"Your Biggest Need" Discussion Guide

INTRODUCTION

This week we looked at the final step into embracing a radical relationship with Jesus Christ: forgiveness.

So many times we come to God when a crisis happens with our health, when our comfortable life is disrupted, when our core relationships go haywire, or to ask God to grant us success in life. Many times God allows these events to happen in our life so that we will be driven to him. What's interesting is God's answer to our problems. He forgives us. We often want to bypass forgiveness and get to the real deal of healing our urgent problem. We fail to attach the power of forgiveness to our problem. We also fail to attach our sin to the problems we are facing.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Read Mark 2:1-5. What was the urgent need in this story? What urgent needs have you brought before God?

2. How does Jesus forgiving this man relate to his physical need?

3. Read Mark 2:6-7. For the "teachers of the law" Jesus' statement was too simple. Forgiveness to them was a complicated dance down at the temple. Many times we can make forgiveness complicated by thinking we have to be good enough to be forgiven. Why do we think this way?

4. Read Mark 2:8-9. React to this quote, "To experience the personal love of Jesus we have to allow him to forgive us." Why is forgiveness such a big deal to Jesus?

5. Read Mark 2:10-12. How do problems we see today in marriages, children, schools, and work (to name a few) relate to sin? Bonus: Examine the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 and think of the consequences for disobeying them.

6. What are some strategies you could adopt to make the forgiveness of Christ apply to the problems of your life?

THINK ABOUT IT
Why do you participate in a faith community? Do you go becasue of the experience you have while there or because God has forgiven you through his one and only Son, Jesus?

CHANGING YOUR MIND
"Some men came, bringing to him (Jesus) a paralytic,... When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Mark 2:3,5 (NIV)