.jpg)
Introduction
About Table Communities
Table Communities are community gatherings for the purpose of:
- Building meaningful relationships through intentional time together
- Engaging in mutual discipleship through directing one another towards Christ with truth shared in love
- Multiplying grace through love, prayer and gifts of the spirit
The notes will guide you through praying together, reading scripture and engaging in intentional relational time together. There are also notes and practices for this month's habit of grace. We know that most groups will not have time to discuss the habit of grace during their time together, but they are available if time allows and are available for those seeking to intentionally engage with God's grace during the week. If that desire is within you, please read the notes on your own time or go through the habit of grace practices with a spiritual friend or your spouse, so as to build one another up in truth and love. Finally, this gathering is not about getting through all the note content, but rather this gathering is about building meaningful relationships, engaging in mutual discipleship and multiplying grace. Let those values shape the direction and pace of your time together.
Remember: What we all have in common
Saint : Beloved, forgiven, being renewed, filled with the Holy Spirit
Sufferer : Carrying real pain and struggle
Sinner: Still in need of ongoing grace
Kick off with prayer
Some one pray for your time together.
Example prayer, if needed. Ideally pray freely as you feel called:
Father we praise you for gathering us together. Despite whatever weighed on our hearts as we entered this house, we pray that your Spirit guides our time together and free us from anything that is not of you. We pray that by the strength of your might we may speak truth in love to one another. We pray that we are led by the gifts of your spirit, so that we may build up one another and your church as a whole. As we read your word, we pray that we may be filled with the knowledge of your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner pleasing to you.
Passage: Servant King | Mark
We will read the text together seeking for God to give life to the text through his Spirit. "Lord please help us to hear your word and receive what you have for each of us"
Read Mark 4:1-20
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ” 13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
Passage Summary
Jesus tells a story about a farmer scattering seed. The same seed falls on four different soils, but the results are dramatically different. Jesus explains that the seed represents the word, while the soils reveal the different ways people hear and respond to it. Some hearts are hard, some initially receive the word with joy but have no depth, and in others the word is gradually choked by the cares and desires of life. But some hear the word, accept it, and bear abundant fruit. Jesus invites us not merely to hear His words, but to consider what is happening within our own hearts as we hear Him.
Discussion
Discussion Questions
- Difficult circumstances have sometimes made me more open to God.
- There have been seasons where disappointment made me pull away from Him.
- I was resistant to Christianity for a long time before something changed.
- I find myself more open to Jesus when I intentionally make space for Him.
- I feel like I'm in a season of questioning or uncertainty at the moment.
- Following Jesus is hardest when life is easiest.
- When I struggle, I tend to withdraw from people and I often do the same thing with Jesus.
- I put on a brave face because I don't want people to know I'm struggling. I think I hide from God in a similar way.
- I find it difficult to ask for help because I feel like I should be able to handle things myself.
- When things become difficult, I become frustrated with people and sometimes with God as well.
- I've learned to reach out to people when I'm struggling, and that often helps me turn toward Jesus rather than away from Him.
- Difficult seasons have sometimes made me more honest with both God and other people.
- I tend to focus on the fruit—whether I'm behaving better or seeing enough change in my life.
- I spend more time asking God to change my circumstances or behaviour than asking Him to change my heart.
- I can become frustrated by a lack of fruit without considering what might be happening underneath.
- I think God has been showing me areas of hardness, shallowness, or distraction that need attention.
- I tend to measure my relationship with God by what I am doing rather than how I am receiving Him.
- I am learning to trust that if my heart remains open to Jesus and His word, fruit will follow.
- I need God to soften an area of my heart that has become resistant.
- I need deeper roots when life becomes difficult.
- I need freedom from something that is choking my relationship with Jesus.
- I want God's word to become more real in my everyday life.
- I want to see more fruit growing from my relationship with Jesus.