BIBLE STUDY WORKSHEET 6
Ask about how small groups and mentoring relationships are going.
Pick some people to share testimonies with OT LG and with the seekers/fresh group.
Remind them about Ft. Lewis students coming in tonight.
Passage: John 11
3 Components of a Small Group: How will you include these each week?
1.
Spiritual Growth – Studying scripture together will be a significant part of our small groups and will grow our relationship with God and with each other. We will learn to apply the lessons we’ve learned in the scripture to our every-day lives in personal and creative ways.
2.
Fellowship – Community building, relationships, getting people talking, caring and praying with each other.
3.
Outreach – As a small group we will seek to keep an outward focus even as we grow closer together in fellowship. We will look for ways to invite and include others, reach out to and pray for non-believers, and serve our communities in significant ways.
I.
Creative ice-breaker question or community building activity:
II.
Pray
III.
Present background/intro passage:
The last two weeks of bible study we’ve been looking at different miracles Jesus performed and how people responded to them. There were diverse reactions; some believed and some rejected Jesus as God’s Son. This week we will look at his greatest miracle of all and how it sets the stage for his own death.
IV.
Tell the Story of John 11:1-19
Why doesn’t Jesus go right away to his sick friend Lazarus?
How would you feel if you were his sisters?
V.
Read John 11:20-54 out-loud together and share
VI.
Individual Time to read text (5 min or so):
Hand out markers pens
Have them write down observations, repetitions, themes, anything interesting or any questions they have.
VII.
Share Group Observations and Questions:
Make sure you bring up key points or questions if the group doesn’t.
Observations:
Light/daylight, see/signs/God’s glory again are themes
Resurrection and rise again vs. death and life vs. death
Love and other emotions a common theme
Jesus: loves, stays, saw, wept, is angry, prays, yells…IS Resurrection LIFE
Believe and unbelief are central topics and responses to this miracle
Grief/death/loss abandonment/rejection

VIII.
Answer questions together:
1.
What are the different emotions displayed in this story? Concern for a sick brother. Jesus love and friendship with the family. Confusion from the disciples.
Anger/sorrow/grief/confusion from the sisters about why Jesus didn’t come right away and over the loss of their brother. Faith and belief from the sisters/witnesses. Anger and troubled state of Jesus. Fear from the Jewish ruling council.
2.
Can you relate to anyone’s emotions in this story? How?
3.
What is the significance of 4 days? What tribal customs or beliefs are there surrounding death and mourning? In Jewish culture it was believed that the soul stayed with the body until the 4 th day after death. Also, decomposition would start taking place at that point. He was really, really dead and no one there would have doubted it, even after seeing him raised back to life.
4.
Why would it be difficult to believe in Jesus after a tragedy like this?
5.
What role has faith played in the tragedies you’ve faced?
6.
What do you learn about Jesus and his response to tragedy? How can he bring you comfort in life’s difficulties? Jesus was not removed from suffering, tragedy and death in his life. He experienced the human emotions of love, loss and grief. He can relate to anything we go through in life, because he has experienced it too and came out victorious.
7.
What does resurrection life mean? Power over life and death. Power to create and power to bring back to life. Jesus not only has the power to control death and life, he himself is the source of all life.
8.
What are the different responses to this miracle? Many people believed, including Lazarus and his sisters. But others were afraid of his power.
9.
How does this miracle lead to Jesus own death? It causes so many to believe in Jesus as the Messiah that they Jewish council becomes afraid and intimidated to the point that they make a decision to have Jesus put to death.
IX.
Summarize main point of the passage:
Ask group to put main point in their own words, but be ready to share the main point to bring closure.
Jesus proves that he is resurrection life by raising a man from the dead after four days in a tomb. This miracle points towards the kind of power he would have over his own death, but also is the final reason that the Jewish leaders decide to put him to death.
X.
Application:
Find a creative way to do this as a group or in smaller pairs.
What grief/death/loss are you facing right now? (Figurative or real)
How is Jesus wanting to meet you there?
What would he say to you?
Reflect on these questions and Share in pairs and pray for each other .