Stu Quackenbush // Rockford Campus // October 13, 2024
SMALL GROUP
DISCUSSION GUIDE
REMINDERS
MEMBERSHIP CLASS (Sun, Oct 13 – Rockford Campus; or Sun – Oct 20 – Ensley Campus)
When you become a member of Magnify, you take the next step of participation, ownership, and commitment to our mission of always making disciples. If you want to learn more about Magnify and how you can partner with us, email Sandy to register for the membership class at [email protected].
LEADER DEVELOPMENT CLASS (Sun. Oct 20, 6–7pm – Rockford Campus Room 300)
LDC starts this week! Come join fellow group leaders from various ministries to both get sharper and help sharpen others in faith. Whether you’ve led a group for 20 years or you’re just getting started, this class is open to all leaders young and old. No RSVP necessary.
Leaders: Please plan to attend 4 of these classes between Oct. 2024 through April 2025.
TOGETHER IN LIFE
This Sunday evening was our Fall Praise Service. What’s one hymn or worship song that comforts or encourages you when you are down and why? If a popular/secular song plays this role in your life, you can share that instead.
TOGETHER IN THE WORD
THIS WEEK’S KEY PASSAGE: Luke 9:10-17
Note: If you are meeting as a group, we encourage you to read the entire text together out loud.
Colored by Compassion
There are four Gospels about the life of Jesus, and sometimes details from one can help illuminate another. Here, Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus initially called the apostles away from the crowds to let them rest, and Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus accepted the crowds that pursued them because of His compassion for them.
QUESTIONS
- Sometimes hard experiences can make it a struggle to believe that God is compassionate. Where do you see God’s compassion in the world today? Have you witnessed or experienced it in the local church?
- On a scale of 1-to-10, how easy is it for you to show compassion to someone in need? Are you naturally compassionate or does it take significant effort?
Tired and Forgetful
When the day was ending and it was time for dinner, the disciples could only imagine sending people away to find food. Even when Jesus tells them they need to feed the people instead, the disciples are stuck in human categories of baking and buying bread. This after they have seen healings, resurrections, and even water turned to wine. Sometimes we are forgetful, too—especially when we are busy or tired.
QUESTIONS
- Make a list of 2–5 things that God has done in your life that are most worth remembering. Briefly share this list with one another. How do these help you remember who God is and what He is like?
- Are there any problems in your life right now where you feel stuck thinking in human categories? (If not, you can share an example from the past.)
- How might your prayers be different if you fully remembered the amazing things God has done in Scripture and in your life?
Jesus is Greater
In Luke’s Gospel, this passage comes in the context of the question “who is Jesus?” Immediately before and after, we read that the crowds thought Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected, Elijah returned from heaven, or another one of the great prophets of old. But John the Baptist was the promised Elijah, and he prepared the way for one greater: the Messiah. Jesus is not just a great teacher or miracle-worker, but the Savior. He is the wise shepherd-king who looks after His people.
QUESTIONS
- After this, Peter makes what has come to be known as “the Good Confession”: Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God. How often do you make this Good Confession to those who don’t know Him?
- Do you pray for those who don’t know Jesus is the Messiah? Are there any ways you might be stuck in human categories that limit what you believe God can do in people’s lives?
- The Gospel and compassion go together. Do you tend to lead with one and not the other? What can you do to supply what is missing?
TOGETHER IN ACTION
Our next steps as a church this week are to show compassion to others and to rest in Christ without worry. If there are situations you’ve identified where you need to be more compassionate—including the compassion of sharing the Gospel—help one another plan and pray for change in these areas.
TOGETHER IN PRAYER
Remember that the same God who had compassion on the crowds and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us on the cross—He is coming back. We look forward to His return, when we can feast with Him, experience His perfect rule and reign in the world, and enjoy the world the way it was meant to be, without sin and suffering. In the meantime, we experience God’s rule and reign in His Word, Spirit, and people.
As you pray together, pray in gratitude for the past, in expectation for the present, and in hope for the future.