Life Groups // Spring 2025 // Week 7
Posted May 16, 2025 — Lincoln Berean
Worry and Anxiety // Mark 6:33-52
Introduction
As we are learning what it means to live as disciples of Jesus, we’ve noticed that it takes intention and effort. In a culture that is filled with instant news and constant comparisons between your life and the lives of those around you, worry and anxiety have inevitably become a dominant theme in our world. Pastor Bryan walked us through some analogies and examples before asking the pivotal question, “Do you believe God tells the truth?”
In addition to the sermon and these discussion questions, LBC is recommending resources each week that you could look at if you want to dig further into this topic. After the sermon each weekend, you can find links to these resources on our website. To the left is a picture of the resources for this week. There are no links to these resources here. Here is a link to the webpage: www.lincolnberean.org/everydaydisciples
We invite you to look over all the questions on the following pages and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group. Some people even use these questions to take notes during the sermon. The questions are meant to stir your thinking and prompt open discussion, and we do not expect you will cover every question each week.
Warm Up (Suggested time: 30 min)
1) What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen in nature?
2) What is your go-to meal or drink when you are looking to enjoy something with your tastebuds?
Getting Started
Transition into group discussion.
1. Open group discussion with prayer. Here are a few potential prayer items:
a. For the Spirit of God to lead you in truth
b. For the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in your lives
c. For grace to hear and apply what the Spirit says to you
2. Choose someone to read the passage aloud for the group.
Study Questions (Suggested time: 40 min)
1) What resonated with you from Bryan’s sermon about worry and anxiety?
2) Whether you tend to be an anxious worry-er or not, we all experience feelings of anxiety and worry in our lives from time to time. Have feelings of worry or anxiety played a large role in your walk with God?
When we think about our relationship with God, why are worry and anxiety important topics for us to consider?
3) Pastor Bryan gave a great analogy about how, we as individuals might have a shallow well of memories of God’s faithfulness to draw on if we only learn from our own experiences. But as a church family we can collectively have a deep well. Would you describe your life as having a deep well to draw from, or do you still have a relatively shallow well only of times when God has been faithful to you? How can you deepen your well?
One of the reasons we gather every weekend to worship together is to be encouraged and reminded of God’s goodness. How can you as a life group continue to encourage each other and remind one another of God’s goodness throughout the week?
4) Pastor Bryan explained that Jesus feeding the 5000 is a call back to Exodus when God provided manna in the wilderness. What was the connection between these accounts that Bryan drew?
The provision of the manna was supposed to teach the Israelites that God could provide for them. Do you have any moments, stories, or reminders in your life of God providing for you?
5) In Mark 6:52, we’re told, “for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” Pastor Bryan explained that a hardened heart means that God has done something in your life, and it’s up to you to respond to it. The disciples had experienced the miracle of God working through Jesus to feed 5000+ people, yet their heart was hardened. Has there been a time when God moved in your life and you responded to Him with a hardened heart?
What about a time when you responded with a softened heart?
What do you think determines whether we respond with a hard or soft heart to God?
What can we do to try and make sure that we always have a soft heart towards God?
Personal Spiritual Exercises
Just like physical exercises help strengthen and stretch our bodies for healthy living, these spiritual exercises are meant to move us spiritually in ways that may be new so we might experience inner growth. Since God longs for us to experience Him with our whole selves—mind, body, spirit—we invite you along each week to strengthen your souls with suggestions and prompts.
Scripture Focus: Matthew 6:25-34 is perhaps the most famous piece of Scripture that directly deals with worry or anxiety, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful. Read this passage and spend time really reflecting on the questions Jesus’ asks in these verses. Ask yourself if you truly believe the answers in your heart or if you just know what the right answer is.
Prayer Focus: There are many different things in our lives that can cause us to worry, or things for us to be anxious about. Think about what commonly causes both of these in your life and spend some time talking to God about them. Then, every time you feel worry or anxiety over that thing during your week, give it up to God in prayer. If you want a prayer you can use this excerpt from the book, Psalms in 30 Days:
“I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted
He has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea
The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.
This is my God, and I will praise Him,
my father’s God and I will exalt Him.
The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.
Lord, your right hand is glorious in power.
Lord, your right hand shattered the enemy
Lord, who is like you among the gods?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
With your faithful love, you will lead the people you have redeemed;
You will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession;
Lord, you have prepared the place for your dwelling;
Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary.
The Lord will reign forever and ever!
Prayer (Suggested time: 20 min)
A significant part of “coming together” is being open and honest with our lives. Sitting in a group of people for prayer may be new or it may be familiar to you. If you would rather not pray aloud when it is your turn, feel free to pray silently and then say “Amen” aloud signaling the next person in the group to pray. Whether or not you choose to verbalize your prayer, everyone is a participant in sharing this time before God together.
Take a few moments to prepare a prayer request. What did the message, working through the above questions or the discussion cause you to notice about your own relationship with Jesus? Would you be willing to share your prayer request with the group?