APRIL 9

3 Days the Changed Everything

Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own or get together with your group, spiritual running partners, or family to talk through what you are learning.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Growing up, what was Easter about for you? When you think about Easter now, what is different and what is the same?
2. What stood out to you from the message?
3. Read Isaiah 53:1-9. This was written about Jesus’ life and death in 680 BC (hundreds of years before Jesus birth)
   • Make some observations about this passage (What does the text say?):
     • Who is talking?
     • What is the circumstance?
     • Any repeated phrases?
     • What surprised you?
     • What stood out to you?
   • Make some interpretations (What does the passage mean?)
     • What questions do you have?
     • Summarize the passage in 1-3 sentences – what are the main points?
     • What do you learn about the nature and character of God as you read this?
     • What do you learn about yourself and your choices?
   • Now make some applications (what’s my response?)
     • How do you respond to what you are reading?
     • How does this apply to your life?
     • What is the central truth that you could put into practice from this?
     • Who could you share this with for the sake of encouragement?
4. Read John 10:10-11. 

• Are there areas in your life that feel more dead than alive? You’re stuck in Friday, but you need Sunday to come? Are there places where you feel shut in the cold, damp tomb of life, something that seems too big for you to move? 

5. Read Luke 24:1-12, John 5:24, Romans 5:8, 2 Cor. 5:21

• In the ultimate exchange, Jesus’ died the death we deserved so that we might have the life He lived. He didn’t wait for humanity to finally get it right and clean ourselves up, but it was while we were in the depths of sin that He died. 
• Take some time to let that sink in. If you have trusted Jesus and  “passed from death to life” what keeps you holding on to things that He came to free you from? Spend some time talking to God, confess the things you are clinging to instead of Him, and ask for His help to walk in the newness of life He gives. 
• If you haven’t trusted Christ yet, this is your opportunity to come alive forever. Talk to Jesus, thank Him for dying your death and rising again so that you might have forgiveness and a restored relationship with Him. Invite Him to be the Lord of your life and ask for His help to follow Him   in all His ways. 

KEY SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 53:1-9 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he   had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

TAKE A NEXT STEP

If you just took the step of trusting Jesus for the first time, please fill out a connect card and let us know so that we can help you begin and grow in your journey of following Him. gatewaychurch.com/connect/

Want to continue learning about the life of Jesus? Head to gatewaychurch.com/gospelofjohn and join our reading plan with Eric Bryant. You will journey through the Gospel of John and learn from an eyewitness account of Jesus’ life as you tackle some of life’s biggest questions.

FOR THE PARENTS

THIS WEEK

This week, kids hear about Jesus’ death and resurrection.

• THE BIBLE: Jesus is alive today and every day!
• THE BIG IDEA: Matthew 27:45-28:10

ASK THIS

Because sometimes you and your kid need a conversation-starter that isn’t,

“So . . . how was church?”

• What does Jesus being alive mean for us?
• What can we do to “wake” others up about this wonderful news?

REMEMBER THIS

This month, your kids are memorizing the Bible verse

Luke 24:6a (NIV), in case you want to work on them together.

EC & Elem: “He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:6

NEXT WEEK

Next week, kids will hear about the time Jesus appeared to the disciples after coming back to life.