Tough Sayings: Divorce is Adultery

-Marriage is ultimately about the Gospel. Do you understand why?

-How does the fact that your marriage is about the Gospel impact your thinking about marriage?

-Let's talk about emotions.  Tell me what first comes to your mind when you think of these things:
(Group leader, I want you to write these down on a piece of paper.  You will need to reference these answers later in the group time).

a. A friend gets cheated on by their spouse.
b. An unfaithful spouse that continuously promises to be faithful but is habitual with their adultery
c. The faithful spouse that continues to take the unfaithful spouse back despite being hurt, betrayed, lied to.
d. What would your advice be to a friend that is being cheated on, lied to, hurt, and let down in their marriage?  (The one aspect to assume would be that your friend was 100% in the right and had no fault).

Now, let's tie these answers into what Jesus has done for us.

a.   What does it mean to commit adultery on God?  (elevating things above God, ascribing the highest worth and worshiping things other than God, turn our backs on the commitments that we've made to God)
b.  What could be God's reaction when we "cheat" on Him? (judgment, divorce, separation, leaving you, turning His back on you.  Compare to answers from question A and B above)
c.  Would God be justified to do those things?  Is it well within God's right to end the relationship? (compare to answers from question C and D above)

- What do you need to do in your marriage to make sure you are representing the Gospel and the story of Jesus correctly?  What do you need to change?   What do you need to stop doing?

-If you aren't married, does this text add a new kind of weight to the idea of marriage (knowing that the goal of your marriage is to accurately reflect the Gospel)?

-How do you plan to avoid spiritual adultery this week?

The trinity:

-What did this text teach you about God?
-What did this text teach you about yourself?
-What are you going to do about it?

Tough Sayings: Cut Off Your Hand

Main Text: Mark 9:42-50
Supporting Texts: Genesis 1:31, Isaiah 9:6

Let's start out catching every one up on the text.  Answer the 2 goal questions from the series.

1. What does the text mean?
and
2. What do I need to do about it?


1.  What is the difference between your "very good" and God's "very good?"  Why should we think His is better?  What gives Him the credibility to claim that He knows what's best for us?

2.  What's the solution to desiring God more than we desire our sin?  How can we move from "cutting off your hand" being weird and offensive to realizing that nothing is worth separating us from God?

3.  What is the role of repentance in your life?  How often do you confess your sins to God?  Confession and repentance is not only instructed by God, but is a great reminder of what the Gospel really did for followers of Jesus.

4.  Make a list (pass out paper or make a mental note) of the sins that you need to cut out of your life.  Start this week by simply confessing them to God.  Secondly, form a plan to stay away from those sins.  Confess is to make known, and repent is to turn away and go in the opposite direction.  Don't just confess the sin and do the same thing a few hours later.  Confess and have a plan of action to keep from doing it again (change your routine, avoid temptation places/times/situations, fill your time with other things).


1. So what does this say about God?
2. What does this say about us?

Tough Sayings: Pick Up Your Cross

Text: Mark 8:34-38

-Verse 34 lays out some criterion for following Jesus. Read the text and identify what these criterion are. (Self-denial and picking up your cross)

-In what way(s) does following Jesus require self-denial? (He calls us to do things that we think we don't want to do! Evangelism, giving, changing our lifestyles, ect...) 

-Based on your answers to the question above, are you denying yourself to follow Jesus?

-Watch the video above before tackling this question. What is it about YOU that may be standing in way your wholehearted pursuit of Jesus?

-Watch the video above before tackling this question. If Jesus isn't offering to fix all of your circumstantial problems and perhaps even adds to them, what is He offering and why is it great enough that I should endure the inconvenience of submitting my life to Him?

The Staples:

What did this text teach you about God?

What did this text teach you about yourself?

What are you going to do about it?

Tough Sayings: Hate your Family

This weeks text: Mark 3:31-35 & Luke 14:26

-Is the “Tough Sayings of Jesus” series a series that you are comfortable inviting people to or does it make you nervous? (just curious…)

-In the event that you were familiar with these texts before Sunday’s sermon, what had you previously thought they meant?

-What did Jesus mean when He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother?”

 -What did He mean when He said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple?”

-How do these statements affect your view of family?

Street Level

-What did this text teach you about God?

-What did this text teach you about yourself?

-What are you going to do about it?