Bottom Line:

Sacrifice and obedience count the most.

Jesus wants me to count differently as I follow Him.

Jesus is looking and waiting for me to sacrifice.

The amount matters less than the sacrifice.

START TALKING

When have you experienced the reality that obedience or sacrifice is what really counts because of how special something or someone made you feel? Maybe it was a gift that someone gave you or something that somebody did for you, and the amount isn't what made it special to you?

When have you given something to someone or done something for someone and it was all you had to give even if the amount wasn't very much? How did that feel and what motivated you to give all you had?

START THINKING

Read Mark 12:41. Think of all the things that Jesus could have been doing at this point. What do you think it means that Jesus took time to sit down and watch the generosity of those in the Temple instead of any of those things? What does this teach us about the importance of generosity?

Read Mark 12:42-43. Jesus makes a bold claim in verse 43 considering the actual amount that was given by each person. How did the widow give more than all the others? Read 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 and use the principle from these two verses to help answer that question.

START SHARING

When you began to follow Jesus, or as you follow Jesus more closely, how do you notice that what matters to you - or what you seem to count - changes to be more like what matters to Jesus? Read Matthew 16:24. How have you experienced what it means to do these two things:

- Take up your cross?
- Follow Jesus?

What sacrifices have you had to make to be obedient to Jesus as you follow him? How has this made you more like Him and more like someone from the "Kingdom of Heaven" as you have followed Him?

Living in East Tennessee brings natural cultural behaviors and expectations as a result: an assumption that school starts in the fall and ends in the Spring, a certain accent, an expectation that there is no work or school on certain holidays, etc. What are the cultural behaviors and expectations that will come as a result of following Jesus? What would the "accent of Heaven" be as we follow Jesus?

START DOING

If sacrifice and obedience are what count more than the amount of what we give to Jesus, what is holding you back from doing either? What do you sense the Spiring is leading you to sacrifice so that you can look more like Jesus? Where do you sense the Sprit calling you to obedience as you follow him?

The result of sacrifice and obedience throughout church history has been each of us having the opportunity to know more about Jesus. What will be the result if each one of us obey and sacrifice? What will be the result if we do not?

START PRAYING

Pray for each person and what each member of the micro church shared is how God is leading and calling you to sacrifice and obey. Pray that the ripple effect of this obedience and sacrifice will impact many generations while also impacting each of our lives as we become more and more like Jesus each and every day.