Daily Discipleship Guide for 06-APR-2010

Mary Magdalene and the disciples were in disbelief when they first came to the empty tomb.  They were really kind of baffled and did not know what to do.  Even though they had heard the scriptures about Jesus rising after three days and had heard Jesus himself say this, they just didn't get it.

What about Easter do you not quite get?  What questions do you have for Jesus today?

In our personal experiences of resurrection, there is the element of surrender and of great vulnerability.  Mary was certainly vulnerable, weeping in fact, when she asked Jesus (presuming he was the gardener) where she could find her Lord.  But once she allowed him to speak, once she let go of her own agenda, she was able to see and hear from him.

What agendas for Jesus do you need to let go of?

IHN - Help Needed April 11 - April 18

We still need volunteers for our IHN host week April 11th - April 18th. 

Positions needed:
Overnight Saturday April 17th 9pm to 7 am
Breakdown - Sunday April 18th 7am to 8 am
Evening Host Sunday April 11th and Saturday April 17th 7-9pm
 
If you could help fill one of these positions, please call Krista Torrance at 886-5308 or email her at KristaTorrance@hotmail.com
Thank You!

Daily Discipleship Guide for 05-APR-2010

Theologian Stanley Hauerwas says, “We killed him who would work our redemption.  That is the worst thing that humankind could possibly do.  But the good news is that the God we crucified refused to hold this terrible sin against us.  Raising Jesus from the grave, God rejects our rejection.  Instead, God offers us the opportunity to become part of a new kingdom--of a new time…God has made it possible for us to freely respond to this love, [and] we become new creatures.” [Homiletics, 9/19/99]

There comes a dawn, a moment, where we “get it.”  With Easter Sunday we see the cost of the cross and the glory of the empty tomb.  On Friday all we could see was a bloody cross -- it was all for nothing -- but now, the world not only looks different, it is different!

Now we are the living reminders of the resurrection of Jesus.

What parts of your life are living reminders of the resurrection?

What still needs to be made new?

Daily Discipleship Guide for 04-APR-2010 (Happy Easter!)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb.  The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.  He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.  Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.  As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.  They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  For whom are you looking?”  Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary!”  She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.  But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”   Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20: 1-18

Daily Discipleship Guide for 01-APR-2010

I talked Sunday about trouble.  You have been reading about trouble and suffering this week.  Today, read Matthew 27:1-10 and answer the following questions.

What happens in verses 1-2?

What does Judas do in verse 3?  What does it mean to repent?

Write verse 4 on a piece of paper.

What does verse 4 mean to you?

What happens in verse 5?

Why did Judas not seek forgiveness and grace?

Summarize verses 6-10.

Have you been punishing yourself for something you have done?  Will you continue to punish yourself or seek forgiveness?

Please close this session by writing a prayer of thanksgiving to God for God’s grace.

Daily Discipleship Guide for 30-MAR-2010

Read Luke 22:32; Romans 15:2; and 1 Thessalonians 5:11.  What are the central messages of these verses?  Think of a time when you were able to help others as a result of suffering or difficulties that you had faced.  How did you offer your counsel or assistance?  How did God use you to do God’s good works?

In your own words, rewrite or explain this statement: “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.”  How is your faith changed and your relationship with God made new through your suffering and your struggles?

Through his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus turned the defeat of death into the victory of eternal life.  From your own life or the lives of others, give some examples where God’s grace was at work to turn defeat into victory.

Please close this session by offering a prayer of thanksgiving to God for seeing you through some troublesome times in your life.

*Portions of this study taken from The Cross Walk

Daily Discipleship Guide for 29-MAR-2010

Think about Judas, the person.  Why do you think he was chosen to be an apostle?  What characteristics do you think he possessed that led him to be chosen as the apostle’s treasurer?  How did Judas give up too early on Jesus?

Describe a time in your life when you gave up, failed to see a situation through, or didn’t work through your troubles.  What was the result?  Were you seeking God’s guidance at this time in your life?  In what ways was God guiding you?

Read Hebrews 2:17-18 and Hebrews 4:15-16.  How is Jesus able to offer us a special help and understanding – a new perspective – when we are tempted and face trouble?  Now read Isaiah 40:31.  What does this passage tell us about the healing power of God?

Please close this session by reading or singing the first and last verses of the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!  What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?  Take it to the Lord in prayer!  In his arms he’ll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.
 
*Portions of this study taken from The Cross Walk