Glencairn Church

Going Deeper is designed for use with your small group, a friend or on you own. Its aim is to create time for you to spend with God and his word. Do as much or as little as you like. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact one of our pastoral staff.

1. Pray for the needs of your Life Group, for our church and our leaders, for personal and corporate renewal, and to allow God’s word to transform us. Share a recent entry from your Life Journal with the group.

2. This Sunday we saw a contrast between the mountaintop experience and the chaos/confusion of the challenges of life (Luke 9:28-43). What thoughts or questions did the message raise for you? Which ones encouraged you or posed a challenge to you?

3. Read Ex 19:9-13; 16-19; 33:7-11; 18-20. What is God communicating about His presence? Why is it fatal to see God? Why did Moses request to see His glory?

4. Read Luke 9:28-36. Why were Moses and Elijah together with Jesus? What were they talking about? Why did Peter suggest building shelters? Why didn’t the disciples die in the presence of God’s glory? What role does Jesus play in this similar but different Mountaintop experience from Exodus? Can you imagine yourself in the stunning presence of Jesus? How would such an experience affect you – your faith, your understanding, your commitment, your purpose?

5. Read Mark 9:14-29. After descending from the mountain (and the “mountaintop experience”), they were faced with the unruly and clamoring crowd and the very needy boy and his father. The disciples could not deal with the brokenness of the boy. Why do you think Jesus spoke words of such exasperation (v18)? What was the cause of the disciple’s inability to help the boy (see v29)?

6. Like the father in this story, have you ever cried out to God: “Lord, I believe; please help my unbelief” (v24)? How can you believe and yet not believe? Why do you think Jesus helped the father, even though he was full of doubts? What is the kind of faith God is looking for?

7. How do you enter the presence of God? The message talked about coming to him in helplessness not holiness, giving your most precious thing to him, and meditating on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

8. How has the King spoken to you today? Take a moment of silence to consider how God is speaking to you through these verses. Is He asking you to make changes or to do something new? What concrete steps of response do you want to take? How can your group support you in these steps?