HOW TO USE THIS DISCUSSION GUIDEAs you lead the discussion, we follow a discipleship framework that helps move us from learning to transformation: Head → Heart → Hands → Share → Check-In
Leader Reminder: There are multiple questions in each section. Leaders should prepare ahead of time and use discernment to choose the questions that best serve their group. The goal of this discussion is not just conversation but transformation. Encourage participation, honesty, and practical obedience.
ICE BREAKER
- What is something you assumed about a person that turned out to be completely wrong?
- When you need help with something important, are you more likely to ask right away or try to figure it out yourself?
- If you could instantly become great at one spiritual practice, which would you choose and why?
SERMON RECAP
In Mark 11, Jesus enters Jerusalem as King, but He immediately challenges expectations. First, He enters the city on a borrowed donkey, and then He enters the temple and forcefully confronts the corruption that had turned God's house into a place of exploitation rather than prayer. Through His rebuke, Jesus elevates the temple's purpose as the place where people from all nations can come and connect with God.
While the temple was once the place where people met with God, followers of Jesus are now God's temple through the Holy Spirit. Because of that, Jesus' call is not simply for churches to prioritize prayer but for His people to become people of prayer. Through Jesus' teaching in Luke 11, we are challenged to move beyond timid, cautious prayers and approach God with humble confidence and "shameless audacity." He invites us to ask and keep asking, trusting in His goodness and power and believing that He delights to respond.
SCRIPTURE
READ: Mark 11:15–19
HEAD
What does the scripture show?
- What stands out to you about what Jesus found when He entered the temple and how He responded to it? What surprises you or raises questions about this encounter?
- What do the actions of the people in the temple reveal about the tendency of the human heart?
- What do Jesus' actions and words reveal about God's heart and His desire for people?
- What does Jesus say is the purpose of the temple and what does His concern for the temple reveal?
HEART
What do we believe?
- This account challenges the image many people have of Jesus. How does this passage deepen or change your understanding of who Jesus is?
- Scripture teaches that we are now God's temple through the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). How does this truth change the way you seek Him?
- When you think about prayer, what emotions or experiences come to mind? What helps or hinders you from approaching God with confidence and expectation?
HANDS
Practice Together in Community
- What is one thing God is inviting you to believe, do, or change because of this passage?
- Where in your life right now do you need to stop bringing God an "espresso cup" and start bringing Him a "bucket"? What bold prayer needs to be prayed?
- Who in your life has a desperate need? How will you pray with shameless audacity for them this week?
Complete this sentence: "This week, I will live out this sermon by __________."
SHARE: MISSION
Living Out the Message This Week
- Who will you share this takeaway with this week?
- Who will you intentionally pray for this week?
NEXT WEEK CHECK-IN
- Encourage the group to return next week ready to share how they practiced the HANDS step and how they lived out the SHARE: MISSION step.
- Ask, what is one takeaway from your study of this past week's chapter in Mark?
PRAYER
- Thank God that through Jesus we can approach Him with confidence, knowing He is good and welcomes us into His presence.
- Ask God to help us become people who pray with faith, persistence, and shameless audacity.
- Pray bold “bucket prayers” for each other’s specific needs.
- Pray that God would awaken a deeper culture of prayer throughout Vox and use His people to bring spiritual renewal across New England.
OTHER SCRIPTURE
Luke 11:1–13, Hebrews 4:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Peter 4:7, Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11