If you missed Sunday Oct 3 2016’s message, you can listen to it by clicking here.
Read Mark 5:21-43 together as a group.
- What jumped out to you as you read the story? Why?
- Talk about Jairus. What details does Mark provide us about Jairus? What lessons can we learn from Jairus as he approached Jesus?
- Talk about the woman who touched Jesus’ cloak. What details does Mark provide us about this woman? Considering what the OT Law taught, what do you think life would have been like for this woman for the past 12 years?
- In what ways are we sometimes like this woman? (i.e. filled with shame, feeling like we aren’t good enough etc…). Can you personally relate to this woman? How?
- What is the significance of Jesus’ words to this woman in verse 34, when he said “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”
- “Daughter” – The only place Jesus uses this title in all of the Gospels. What is the significance of this from the woman’s perspective? How does the Good News of Jesus change our identity?
- “You faith has made you well” – Describe this woman’s faith. What kind of faith does Jesus reward?
- “Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” How does Jesus provide peace (shalom – holistic healing) to OUR souls? Spiritually? Emotionally? Physically?
- Where do you sense that you need to experience this kind of healing in your own life?
- Notice in Verse 37 that Jesus stopped the crowd after the little girl had already passed away. Why do you think he didn’t stop the crowd sooner, allowing him to get to the little girl sooner?
- Has God ever tested your faith like this in some way (i..e waiting until it was “too late” – from a human perspective – to come through)? How did God use that experience to grow your faith?
- What is the significance of Jesus’ words to the little girl in the face of death in V41, “Little girl, get up!”
- What does this reveal to us about the power of Jesus?
- Jeff challenged us to have a “desperate faith” – Not a faith that clings to certitude, but a faith that desperately clings to Jesus and places our trust in him.
- What do you think a “desperate faith” looks like for you? Would you use the word “desperate” to describe your current faith condition?
- Why is it that God so often uses “desperate circumstances” in life to make us more and more desperate for Christ? How have you experienced this in your own life?
- How many you grow in your sense of desperation for Christ? What next steps have you sensed God inviting you to take through this message?
