WEEK 1: Holy Week: Palm Sunday
April 5 Matthew 21:1-17
WEEK 2: The Resurrection: Our Living Hope
April 12 1 Peter 1:3-5
Endless Surrender | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Hebrews 4:12 • Philippians 3:8-11 • Titus 3:3-8
Son of Man | Grace Church Worship | iTunes
Matthew 26-27 • Isaiah 53
Once For All | CityAlight | iTunes
Romans 6:10 • Hebrews 10:19-22 • 1 Peter 3:18 • Revelation 4:11
Lamb of God | Vertical Worship | iTunes
John 1:29 • Hebrews 4:14-16 • Romans 6:5-11
There Is a Fountain | Grace Church Worship | Apple Music
Zechariah 13:1 • John 1:29 • Hebrews 9:12-14
Never Be the Same | People & Songs | Apple Music
John 4:13-14 • 2 Corinthians 5:17 • Romans 8:11
What a Savior | Hillsong Worship | Apple Music
John 9:35-39 • Psalm 71:14 • Psalm 149:4
Singing in the Victory | Austin Stone | Apple Music
John 14:27 • 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 • Romans 8:35-39
Behold | Grace Church Worship | Apple Music
Philippians 2:6-11 • 1 Peter 3:18 • Isaiah 53:3-5 • Revelation 19:11-16
How have you acknowledged Palm Sunday and Holy Week in the past? What is new to you about it from the teaching?
Read Isaiah 62:10-12, Zechariah 9:9, and then Matthew 21:1-5. Read Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:8-11, and then Matthew 21:12. How are Matthew’s references to Old Testament prophecy encouraging to you or strengthening to your faith?
For the disciples, Jesus is their only hope. For the crowd, Jesus represents an opportunity for their life to be improved. And for the religious leaders, Jesus is a threat to their false sense of control.
Who is Jesus for you? What category from Matthew 21 do you fall under—disciple, crowd, or religious leader?
Read 1 Peter 3:15. In what practical way can you willingly acknowledge the holiness of God this week? What answer do you have for anyone who asks about the hope that you have?
The holiness of God is impositional—regardless of your religion, culture, circumstances, or whether you acknowledge it or not. He is holy because of who he is. He is ultimately set apart and completely other from us.
Jesus reveals himself as both the great prophet and the great king. In just these 17 verses, he fulfills the prophecies of Isaiah 62:10-12, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 56:7, and Jeremiah 7:8-11.
While the crowds declare Jesus as Messiah, he knows these are the people who will ultimately reject him, knowing that his path to enthronement will lead to the cross.
Jesus goes into the temple and clears it out, declaring it a “den of thieves” as the religious leaders use the sacred temple for profit.
Jesus is holy, not just to us because we are Christians, but because he is ultimately Holy—Holy over all.
Our capacity for self-deception and a sense of control is an extraordinary and distinguishing characteristic of our culture.
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Read Philippians 1:20-24. Do your life and thoughts reflect the same freedom as Paul? How so?
Paul has one motivation: to honor Christ. How does he describe what that would look like for both his life and his death? Can you say the same for your life and death? Why or why not?
Read 1 Peter 1:3-5. What are your thoughts about being “up next” for the resurrection? Do you feel the tension between believing that this world has more for you than the next and the comfort and victory in the hope of eternal life? How so?
Do you have faith that this resurrection is real? In what practical way have you experienced God’s protection through your faith? How has Jesus changed your soul and given you a new kind of hope and new view of your inheritance?
What does it look like for you to grow as a believer in Christ and live in a way that other people can see that you have a living hope?
Paul lives in freedom, unattached to this world, and entirely motivated in everything by honoring God. He truly does not care if he lives to serve others or dies to be with Christ, because in both he honors God.
We are “up next” for the resurrection through Jesus. Because of Jesus, we get a new life. We are regenerated and have the hope and inheritance of eternal life.
We can trust that the next world far surpasses this one and can be free to live with the sole motivation of honoring God.