Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.

Carefully Think

• What is Mary Magdalene’s reaction to seeing the stone rolled away from the tomb? What does she think has happened to the body? (v.2)
• What did the disciples find when they searched inside the tomb?
• What was John’s response to these events? (v. 8)
• How does Mary come to recognize that Jesus is speaking to her? (v. 16)
• How does Jesus describe the disciples in verse 17? What does he call them?
• Why did the disciples lock the doors of the room?
• How does Thomas’s reaction to Jesus differ from the rest of the disciples? What does Thomas need in order to believe?
• What is John’s stated purpose for writing this book and recording the events of Jesus’s life?
• The Sermon Study equipping class notes are available online for anyone wanting to dig deeper. Please review this week's notes to help study this passage. Click here for the notes.

Prayerfully Meditate

• What might be the significance of the linen cloths remaining in the tomb even when the body was gone? What does that say about what happened?
• In verse 9, why does John tell us that Jesus “must” rise from the dead? Why is the word “must” important?
• Why were the disciples fearful of the Jews? What might they have feared?
• Consider Jesus’s words in verse 21. Which teachings of Jesus do these words remind you of?
• Reread the description of Jesus’s appearing in verses 19 and 26. What are some similarities?
• How does Thomas’s affirmation of Jesus in verse 28 support John’s stated purpose for writing this book?