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WEEK1 SERMON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS

April 20, 2025

Easter: the turning point

Introduction:

Easter is celebrated by millions of people worldwide every year. Eggs are hunted, chocolate is eaten, and families gather together to share a meal. In the weeks leading up to Easter, several other days are also celebrated, including Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Although Easter is widely celebrated, many people don’t understand the true meaning of Easter. They don’t grasp what the death and resurrection of Jesus mean. They don’t see how Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday are all connected. The death and resurrection of Jesus are at the heart of Christianity. If we want to love God deeply, we must thoroughly understand the profound meaning of Easter.

Something To Talk About:

Throughout His life, Jesus repeatedly said it was going to happen: He would be killed and, on the third day after His death, He would rise again. The significance of that first Easter Sunday for those of us living 2,000 years later cannot be overstated.

  1. Jesus is alive: It’s important to know that Jesus rose from the dead. It’s just as important to understand what the resurrection means. First and foremost, the resurrection means that Jesus Christ is alive today. When you believe in Jesus, you are believing in a living Savior. First Peter 1:3 says: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation” You’re not believing in someone who died hundreds or thousands of years ago. You’re believing in someone who is alive and doing great things today. You can be 100 percent confident that everything Jesus said is true. All of His promises are trustworthy. You can hold onto Jesus through thick and thin, knowing that He truly is holding onto you. Jesus is alive, and that truly changes everything.
  2. Death Is Overcome: Scripture makes it very clear that the punishment for sin is death. On the cross, Jesus took the wrath of God that we deserved. He died for our sins, taking the consequences that we should have experienced. When Jesus rose from the dead, it demonstrated that He had fully satisfied the punishment for our sins. Death no longer had any claim on Jesus. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” We deserve to receive the wages for our sins — physical and spiritual death. But Jesus was given the wages we deserve, and we receive the incredible gift of eternal life. We no longer have to fear death, for Jesus has overcome it.
  3. Remembering Easter every day: Christians celebrate Easter to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are worshiping the true God of life who rose from the dead. The truth of the resurrection of Jesus should fill us with overwhelming joy. We have an indestructible, unchanging hope. A plunging stock market can’t take away our hope. Our future is secure in Jesus. Because He is alive, we can joyfully confront whatever comes our way. While getting this spiritual high from a great Easter service and message is wonderful, what happens when that emotional connection fades? There has to be ongoing follow-up to keep your relationship with God strong, just like any other relationship in your life. If you want a relationship with a friend to stay strong, you need to spend time with them. If you don’t intentionally make time to be with them, the relationship fizzles out. If we want to be close to God, we must actively spend time with Him, just as we do with a close friend or family member, more than just once a week for a couple of hours. Make this Easter a turning point in your relationship with God. 

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is your earliest memory of Easter? What is your earliest memory of understanding Jesus’ resurrection?
  2. In Matthew 28, we read about the woman who went to the tomb and then met the risen Jesus. What, even in your own life, does this remind you of in some way?
  3. Who have you known that was profoundly changed by their encounter with Jesus?
  4. What does it mean to live a life trusting in Jesus’ resurrection?
  5. How is the way Jesus encounters people today different from this passage? How is it similar?
  6. What personal significance does Easter or all of Holy Week (i.e., the events of Palm Sunday, the Last Supper and betrayal, Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday) have for you?
  7. Consider this claim: “The foundation of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” What do you think this means, and do you agree? Why or why not?
  8. Scripture mentions several signs, or witnesses, of God at work in the death of Jesus. The sky was darkened, the veil was torn, the earth shook, the tombs opened, and the dead were raised (see Matthew 27:45-53). Why do you think these occurred around the time of the death and resurrection of Jesus? Are any of them especially significant to you? Why?
  9. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the risen Jesus appeared to His disciples and then to “more than five hundred brothers at one time” (vv. 5-6). Why do you think it’s important that there were so many eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrected state?
  10. Through faith in Jesus, God makes us alive as well (Ephesians 2:1-10). How does the resurrection of Jesus help you live by faith, even in these difficult days?
  11. What is one thing that stood out to you from this week’s message? What challenged you?

Take one thing home with you:

Central in all of history is that extraordinary event that took place a couple of thousand years ago on the first day of the week. Jesus was raised from the dead. He appeared to some people; some of those to whom He appeared were women who had come to the sepulcher where He had been buried, expecting Him still to be dead. (Matthew 28).

The women came to the grave expecting Him still to be dead. They had seen the place where He was buried two days before. They had rested on the sabbath day according to the commandment. Then, early in the morning, after the sabbath was past, they went to the grave. What a change these women experienced. They went to the grave with some spices that they had prepared to anoint the body of Jesus (Luke 24:1). It was an act of love, to be sure. Yet they should not have been seeking the living among the dead.

In a very short period of time, they went from experiencing deep sorrow to exceeding great joy. They knew their Savior was alive. Knowing that, they rejoiced in their heart, they worshipped their Lord, and went quickly to bring this wonderful news to others. When the disciples went to the grave they thought about the big stone that was put in front of the sepulcher. They wondered who was going to roll that stone away from the opening, so that they could get in. Yet when they got close enough to see the stone, they noticed that it had already been rolled away. Earlier that morning, an angel had rolled away the stone and had sat upon it. The stone was rolled away, not so that Jesus could get out, but so that the disciples could get in.

The stone was rolled away so that Jesus’ disciples could get in and see that Jesus’ body was not there. It was rolled away that they might enter and see those grave clothes situated exactly as they were before, but now without the body of Jesus within them. This was one of the infallible proofs of Jesus’ resurrection that God desired the disciples to see.