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Summary of this week’s material: Jesus taught His disciples IN THE WAY, as they journeyed ALONG THE WAY to the cross where He would BECOME THE WAY!

How to use it: After watching/listening to this week’s message, from April 3, 2022, use the questions to go deeper into the message, with your group…or on your own. The questions will introduce you to the topic, reflect content from the sermon, go ‘Beyond the Message’, & get you thinking about practical applications for your life.

1. How many questions do you think you ask in the course of a day?  Think of a number and share with the group.  How many of these questions do you think are casual, information seeking, rhetorical, or sarcastic?

2. Define what a rhetorical question is (use the internet if necessary). Why do you think these are considered to be such good teaching tools?

   a.     Review each of the following passages and consider God’s purpose in asking each one: Gen 3:6-11 (v.9); Gen 4:3-9 (v.9); 1 Kings 19:1-17 (v.9, 13)

3. In Mark 10:35-37, James & John make a request of Jesus and he replied with a question.

   a.     How would you have responded to the request of James & John? (v.35)

   b.     Why do you think Jesus choose to answer the way he did? (v.36)

4. James & John were confident they would be able to handle the “cup” and “baptism” Jesus would endure (v.38-40) even though Jesus had just explained for the third time what they were on the way to (v.32-34).

   a.     Do you think the disciples were unable or unwilling to accept what Jesus was trying to explain to them? Why?

   b.     Who or what was the object of their ambition? Do you think ambition can make a person blind to information around them?

5. In 2 Corinthians 5:9, Paul says, “we also have as our ambition... to be pleasing to him.”

   a.     How do world’s ambitions differ from godly ambitions? Have a few people in your group share real-life examples of these that they have experienced.

   b.     How was Jesus’ ambition “pleasing to God?” (ref: Mark 10:45; Phil 2:6-11) 

   c.     How can a follower of Jesus achieve this in their life? (ref. Mark 10:42-44; Phil 2:3-5)