SERIES TITLE
Palm Sunday Weekend
sermon TITLE
“I Have Good News And Bad News” by Jake Barker
Weekend in review
We wrapped up our series “Love Where You Live” last week and our “21 Days of Serving” winds up on Sunday, April 2. Let’s keep loving, serving, and inviting because God wants to use all of us in His work of changing lives. We can make a difference when we love, serve, and invite! This weekend’s message helps us prepare our hearts for celebrating Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the forces of evil.
WARM-UP
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. Here are a couple of potential questions to get the conversation going.
- What are your plans for celebrating Easter next weekend?
- When someone says to you, “I have good news and bad news? Which do you want to hear first and tell us why?
DISCUSSion
Ask for volunteers in your group to read Bible verses from the lists below to answer the questions and guide your discussion time.
- To appreciate the Good News of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the grave, we first need to understand the bad news that required Jesus to sacrifice His life. Read the following “bad news” verses to learn what our spiritual condition was as a result of our sin.
- Isaiah 53:6
- Isaiah 59:2
- Ephesians 2:1-3
- 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 (regarding a future condition)
- Who needs to be concerned about this future spiritual condition?
- Look up the following verses to find out why Jesus went to the cross?
- What motivated God to provide Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for human sin and rebellion?
Application
- Crucifixion was such a horrible and painful death that a new word was used to describe the intense pain. “Crucifixion” is where we get our word “excruciating.” How does it make you feel that Jesus willingly endured the suffering of crucifixion because of His love for you?
- How many of your past, present, and future sins were paid for by Jesus’ death on the cross? See Colossians 2:13
- How does this make you want to respond to God’s love?
- He died so that you so would no longer live for yourself but instead live for Him who gave His life for you. (2 Corinthians 5:15) What are three specific ways you will live for Jesus?
wrap up | prayer
Share prayer requests and spend time praying for each other.