Click here for the sermon discussion questions or see them listed below. We highly encourage you to listen, think, and talk about the sermon. These are questions you can reflect on by yourself, with your family, or with your small group.

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think Simon of Cyrene was randomly plucked from the crowd?  Why or why not?  Imagine the situation:  the procession, the crowds, the Roman soldiers' assessment of Jesus' physical condition and the mission they must complete.  Imagine being Simon, who had likely made the weeks-long journey by boat and foot from modern day Libya to celebrate the Passover.  See also Mk. 15:21 and Rom. 16:13.

2. Reflect on Christ's words in Matt. 16:24:  "Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

3. What was the point of Christ's address to the "Daughters of Jerusalem"?  How does it help us to understand the consequences of rejecting Jesus Christ as the Son of God?  If the coming judgment is truly as terrible as Jesus says it will be, is this a just punishment by a holy God?  What does this say about the state of the unregenerate human heart relative to God's holiness?  What does his address say about the Jesus Himself?  See Mt. 23:37.

4. Dan referenced John 3:16-21 more than once during his sermon.  What is the ultimate end of those who do not confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead (Rom. 10:9-10)?

5. Use John 3:16-21 to answer this challenge:  If indeed "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12), wouldn't it have been better if Jesus Christ had never come and no one had ever heard the name of Christ?

6. In what ways did Christ demonstrate His sovereignty during the day of His crucifixion?

7. Given Christ's suffering on the day of His crucifixion, read and reflect on Phil. 2:5-11.