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. For the disciples, why do you think it would be so hard to comprehend and accept Jesus’ words, that their long awaited Messiah must suffer, be rejected, and ultimately be killed by the Jewish leaders?
2. If Jesus could calm a raging storm, cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead with just a word, why do you think he couldn’t just forgive sins by saying, “your sins are forgiven”? Why did He have to suffer and die on the cross?
3. Describe the temptation Jesus must have endured to forsake the cross and instead pursue everything that was rightly His - namely, the entire world and everything in it. Why do you think He chose the way of the cross and what does this tell you about His love for you?
4. In a culture where “being true to oneself” is a high virtue and where magazines called “Self” are sold in grocery stores, how do you think most people (including some Christians) would react to Jesus’ command to deny yourself, take up your cross, and lose your life in order to follow Him? What do you think Jesus meant by asking the question, “25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?”
5. Who do you think Jesus was referring to in v.26 when He said, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” What does it look like when someone is ashamed of Jesus and His words?