Date: March 16-17, 2013
Series: Fearless Generosity
Message: Give Up, Give In
Passage: Mark 14:32-36
INTRODUCTION – 5 MINUTES
What’s the most dangerous place in the world?
Leader note: Spend a few minutes letting people conjure up places they consider dangerous – what makes them dangerous? You could also ask what is the most dangerous place you’ve been?
Commentary: Some sample answers you may get would be: inner city neighborhoods, remote villages, prison, regret, isolation, war, junior high
OBSERVATION – 20 MINUTES
Read Mark 14:32-36. What is most dangerous place in the Bible/in this text? Why is it so dangerous place for Jesus?
Leader note: Look at all that Jesus faced – physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, etc.
Commentary: The Garden of Gethsemane, where God’s will is confronted, where God clearly calls and instructs us to move towards something
- Greatly troubled, horrified, in agony.
- Emotions are so overwhelming that he feels death coming.
- His humanity is on full display.
- A hard passage to accept, when else would a God show weakness?
- Fell to the ground
- Abba, father, intimate as if a child would call out to parent in distress. (Everything is possible for you, he had great faith, 100% faith, he knew fully what his father could do he walked closer with him than anyone ever can/could.
- Take this Cup.. Cup of God’s Wrath which our sins had filled.
- Perfect love must also react in wrath when acting against.
- Wrath, and suffering expresses in the absence of God’s presence, abandonment 3 times he asks God to take this cup from me!
- His fear is not just death but separation
- Your will not mine.
What do we do when our will/desire doesn’t match God’s? What did Jesus do?
That’s the most dangerous place in the world.
- Pray
- We can be honest, we can pray for change and not just tell him what we think he wants to hear.
- His response is honest intimate prayer that ultimate leads to surrender, costly generosity.
UNDERSTANDING – 20 MINUTES
Where have you seen costly/powerful surrender?
Leader note: Consider those who have faced incredible challenges and ultimately prayed for God’s will and surrendered their utmost desires and believed that what God wanted, had for them, was best, or at least came to the recognition that their will was short-sighted, based on limited knowledge of current situations and lack of knowledge of eternal meaning.
When have you surrendered something big to God? How have you heard God speak in those moments of surrender?
Leader note: Consider times you have wanted something so badly but instead of praying or asking specifically for the desires of your heart you opened up your heart to accept His will, even if different from your own. How did you hear affirmation of your surrender? Some ways people have cited are His Word, community, the Holy Spirit, a sense of more, hearts stirred, not everyone will agree, face up to your fears, confront what cause you to hold back
APPLICATION – 20 MINUTES
What are the places/things in your life God is you to surrender? What’s your dangerous moment/place of surrender?
Commentary: Surrender is absolutely necessary to experience all of Him and all that He has for you. The call to surrender your will for God’s will in costly/generous surrender is the most dangerous plea in the world. Your decision to ether go with him and surrender or your own way is the biggest one you’ll ever make, it’s every human’s defining moment. The human will/heart is the most negated thing. God calls for all we are, to gain his life we must lose ours.
LIVE IT OUT
What would change in your life if you were to completely surrender your desires and embrace God’s will? What would happen in our community if we all lived this way?
PRAY: AS YOU END YOUR TIME TOGETHER PRAY THE PRAYER OF YOUR GETHSEMANE. ASK GOT TO HELP YOU BREAK THE ATTACHMENT TO THOSE THINGS, RELATIONSHIPS, EXPECTATIONS, ETC., THAT GET IN THE WAY OF SURRENDERING COMPLETELY TO HIS WILL. PRAISE HIM FOR HIS ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE, ASK HIM TO REVEAL SOME OF ETERNITY TO YOU TO HELP YOU SURRENDER, AND PRAY FOR THE DESIRE TO LIVE FULFILLED AND GRATEFUL FOR A GOD WHO HAS GOOD AND PERFECT WILL FOR EVERY SITUATION YOU FACE.