DEEPER Questions

Go through these questions in your LifeGroup or on your own to Dig Deeper into
Sunday's message

1. Rodney opened the message with a story about a leper colony in India. A common response when we're faced with a group of diseased people like lepers is to think they just want something from Jesus. They don't really want Jesus for who he is, instead they just want to be healed of whatever is ailing them. There's probably some truth to that, but how do you think you would respond in a similar situation? What if your skin and limbs were falling off, how would you approach Jesus? 

2. In this chapter Jesus shifts from teaching to the masses to ministering to the minority. He has his core group of 12 and he chooses to disciple them like family. Is there a core group in your own life that you're pouring into and that pour into you? Why do you think Jesus chose to make this shift from everyone to a specific group with this parable? 

3. The parable of the sower is probably one a lot of us have heard before, but even Jesus notes that this story in particular is super important. He says that if we don't understand this parable that we won't understand any of the ones after. Why do you think he says that about this specific story? What do you think is so key to understanding and living out the parable of the sower? 

4. Walk through the four different types of soil (thorny, rocky, bird-invested, and healthy) in your group or on your own. What do they each represent in someone's life? Have you seen examples of these different types in your own life or in the lives of people around you? Why do you think this parable still hits the nail on the head when it comes to God's Word and how we respond to it even thousands of years later? 

5. Rodney said this towards the end of his sermon: "I've never in my life seen someone turn away from their faith that makes a concentrated effort to dig into the Word of God." Do you agree with this statement? How has the Word of God changed or affected your own relationship with Jesus? 

6. One of the key points from the message is this: there has to be a yield. We're saved into action, not just saved into absorbing more information. What do you think that means? Why do you think producing a yield, not just absorbing the seed, is the key component to this parable? What does "producing a yield" look like in your own life or the lives of those around you? 

DIG INTO Scripture

Read and meditate on Sunday's Scripture to find deeper meaning and connection to God

Mark 4:1-9, 

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[a] 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

LEAVE THE BUILDING 

Take what you learned on Sunday and apply it to your life 

• Rodney's first application point from this message was that the seed is not the problem. If the seed is not the problem, what is the problem? How can you create an environment in your own life for the seed to grow?
• The parable of the sower doesn't mean anything unless there's a yield from the seed. In what ways have you seen a yield in your own life? What other examples of yields do you hope to see in the days, weeks, and years to come? 
• Sunday's message ended with an example from the documentary The Social Dilemma. This documentary shows how social media is a key ingredient in the polarization we're seeing in our society today. Rodney challenged us to turn down the noise and distractions that are leading to a church that is becoming more and more polarized. How can you turn down the noise in your life this week? Challenge yourself to spend more time in the Word of God this week than you do on social media. 

PICK UP A BOOK

Looking for another way to Dig Deeper into the Mark sermon series?
Read more about being a disciple of Jesus in Jeff Vanderstelt's awesome book, Saturate!

PURCHASE SATURATE

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