Small Group Notes for 19th January 2025
N.B. Sermon can be heard via our website and YouTube channel and the Paper Service version is on our website.
Read and Reflect: Isaiah 53:1-6 and Mark 9:14-29
Questions:
- Jesus demonstrates compassion in his question in verse 21. What do we believe and know about Jesus’ compassion?
- The father struggles with his belief that Jesus can heal. What do we believe about Jesus’ ability to heal?
- Have we a testimony about healing – a time when there was healing, or a time there was not?
- No scripture should be taken isolation, what do we know about why God might, or might not heal? (See 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
- This story, whilst undoubtably a real event, can also be an illustration of how the world and God are. The world is deaf to God’s world and powerless to respond. Some coming seeking Jesus
- The disciples failed to drive out the demon – they’d been sent previously to great effect (see Mark 6:7-13), but this time they were not ‘sent’, and did not seem to seek God, that is, pray. What might we learn from this?
- Who can we pray for now for healing? Pray!
- There are many like the child deaf to God’s word, many are living lives they believe they control, but they are wrong! Some come seeking God, but often the church puts them off – like the mistaken disciples to the father. However, God finds them and helps them find healing.
- Pray for forgiveness for the times when we, as individuals, as a church, or as the church, have put people off.
- Pray for an opportunity to help people come to Jesus and receive healing for their souls.