Tucker Presbyterian Church

10/11/2026

10/07/2026

Sermon Discussion Guide (10/4)
John 12:1-11 | Anointing, Embezzlement, Conspiracy, Belief

How much is Jesus worth to you?

After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha held a dinner with Jesus. Mary responded to Lazarus’s resurrection by anointing his feet with a very costly perfume. This extravagant act of devotion pointed forward to Jesus’s future death and burial. Judas who would be the one to deliver Jesus over to death thought this was a waste of money that could’ve been given to the poor. But really he was a thief who had been stealing from money bag. The contrast between Mary and Judas couldn’t be more stark!

Meanwhile, the chief priests wanted to stop people from believing in Jesus. So they made plans to kill even the man whom Jesus raised from the dead! To them, Lazarus’s resurrection by Jesus was not a reason to celebrate, but a threat to their glory and control. May we value Jesus like Mary, not like Judas. And may we believe in Jesus rather than suppress truth about him. Jesus died so that we would live!

Questions for Discussion:
1. In verses 1-3 and 7-8, what made Mary anoint the feet of Jesus, and how costly was it?
2. In verses 4-6, what was different between Judas’s words and his true motivations?
3. In verses 9-11, what was ironic about the chief priests plans to sacrifice Lazarus along with Jesus?
4. What do we value more than Jesus? What would fully valuing Jesus look like in light of what he has done?

Scriptures for Further Study:
1 Chronicles 16:28-31; Psalm 51:1-12; Ephesians 5:1-2; Philippians 3:7-16

10/05/2026

https://tuckerpresbyterianchurch.subspla.sh/fd7ytt3

Content from Sunday School Week 4

10/05/2026

https://tuckerpresbyterianchurch.subspla.sh/g64356x

Content from 10 5 2026

09/29/2026

Sermon Discussion Guide (9/27)
John 11:45-57 | The High Priest's Unwitting Prophecy

Why did Jesus die?

After Jesus raised Lazarus, some of the Jews reported this to the Jewish leaders, and the chief priests and Pharisees gathered the council. They were afraid that the Romans would respond to Jesus’s growing popularity by putting down Israel along with him. The high priest, Caiaphas saw things differently. Jesus would instead be a political scapegoat; he would die so that the nation would be saved from the Romans.

Ironically Caiaphas had unwittingly prophesied by God’s Spirit about something different. Jesus wouldn’t die a pragmatic death to save Israel from the Romans. Rather Jesus would die a substitutionary death to save his people from their sins. And not only would he save believing Israelites in the promised land but he would save believing Israelites and Gentiles who were scattered abroad.

In the end, the nation of Israel would fall by the hand of the Romans. But Jesus’s death saved God’s Israel in a way that Caiaphas did not see coming. The coming Passover showed that Jesus was the true Passover lamb who would be slain to ransom a people for God gathered in from every tribe, tongue, and nation, not just Israel. May we see the true reason for Jesus’s death and how he saves his people from the greater problem of sin.

Questions for Discussion:

1. In these verses, how did the sign of Lazarus’s resurrection seal Jesus’s death? What changed about Jesus’s public safety?

2. In verses 47-48, who was gathered together? What was their concern and why?

3. What was ironic about Caiaphas’s prophecy in verses 49-52? How would Jesus’s eventual death have a different result than expected (consider also that the Passover was near)?

Scriptures for Further Study:
1 Chronicles 29:10b-13; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 1 Peter 3:18; Genesis 50:15-21; Acts 4:23-31

09/28/2026

https://tuckerpresbyterianchurch.subspla.sh/mx2z86p

Content from Sunday School Week 3

09/28/2026

https://tuckerpresbyterianchurch.subspla.sh/8gstr9r

Our worship this Sunday morning focused on the sovereignty of God in salvation. In John 11:45-57, the high priest unwittingly prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. Jesus did die for the nation, and in doing so, he gathered into one the scattered children of God (John 11:52).

09/22/2026

Sermon Discussion Guide (9/20)
John 11:28-44 | The Heart of Jesus Who Raises the Dead

Jesus wept.
This verse shows Jesus’s emotional response to death and to those affected by it. But Jesus had a plan to deal with death and to show that he was in control.

Mary responds to Jesus’s arrival without the confidence showed by her sister Martha. But Jesus responded to her sadness, not with judgment but with his own sadness and indignation about death and its effects. Some of the Jews saw this and doubted Jesus in light of the fact that he didn't prevent Lazarus's death.

Jesus came to the cave and told them to take away the stone. Martha expressed some doubt saying that Lazarus’s 4-days dead body would smell. But Jesus reminded her of his plan to display his glory for their faith in him. Jesus prayed publicly to his Father and then called Lazarus out of the tomb raising him from the death.

Lazarus’s resurrection foreshadows Jesus’s own resurrection. Jesus would later rise from the dead himself in order to defeat death, not only for himself, but for all who believe in him. Jesus loves us more than we realize. He sympathizes us in our weakness and goes to war with death so that we may conquer death in him. May we believe in Jesus and so see the glory of God.

Questions for Discussion:

1. In verses 28-35, how was Mary’s response different from Martha’s (vv. 20-27)? How was Jesus’s response to Mary different from his response to Martha?

2. What was Jesus’s emotional response to Lazarus’s death? Why did some of the Jews question Jesus’s response to Lazarus’s death (vv. 35-36)? What was Jesus’s goal in allowing Lazarus to die (see vv. 39-42)?

3. In verses 38-44, what are the similarities and differences between the resurrection of Lazarus and the resurrection of Jesus? Why does John explain the resurrection of Lazarus in this way?

4. What do we learn from these verses about what Jesus thinks and feels about death and its victims? What is Jesus’s plan to deal with death?

Scriptures for Further Study:
Psalm 30:1-5, 11-12; Hebrews 4:14-16; Lamentations 3:19-32; Matthew 6:9-13; 1 Kings 17:17-24

09/22/2026

https://tuckerpresbyterianchurch.subspla.sh/mgc88fn