You Gotta Have Faith: Faith Produces Results

Mark 7:24-30

1.  How has faith in Jesus changed your life?  Has it really changed your life?  Is your life REALLY changed?  Law 1- an object stays at rest until it's moved.  Is your spiritual life moving, or is it as rest?  Quote from the sermon: "It’s going to be hard to convince people that your life has been changed by Jesus if there is no change."

2.  What are the ways that life change is measured? (salvations, relationship mended, marriages restored, behavioral changes including speech, attitude, and even actions).  What are the areas in your life that are showing people that your life has been changed by Jesus?

3.  How did so many people find out about Jesus?  Why were people clamoring just to be around him, touch him, talk with him, and be changed by him?  (Because people that had encountered Jesus and been changed by him left and told other people about him).  Think about it like this: before you buy a car, you check out the reviews, you ask around, you check with any of your friends that may own that make/model.  Many times, the experiences of your friends/family with that product carry great weight in your final decision.  How much more important/urgent/life changing is the Gospel!?!  

4.  "Are we so passionate about our favorite restaurant or brand of electronics that it leads us to tell our friends and put it on facebook, but so apathetic about the Gospel that we won't tell anyone about Jesus?"  Sometimes we use the excuse that we don't want to offend people or be embarrassed.  That doesn't seem to stop us from sharing our beliefs about other things, does it?  When you tell people about a good experience at a restaurant, you don't get nervous and think "well what if they go and don't like it?"  You're not thinking "I can't tell them about that steakhouse, what if they don't like steak?"  So why do we have those worries about Jesus and the Gospel?

This woman wasn't thinking "what if he doesn't like me, what if he sends me away, what if I get embarrassed?"  No, it meant enough to her to go and ask Jesus.  She cared enough about her daughter to do what it takes to see her healed.  Are you willing to do what it takes to see your neighbors/friends/coworkers life changed by Jesus?  If so, what are you going to do about it?  (pray, invite, invest in them, share your Jesus story)

5. Take the Name Challenge.  Have each member of your rGroup write a name on a piece of paper that they are committing to pray for.  Pray for them tonight.  Bring the names back out occasionally and ask about them and pray about them more.  Hopefully you'll soon be able to take names off of the list because your prayers will be answered!

When the Answer's No

Mark 9:14-29

1.  Did your parents ever tell you "no," and give you the reason "because I said so?"  How did that make you feel?  Are those feelings similar when God says "no" and it seems to you that He really doesn't have a very good reason for it?  Do you ever think of God as your Heavenly Father that is infinitely more wise and knowing than you are, and knows what's best for your life?

2.  This man was begging and pleading with the disciples to heal his son.  It wasn't a bogus, off-the-wall claim.  Have you had a point in your life where you asked God for a legitimate, important request, and he said no?  In hindsight, can you now understand why you got the answer that you did?  What did God teach you during that process?

3.  What are the areas of your life that you are MOST likely to bring to God first?  What are the areas of your life that you are LEAST likely to bring to God?

4.  Why doesn't God just answer all of our prayers?  Why does he sometimes wait, say no, or actually allow the opposite of what we've prayed for happen?

5.  God views our lives from the lens of James 4:14, like a vapor or a mist that dissipates quickly. How should that mentality and outlook on life change and shape our view of God's response to our prayers?  Does it make it any easier to understand why He does what He does?

6.  How can you personally implement the 3 takeaways from this text in your life?
a. Help my unbelief. (9:24)
b. Bring it to Jesus. (9:19-20)
c. Some things can only be solved through intense prayer. (9:29)

You Gotta Have Faith: Just Believe

Mark 5:21-43

1. What are the times in life where we have to exercise the most amount of faith?  When our faith gets tested the most?  Would anyone be willing to share a personal story?  (no where else to turn, situation is dire, you've tried everything else, many questions still unanswered).

2.  What is your reaction when God blesses other people (BE HONEST!!  No Sunday school answers!!!)  Upset?  Bitter?  Cheated? Discouraged?  Why do you feel that way?  .

3.  Do you have a personal story where you feel like you've been "skipped over?"  Maybe you've been faithful, giving, serving, doing everything right, but God seems to have forgotten you and moved on to someone else?

4.  Have you ever had a "why bother" moment, where you lose your little bit of hope and faith and decide to throw in the towel and give up?  What attributes to those "why bother" feelings?  (haters, critics, pride, discouragement, misunderstanding of who God is).

5.  What is the difference in "blind faith" and when Jesus tells Jairus to "only believe?"  How can you combat the argument that all faith is blind and you don't have any real foundation or evidence for your faith?

6.  What do you need to "put out" so that you can move forward in your faith?  (Haters, scoffers, critics, doubts, fears, discouragement, past failures, anxiety).

7. Out of the hurdles that stand between you and deeper faith in Jesus and incredible life change, which are the hardest for you?  (how to ignore what some people say that downplay your faith, you can't hear God because you're too busy listening to other people, you're trying to fully understand and comprehend something that Jesus has told you to "just believe," OR you can't put things out of your life that are slowing your faith journey down).

REMEMBER:  We've got a choice with our faith: Why bother? OR Just believe!

You Gotta have Faith: Scared of Storms

Mark 4:35-41

-What's your storm story?  Have you ever fought hard, worked, tried everything else and gotten worn out, only to ask God for help and see Him take care of it?

-The storms in our lives are designed to teach us things, to help us move forward, to prepare us for what's next in life.  What did your storm story teach you?

-God accomplished many things in Scripture.  Healing people from illnesses, raising people from death, providing for His people, fighting battles that were impossible to win, making a way when everything looked hopeless.  Has anything changed?  Has God changed?  Has Jesus changed?  Then is it feasible to believe that the same things that were accomplished in the Bible can still be done today?  So why don't we believe?  What's wrong with our faith?  Why don't we see these same miracles and events in our lives today?

-Have you ever had a "do you not care" moment with God?  Did He seem distant, uncaring, seemingly unphased by your life's circumstances?  What did you learn from that?  How did God answer your "do you not care" question?

-"Why are you so scared?"  If we all believe that God hasn't changed and that He is in control, then why do we react the way that we do?  (Negative reactions are ultimately a result of forgetting who God is.  Sometimes we forget what He has done in our lives in the past, we forget the promises He made us in Scripture, we forget what He's capable of doing.)

-How does "knowing who He is" change our faith?  If knowing who Jesus is makes such a big difference in our lives and our faith, then what do our next steps need to be?  (telling others who he is by sharing your Jesus story, reminding ourselves daily what He has done by spending time in the Word, praying daily to hear from God and have our faith recharged).