Palm Sunday Discussion Guide
Welcome to Palm Sunday as we celebrate Pastor Jeff Tillson’s last sermon as a Pastor at Lakeland. We celebrate all that he has contributed to Groups and Lakeland Community Church as a whole! He began his sermon this week by insightfully telling us how not all weeks are created equal.
- How have you personally approached the week between Palm Sunday & Easter in the past? Are you committing to doing anything differently this year during this time?
Pastor Jeff highlighted how Jesus was greater than religion. (Jesus>Religion) This portion of the sermon was so good that I want to highlight it and follow with a discussion question.
“Where religion is focused on mainly the external appearance, Jesus focuses on internal transformation. Where religion haunts you with “am I doing enough?”, Jesus says I am enough. Where religion distances you from God, Jesus draws you into a relationship with God. Where religion is based on fear, Jesus is love. Where religion fuels comparisons and barriers between people, Jesus brings transformation and tears down barriers. Where religion is exhausting to keep, Jesus offers an invitation to meet.”
- What type of “religious thinking” do you still struggle with? In other words, how does “religious thinking” STILL affect you? (Make sure everyone shares in the Group!)
Pastor Jeff shared that “people collect God moments in life, but they don’t know where they are going.” We draw a line as to how far we surrender with God, but when we do that, we are saying, “I want the relationship, but I don’t want to honor you in everything.”
- How would that approach work if you tried applying that to any of your current relationships?
- Jeff made a change in his life when he stopped trying to follow rules and decided to honor God with every aspect of his life. Have you made that jump? What does that jump look like in your life?