CONVERSATION STARTERS

1. Read Mark 12:18-40.

2. God’s Authority & Our Response – The tenants in the parable rejected the owner’s rightful claim to the vineyard (Mark 12:1–8). What does this story reveal about our tendency to hold onto things as if they are ours rather than God’s? How do we recognize and submit to God’s authority in our lives?

3. The Owner Will Come Asking – The parable warns that God will eventually call his people to account (Mark 12:2). Does this idea bring a sense of urgency or encouragement to how you live? How can we ensure that when the Owner comes asking, we will be found faithful in what we’ve done with his gifts?

4. Hope in the Resurrection – Jesus affirms that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mark 12:27). How does this promise impact the way you view life, death, and eternity? In what ways can this truth bring peace and confidence in the face of uncertainty?

5. Jesus as the Ultimate Authority – The Sadducees attempt to trap Jesus with their assumptions, but He reveals a deeper truth (Mark 12:18–25). In what areas do you approach Scripture seeking to affirm your own view? How can we recognize this when it happens?

Title: Jesus Debates
Reference: Mark 12:18-40
Speaker: Brooks Nesse, BrooksN@cckc.church

The only game in which the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime, and ending with the hard facts of autumn. It is a haunted game, in which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before. Most of all, it is about time and timelessness. Speed and grace. Failure and loss. Imperishable hope. And coming home. ~ Ken Burns, Baseball

Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring. ~ Dallas Willard

Our investments should be signposts of the realities that the Kingdom has come…and that it will one day come in all its glorious fullness. ~ Amy Sherman

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. ~ St. Clare of Assisi