BECAUSE JESUS IS ALIVE
Click HERE to download & print a PDF version of this lesson!
AGENDA
- Welcome & Fellowship
- Open in prayer
- Go over the lesson (Below)
- Ask everyone “What is one thing you learned today?”
- Encourage all to give on the app
- Ask P12 leaders in your group how their meeting went last week (and remind them to take attendance on Friday)
- Ask for prayer requests and pray
SPECIAL CALL TO ACTION
#1- CREATE A 10 PERSON HIT LIST. (Create list pray over list and come with a intentional game plan to contact and follow up on)
QUESTION – Who on your list have you invited? Who do you still need to invite?
#2-INVITE ONE PERSON A DAY TO OUR EASTER SERVICES UNTIL EASTER.
#3- ATTEND ALL EASTER CELEBRATION SERVICES AND BRING SOMEONE WITH YOU. (Good Friday, Sunrise 6am, Resurrection Sunday 9am or 11am.)
#4- BRING A RESURRECTION OFFERING on April 4th.
#5- PERSONALLY SIGN UP AND SIGN UP ONE COUPLE TO THE 30 DAY MARRIAGE CHALLENGE.
LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE
“Leadership is visual. People need to not only hear from the leader, they need to see from the leader.” – John Maxwell
A great leader doesn’t just tell others how to do it, but they also show it in their actions. Let’s lead not just by our words. Instead, let’s lead by example everywhere we go with integrity and honesty. Let your life do most of the talking for you.
QUESTION – Why is it important for Godly leaders to understand this principle?
P12 LESSON
Today we’re going to talk about Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is a day we celebrate to honor Jesus as King and Savior! However, he didn’t make a grand entrance and some people in that time thought he’d arrive. He didn’t come on a horse to overthrow governments and take over countries. He came for a specific mission, with humility and love. Jesus came to give his life for us. Someone please read Matthew 21:1-9.
Matthew 21:1-9 (NLT) As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” 4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, 5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey riding on a donkey’s colt.’” 6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. 8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!”
QUESTION – Why is it so significant that Jesus rode on a donkey?
Someone read Matthew 20:18-19.
Matthew 20:18-19 (NLT) 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. 19 Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”
QUESTION – According to this scripture, what was Jesus mission in Jerusalem?
ANSWER: SUFFER AND DIE
QUESTION – WHY WOULD HE GO TO JERUSALEM IF HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO SUFFER AND DIE?
#1 – BECAUSE HE LOVED US.
John 15:13 (EXB) The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends; Jesus’ death is the ultimate expression of this principle].
The greatest expression of love is Jesus. He shows us that we can love others, even when they’re at their worst.
QUESTION – What ways can love someone by “laying down your life”?
#2 – BECAUSE THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY TO SAVE US FROM THE PENALTY OF OUR SIN.
The debt we owed for our sin was eternal suffering and death. It was a debt we couldn’t pay, but God loved us so much that he sent His Son to pay for our sins so that we could be forgiven, healed, and our relationship with God be restored. Look at Isaiah 53:4-6. Who wants to read that?
Isaiah 53:4-6 (ERV) 4 The fact is, it was our suffering he took on himself; he bore our pain. But we thought that God was punishing him, that God was beating him for something he did. 5 But he was being punished for what we did. He was crushed because of our guilt. He took the punishment we deserved, and this brought us peace. We were healed because of his pain. 6 We had all wandered away like sheep. We had gone our own way. And yet the Lord put all our guilt on him.
Sometimes we make the mistake of trying to pay for something that Jesus has already paid for. Or we try to earn God’s love and approval with our own human efforts. This can be called “religion.”
QUESTION – Have you ever felt like you had to work to earn God’s love and/or approval? How do you overcome this?
#3 – BECAUSE HE WANTED TO FORGIVE US OF OUR SINS AND RESTORE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US
Without forgiveness there is no restoration of relationship. God desires to have relationship with us more than anything. Jesus coming on a donkey was a sign of that. He did not come to declare war, but to save us. Please read 2 Corinthians 5:18-19.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (GW) 18 God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. 19 In other words, God was using Christ to restore “his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.
QUESTION – What does “relationship with God” look like for a Christian? How does this differ from other religions?
QUESTION – What is something you learned today?
GIVING
We are getting ready for the biggest Easter ever! Let’s prepare to see our families and friends come to know Jesus. Through your giving, you can make it possible to reach more people with God’s love!
How to Give:
1. Open the App and click “Give.”
2. Change the fund to “P12.”
3. Set up your tithe on recurring giving
PRAYER REQUESTS:
Does anyone have any prayer requests?