Blog — Trinity Grace Church

Walking The Way of Jesus

March 23: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Mark 1: 29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Walking the Way of Jesus | Exploring the Practices of Jesus

  • Withdrawing in Prayer

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • What is your first impressions about fasting? 

  • Have you fasted before?

    • What was your experience? 




  •  "If we knew what happened when we prayed we would pray all the time."

  • This highlights these two broad aspects of prayer

    • What we see and experience or think or feel as we pray, what happens that we are aware of.

    • And what happens that we aren't aware of, that is hidden, sometimes draped in mystery, responses or answers to prayer, changes in other places, or over time that we don't see?



  • We want to ask and answer this question: What does prayer do?

  • People ask does prayer work? And what we often mean is WILL I GET WHAT I ASK FOR IN PRAYER?

  • This is the measure of a good negotiation. “Did I get what I want?” 

  • And thats not an unimportant question, but there may be a better one... DOES CONVERSATION WORK?

  • We have seen Jesus fasting, we have seen Jesus resisting temptation, and today we see Jesus Withdrawing in Prayer

  • Jesus made a priority to talk and listen to the Father. 

  • Jesus made a priority to get away and to commune with the Father.

  • Jesus made a priority to let prayer direct his life and ministry. 

  • Right before the passage we read, we see this:

    • “The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him. 28 News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.” 

      – Mark 1: 27-28

    • Jesus is having success. Jesus has been through an exhausting day. Jesus knows the feeling of having to be “on” all the time.

    • And so…

      • “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.”

        – Mark 1: 35

  • Threats to our spiritual life

    • To base our identity on vocational achievement 

      • “Jesus before any miracles had begun his public ministry hearing the Father say “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.

    • The crippling of our lives by distraction 

      • Withdrawing in prayer is a way to pay attention. To God, to your relationships, to the world 

    • But many of us are becoming wondrously accomplished at things that don’t matter

    • The uncontested inner monologue of shame and lack

      • One of the most crucial things we encounter in prayer is just how much God loves us. 

      • Without that we can often slip back into an inner monologue of shame and deficit, of past mistakes and future worry.

      • Many of us are in a fight with voices of shame.

        • Withdrawing in prayer is a rebellion against shame


  • “The most important discovery you will ever make is the love the Father has for you. Your power in prayer will flow from the certainty that the one who made you likes you, he is not scowling at you, he is on your side.  Unless our mission and our acts of mercy, our intercession, petition, confession, and spiritual warfare begin and end in the knowledge of the Father’s love, we will act and pray out of desperation, determination, and duty instead of revelation, expectation, and joy.”

    – Pete Grieg

  • The exhaustion of prideful self-sufficiency

    • Somewhere along the line some of us picked up a deadly weakness disguising itself as strength 



  • Each of these threats …

    • Basing our identity on our achievement 

    • The pervasiveness of distraction 

    • Our inner monologues of shame 

    • Or pride and self- sufficiency and the exhaustion that comes with it 

  • These are the very things we press back against when we get on our own to pray.

  • We offer these to God. We invite God in. We hear God speak in these areas. We often experience a kind of reset. 


  • So Look at Jesus’ pattern 

    • Very early in the morning (there may be sacrifice in making time to pray)

    • Left the house | Solitary place (there may need to be some intentionality in location) 


  • “God alone knows the selfish motives behind my every act, the vipers’ tangle of lust and ambition, the unhealed wounds that paradoxically drive me to appear whole. Prayer invites me to bring my whole life into God’s presence for cleansing and restoration. Self-exposure is never easy, but when I do it I learn that underneath the layers of grime lies a damaged work of art that God longs to repair.”

    – Philiip Yancey



  • We can guess what He prayed

    • The Lords Prayer 

    • The Psalms

    • From His own heart for Himself - John 17

    • For others - John 17 

  • You can pray this way

    • Remember who you are 

    • Pray through what you want

    • Adjust how you live in response to God’s love

      • Identity 

      • Desires 

      • Rhythms 



  • What would need to happen for you to move your understanding of prayer to move from fixing things to conversation? 



  • Rate yourself 1-10: (1=not vulnerable at all, 10=totalaly vulnerable, I’m toast)

    How vulnerable are you to these threats:

    • Basing our identity on our achievement 

    • The pervasiveness of distraction 

    • Our inner monologues of shame 

    • Or pride and self-sufficiency and the exhaustion that comes with it 

  • What is your vulnerability score out of 40? 


  • How can you adjust your prayer life to mitigate these vulnerabilities? 


  • “Maybe we are becoming wondrously accomplished at things that don’t matter”

    • Ask God to help guard against this. 


PARENTS:

  • Ask your kids: 

    • What do you think is the purpose of prayer? 

    • What happens when we pray?

    • Why is it difficult to pray sometimes?

March 16: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Matthew 4: 1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
    and they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Walking the Way of Jesus | Exploring the Practices of Jesus

  • Resisting Temptation

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • What is your favorite movie? 

  • Why is it so valuable to you? 

  • What about it, do you want everyone to experience? 


  • The stories we repeat help us know who we are

  • Certain stories have a disproportionate influence on our lives if we have believed the Gospel and become followers of Jesus.

  • Jesus is tempted, and He resists.


  • We live in a world that philosophically muses whether sin is really a thing? 

  • And it often seems intelligent or sophisticated to suggest that sin is just a construct we’ve made up. 

  • But also if most of us are honest we struggle to keep up even our own standards all of the time, let alone Gods.

  • It’s a deeply human question to ask 

    • How do I keep from doing something I don’t want to do?

    • Why do I break my promises to myself and others about how I’m going to live?

    • How come even if I throw out the rule book or change the lines, I still have a sense of dis-ease?


  • “What I and most other believers understand by the word [SIN]…has got very little to do with yummy transgression. For us, it refers to something much more like the human tendency, the human propensity to f(oul) up. Or let’s add one more word: the human propensity to f(oul) things up, because what we’re talking about here is not just our tendency to lurch and stumble and screw up by accident, our passive role as agents of entropy. 

    It’s our active inclinations to break stuff, ‘stuff’ here including moods, promises, relationships we care about, and our own well being and other people’s, as well as material objects whose high gloss positively seems to invite a big fat scratch. Now, I hope we’re on common ground. In the end, almost everyone recognizes this as one of the truths about themselves. You can get a long way through an adult life without having to acknowledge you own personal propensity; maybe even all the way through, 

    if you’re someone with a very high threshold of obliviousness, or with the kind of disposition that registers sunshine even when a storm is howling all around. But for most of us the point eventually arrives when, at least for an hour or a day or a season, we find we have to take notice of our HPtFtU (as I think I’d better call it)”

    – Francis Stufford

  • Consider the ways that you experience temptation.


  • How Jesus gets out there to be tempted

  • How Jesus resists temptation

  • How can you and I resist temptation?



  • He is led by the Spirit.


  • Facing temptation doesn’t mean we are not loved. 

  • It means we live in a broken world and that its a contested space. 


  • Flesh - internal struggle with selfishness and sin, the pull to be our own god, go our own way, our personal contribution to the brokenness of this world 

  • World - the way culture bends away from God, the stories, messages, powers, and norms that enforce a way of life apart from God. These are can get engrained in systems of injustice and oppression. So we have personal and systemic evil 

  • Devil - but we also have real spiritual entities that are the enemy of the ways of God. We will contending with actual temptation, accusation, and deception (just as we see here)


  • These temptations are all things Jesus needs. 

  • And they are all deeply connected to His vocation and purpose. 

    • Temptation for His body and appetites (being take care of)

    • Temptation around being seen for who He really is - approval, recognition

    • Temptation around what He has come to redeem and receive - status, significance, purpose


  • Jesus is loved and led by the Spirt 

  • Jesus needs the things being offered

  • So what is the issue? They are being offered in a false way, a short cut, not from the Father way.


  • “You will be tempted exactly as Jesus was, because Jesus was being tempted exactly as we are. You will be tempted with consumption, security, and status. You will be tempted to provide for yourself, to protect yourself, and to exalt yourself. At the core of these three is a common impulse – to cast off the Fatherhood of God.”

    – Russell Moore

  • Sin is trying to meet the deep needs of our life out of our own resources without God.

  • This matters because we lose touch with the source of life.

  • And we lose the sense of relational connection to God. THE LOVE.


  • How Jesus resists temptation

    • First Temptation | Stone to bread

      • Jesus answered with scripture

      • Eve: She saw the fruit was good for food, pleasing the eye, and desirable to make one wise.

        • It was a way to get what you need in your own way.

    • Second Temptation | Throw Yourself down (and be caught)

      • Basically go to a very public and prominent place and do an undeniable sign to show people who you really are

      • And this time the devil uses Scripture. So this has to clue us in that not every time we see Scripture used is it being handled rightly or used with God-centered motives. 

        • We need discernment from the Spirit and soaking in God’s word. We can ask “What is the Spirit of what is being said using the Word.

      • Jesus answers with scripture

      • Again, the temptation is ‘get something you need in a short cut way’ with you being in control.

    • Third Temptation | The glory of the world for worship

      • The question is what will have your deepest allegiance, greatest affection, and devotion?

      • Jesus answers with scripture (aggressively) 


  • From Jesus’ example we can see…

    • Temptation will have its limits

    • God will send comfort

  •  How can you and I resist temptation?

    • Trust God to Know and Meet Our Needs

    • Trust God’s Varying Timelines of Satisfaction

    • Know the Story 

    • Replacement Over Only Avoidance 

    • Two Types of Resistance - In the Moment and Ongoing Formation




PARENTS:

  • Ask your kids to identify times they feel tempted 

  • Illustration: taking what I want now, compared to waiting for God’s reward

March 9: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Matthew 3:16 – 4:2

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Friends of God | The Kingdom of God Moving Along Lines of Friendship in the Life of Jesus

  • Exploring the Practices of Jesus | Fasting

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • What is your first impressions about fasting? 

  • Have you fasted before? What was your experience? 




  • This world, in some very real ways, is truly broken. Sometimes the pursuit of only comfort does not align with reality. 

  • Sometimes the pursuit of only comfort blinds me and numbs to what is really happening with others, with God, and with myself.

  • There will be times we will meet God and our neighbor in discomfort. 

  • The Gospels tells us Jesus has come to be forgiveness and salvation for all who believe and bring us into the Kingdom of God, and yet Jesus works for 30 years in almost total obscurity and when He starts His public ministry HE STARTS WITH A FAST

  • We see He is led and filled by The Holy Spirit. 

  • And we hear the Voice of the Father’s love and affirmation. 

  • From that place of secure love, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness where He fasts and prays for 40 days.

 

  • Jesus teaches on fasting in the Sermon on the Mount

    • Look at what he says…

      “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
      – Matthew 6: 16-18

  • When you fast (not if you fast) 

    • Actually there are three things right in a row in the Sermon on the that Jesus says “When you” do this, make sure you do it this way.

      • When you give to those in need

      • When you pray

      • When you fast

  • Practice in secret. Don’t post about it. 

    • And in each one, your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  • In Mark 9 and Matthew 17 there is a story of a father who brings his son, who is suffering terribly, to the disciples.

  • And then Jesus comes and tells the father to have faith. The father famously and very relatably says “I believe. Help me overcome unbelief.”

  • And at the end of the moment, Jesus’ disciples ask why they couldn’t cast out the demon and Jesus says.

    • This kind only come out by prayer (and fasting).

  • I think it’s safe to say the issue here is faith. Jesus says as much. Not how many hours someone has done a spiritual discipline to earn God’s attention or power.

  • But also right along side that Jesus knows that there is little else in the world that can grow your faith and sense of authority in Christ like the combination of fasting and prayer.

  • Jesus knew the power of fasting and prayer to attune us to the Father, the Father’s Voice, and the Father's Will.

  • We fast to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. 

  • We deliberately say I will be weak in the flesh so my Spirit will be strong in God.

  • We pray with our body – I am hungry for you God.

  • We fast to say no to our bodies, minds, and will that insists we can do things on our own. The New Testament calls this very human operating system THE FLESH.

  • During Lent we are going to be looking at 5 specific practices of Jesus that we can take up as followers of Jesus before we get to Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

    • Fasting in grief and petition (as David does for an ill son) 

    • Fasting in repentance - to turn back to God (as we see in the city Nineveh)

    • Fasting in desperation and for favor (with God and others as in Esther) 

    • Fasting to prepare (Jesus shows us this) 

    • Fasting has a promised reward (Jesus teaches this)

    • Fasting for breakthrough, deliverance, healing (Jesus shows us this) 

  • Communion - we fast to commune with God not simply to communicate our needs 

  • Promises - we fast to step into and be more aware of all that God is offering us by intentionally becoming aware of our need 

  • Reward - our reward is God Himself but we also will see many changes in our lives as we learn to fast and pray.

HOW TO FAST: 

  • Begin by praying and asking God to guide you. (Use Wisdom and Gospel) - God doesn’t love you more because you fast.

  • Choose a time to give up food. One Meal, One Day. Three Days, One Week. Ten Days. 40 days.

  • Start small. 

  • Fast from to Feast On.

    • “God has given us incredible tools, practices, and disciplines to help our whole beings on our journey of maturing into Christlikeness. Fasting is a preparatory tool that helps us pray as we ought to. In fact, fasting is never really mentioned in the Bible outside the context of prayer. In humbling our souls (our reasoning agents), fasting elevates our spirits, through which we commune and communicate with God. There is truly a grace for prayer released when we fast.”

      – Reward Sibanda

  • Use your hunger as a prompt.

WHAT TO EXPECT?

  • Hunger 

  • Irritability 

  • Discomfort

  • Concentration and Ease in Prayer 

  • Sensitivity to God’s Presence 

  • Discernment 

  • Calm 

  • Over Time, Resilience

PARENTS: 

  • How can you help your kids understand fasting? 

  • What is something they can fast from and how can you replace that with a feasting on Jesus practice?