After this week, our life group ministry will take a 3 week break for the holidays. Life groups can choose to continue meeting for some or all of those weeks. 

Life groups will resume after Sunday, January 7th.

Discussion Questions

  1. Is there a verse or passage of Scripture that is meaningful to you and has become part of who you are and how you live your life? 
  2. In our American culture, it is common for people to keep their faith private. Why do you think people do this? What are the risks or downsides of having a private faith?
  3. What does a healthy, public faith look like for us as Christians?

READ MARK 6:7-13, THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW

  1. What does this passage tell me about God and about people?
  2. If I believe today's teaching is from God and that He loved me so much He sent Jesus to die for me, what is the appropriate way to respond in my everyday life?
  3. Who can I talk to more about this or share this with?

Spend time sharing prayer requests as a group, and close your time in prayer together.

On Sunday, Sam talked about Jesus sending out his followers two by two to do powerful ministry on their own apart from him. As Christians, we cannot keep our faith private - because we know that God has sent us out into the world to represent Him and reach out to people around us in our everyday lives. Our lives should be a testimony to the truth of who Jesus is and how He loves them. 

Quote of the Week

Are you spending time with Jesus? Are you in His Word, are you opening this book saying “God, will you teach me and show me more of who you are?” One of the amazing things in opening the Bible is that it is a living book, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it will penetrate to your very soul. Don't read the Bible just for length such as reading the whole New Testament just to say you did it, because what truly matters in your walk with God is what you learned from it. It would be better to read a few verses and ask God to help you savor that Scripture and absorb it to become part of who you are as a Christian. - Pastor Sam

Scripture

  • Mark 6:7-13 (NLT): Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits. 8 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

  • James 5:14 (NLT): Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.

  • Mark 6:14-29 (NLT): 14 King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying,“John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
 16 But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead! 17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
21 Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” 23 And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” 24 She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. 25 At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27 So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, 28 and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. 29 On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.