Mark 2:13-17 Walking together with Jesus 11 – Formation, Forgiveness, Faith
Sermon Points
Walking together with Jesus means:
Receiving and sharing the inclusive salvation of Jesus.
Celebrating the joy of being with Jesus as the community of the forgiven.
Following by faith in Jesus the righteous new life of his Kingdom.
Avoiding the blindness, powerlessness and judgementalism that comes from thinking we are righteous in ourselves.
Discussion Questions
How does Jesus’ personal mission statement “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (v17) shape our attitude to walking together with him as his church?
How can we sincerely engage with one another in the “joy of our salvation” (Psalm 51:12) , that lies at the core of walking together with Jesus?
How can we positively, humbly, non judgementally inspire each other to follow the righteous path of our new life in God’s Kingdom through faith in Jesus?
How can we best help one another join in with Jesus’ forming us by his Word, as individuals and a church family?
What difference does it make to our life together as a church family that Jesus, the person at the centre, is the God whose job on earth is to forgive, and who has divine authority to forgive?
In what ways does seeing Jesus at work in our midst as we walk together with him, build our expectant and active faith in him to heal and forgive?
Mark 1:35-39 Walking together with Jesus 8 – Partnership with God and His work
Sermon Points
Sermon Points
Walking together with Jesus means:
Hearing the words of Jesus, that he our teacher has for us!
Becoming more and more like Jesus, because his teaching comes with God’s supreme power to make things happen
being delivered from evil as Jesus’ presence and teaching confronts and deals with it with supreme authority
Discussion Questions
One of Martin Luther’s main principles in the time of the Reformation of the church is “Sola Scriptura” – “by Scriptures alone”. This means the Christian Scriptures are the sole source of authority for Christian faith and practice that cannot be wrong. Why is this principle so important for us as a church?
What experience have you had of Jesus’ teaching changing your life?
How can we help one another resist evil and overcome it in Jesus, as we walk together with him?
Desiring communion and fellowship with the Father (v35). Jesus demonstrated the secret of his growth and impact by his constant communion with the Father.
Being Kingdom Minded (v36-38). Jesus was able to focus on the task of the father by avoiding distractions from the men.
Walking in the authority of the Spirit (v39). Jesus had authority to go into every city to preach and cast out demons because of God’s Spirit at work in Him.
Discussion Questions
What practical ways can we be determined to maintain a constant communion with the Father?
What are some of the things we’ve observed as the major distractions or impediments to our constant communion with the Father?
How can we contribute to the corporate devotion as a church in walking with Jesus?
What are the ways we can be able to influence our colleagues, friends, neighbours, classmates for the kingdom’s sake?
How can we trust the Holy Spirit to use us in reaching out to our environment with miracles and signs following us?
How can we take authority over our lives and families in the place of prayer by stopping demonic operations… healing the sick amongst us and banishing the spirit of fear and timidity?
Mark 1:21-28 Walking together with Jesus 6: the teacher with power over evil
Sermon Points
Walking together with Jesus means:
Hearing the words of Jesus, that he our teacher has for us!
Becoming more and more like Jesus, because his teaching comes with God’s supreme power to make things happen
being delivered from evil as Jesus’ presence and teaching confronts and deals with it with supreme authority
Discussion Questions
One of Martin Luther’s main principles in the time of the Reformation of the church is “Sola Scriptura” – “by Scriptures alone”. This means the Christian Scriptures are the sole source of authority for Christian faith and practice that cannot be wrong. Why is this principle so important for us as a church?
What experience have you had of Jesus’ teaching changing your life?
How can we help one another resist evil and overcome it in Jesus, as we walk together with him?
Mark 1:16-20 Walking together with Jesus summons to follow and to reproduce
Sermon Points
Walking together with Jesus is about:
Following Jesus
Jesus’ sovereign summons where we are promise: God will make us what he wants us to be- “fishers of men”
Our confident surrender decisive faith laying everything down
Discussion Questions
What can it look like to base being church on “following Jesus together”?
How does Jesus’ making us the “fishers of men” he wants us to become, best fulfill our own needs as a church for spiritual growth, care and well-being too?
What might it look like for us as a church to lay everything down for God’s restart?
Mark 1:14-15 Walking together with Jesus demands life reorientation
Sermon Points
Being people of the good news that comes from God for now.
Engaging with the reality that God’s rule over people’s hearts and lives is now being established.
Reorienting our lives around this new reality.
Discussion Questions
What are the implications of the fact that as a church we are a family whose lifestyle, thoughts, relationships, words, are to proclaim the Good News that comes from Almighty God?
In what ways have you seen God’s Kingdom in Jesus changing lives, families, communities?
In what ways might we need to reorient our attitudes, agendas, programmes, planning (repent) as a church in the light of God’s Kingdom work planned through us?
Mark 1:1-8 Walking together with Jesus: in the forgiveness of sins
Sermon Points
Makes sense of our yearning for heaven
Is the secure state we are born again into in Christ
Gives us an honest relationship with ourselves
Gives us a humble relationship with others
Gives us a healed relationship with God
Discussion Questions
How would you explain the difference between God’s hating the sin but loving the sinner?
How can we accept our bad sides without accepting our wrong doing?
How does accepting the fact of our bad side (confessing our sinful nature) actually become a vital step in our healing and changing to be more like Jesus?
To be with Jesus = to be with the Supreme Lord, God!
Jesus brings us the gift of new life in the age to come
By bringing us to a complete new direction through his accepting us
Discussion Questions
How will the fact the Jesus who is with us as the almighty Lord who supernaturally intervenes in human lives shape our prayer life together this week?
How will our attitudes to ourselves and one another be shaped this week, by the presence of the supreme Lord Jesus in our midst as our senior partner in what we’re thinking, saying, doing?
Why is it necessary for us to accept our own badness or that done to us as Jesus has accepted us before we can be changed and healed of it?
