Mary: An Ordinary Girl; An Extraordinary Response week ofDecember 3, 2017

Fifteen and Greatly Troubled

Life Group Discussion Questions

How do you typically react when someone show up at your house that you weren’t expecting?

Contrast Mary’s response, Luke 1:29, to seeing Gabriel to Daniel’s response.

Daniel 8:16-27.

Daniel 9:20-27

Daniel 10:1-11:1

Why do you think they responded so differently?

Think of a time you had a profound encounter with God.

What happened?

What emotions did you experience?

Review the description Gabriel gave of Jesus – Luke 1:31-33.

Contrast this description with the one Gabriel gave to Zechariah regarding John – Luke 1:13-17.

What similarities and contrasts were made between John and Jesus?

Why do you think it was so important that God chose John and Jesus’ names?

See also Matthew 1:21.

Contrast Zechariah and Mary’s responses to Gabriel.

Luke 1:11-20 and 1:26-38.

What do their different responses teach you?

What does Mary’s response to Gabriel tell us about the kind of people through whom God works?

Interact with the paragraph below.

If we only move with God when our hearts are at peace, we will miss God-orchestrated opportunities.

Erwin McManus writes: Some moments carry within them the capacity to shape a lifetime…The greater the moment’s opportunity, the greater the risk required. This reality is fundamental to the Christian faith.There is no greater moment filled with eternal ramifications, than the moment we turn from our sin and turn to Christ. In that moment, when we are invited to receive the infinite grace of God, we are required to give up, to lay down, everything we have.To have the life that Jesus Christ offers us, we must in that moment commit ourselves to die. If we are unwilling to die to self, we are unable to receive the life only God can give. The moment in which we have the most to gain is also the moment we have the most to surrender.This truth is consistent to life itself: the greatest opportunities require the highest risk. If we want to live life to the fullest, we must be willing to trust God and risk everything. If heaven had an advertising section, it would take a full-page ad that read: Wanted – risk takers for God.” Chasing Daylight, p.137.

Interact with the Life Connection points.

As we follow Jesus,he teaches us to trust – not our feelings - but HIM.

Our obedience, is a response of love. How important is this?It’s the difference between religion and relationship; between duty and love.

If we wait to go with God, until we feel adequate, we will always sit on the sidelines. The experience of God’s help, comes…not before…but when… we in faith step out.

Through Mary’s response, God teaches us that faith is not a leap into the dark.

It is a step forward in confidence of the One who asks us to go with him.

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