke for gentiles. Both these gospels contain almost all of Mark word for word. Mark was an excellent source for Jews and gentiles, since it was likely written for the racially diverse Roman church. Mark is the shortest of the gospels. It is a story of action. Where Matthew and Luke might take a chapter to tell of Jesus’ temptation, for example, Mark uses a sentence.
If Mark, then is the first gospel and introduces the New Testament, it is only fitting that it uses the same opening as the introduction of the Old Testament – “beginning”. From the first verse, Mark lets us know exactly who Jesus is – the Son of God, the Messiah. “Son of God” was a phrase used for Roman Emperors. Caesars were declared gods by the Senate, and the birthday of Augustus was required to be celebrated each year. When a male heir was born to the emperor, word was sent throughout the empire of the “good news”. Mark uses the exact same phrasing to announce the good news of Christ. For his Jewish readers, he uses the term “Messiah”, as well as the words of the prophet Isaiah to indicate this was the Savior promised by God.
Mark will spend the rest of the gospel proving this lofty claim. He begins with a brief telling of the baptism of Christ. God seemed to have been absent from Israel for hundreds of years, but the prophets said one day “Elijah” would return and prepare the way for God to once again move. John the Baptizer lived in the desert, wore the same clothes as Elijah the prophet had worn, and called the people to purification so God could come. People traveled from the city to respond to this call. Jesus came from the north to receive John’s baptism, but it served a different purpose than purification. Just as David had long ago been anointed as king of Israel, Jesus’ baptism served as “good news” that a new kind of kingdom had arrived!
Today’s sermon will celebrate the arrival of this good news in our lives.
• 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. Have you received any good news recently? How did you respond?
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 –
• For years, it seemed to Israel that God was silent.
• It often seems God is silent today.
• Good news: Jesus heard the voice of God!
• Good news: Jesus is God’s voice for us!
This Week’s Assignment –
Having a CrossViewed life means being celebrating the good news of Jesus all year. Though the decorations may be put away and the gifts unwrapped, focus on celebrating the good news this week. Memorize Mark 1:1.
SCRIPTURES FOR REFLECTION:
There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God – Hebrews 4:9
After leaving them, (Jesus) went up on a mountainside to pray. – Mark 6:46
I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. - I Corinthians 9:22
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted. – Sir Francis Bacon
WHAT IS MOMENTUM?
Momentum – forward motion achieved and sustained through a series of wins.
Principles of Momentum –
- Change always results in momentum.
- Momentum can be positive or negative.
- Organizations must constantly try new things, assess them, and improve upon them in order to sustain momentum.
- Momentum is never achieved by “tinkering” with something old in order to “fix” it.
FIVE QUESTIONS
- Do you have a “bucket list”? What’s on it?
- What has God shown you through His word recently?
- Does change frighten you or excite you?
- Do you have family members or friends who are not following Jesus? What would you be willing to do to reach them?
- What does the thought for the day mean for our lives? For our church?
SCRIPTURES FOR REFLECTION:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. – Mark 8:34
Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails – Proverbs 19:21
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
There is no growth without change. There is no change without loss. There is no loss without pain. – Dave Browning
OUR MISSION
Denison Church of the Nazarene…Viewing Life Through the Cross
OUR VALUES
Conversation – intimate, authentic friendships
Connection – accountable, responsible relationships
Communion – celebrating God and His story
Cooperation – Using our passions to build God’s Kingdom
Compassion – Using our resources to change our world
OUR VISION
As we sit in our sanctuary each week and gaze out of our beautiful windows, what do we see? Thousands of people drive or walk by each week, giving no thought to serving God or serving others. Where will these people be in two years? Our vision is that they will…
…have daily and weekly conversations as we break bread together at our church and in our homes.
…connect in accountability, discipleship, and training groups.
…commune with God and His people at one or more of a variety of simple, fun, family friendly worship opportunities, while their students enjoy the safest, most fun, and most creative ministry space in the Lake Texoma area.
…cooperate in building the Church through serving on ministry and work teams.
…compassionately serve by donating time and money to community service organizations.
FIVE QUESTIONS
1. What are you most excited about in life right now?
2. What has God shown you through His word recently?
3. What are ways that we “take up our cross” today?
4. How can we tell the difference between our plans and God’s purpose?
5. What does the thought for the day mean for our lives? For our church?