Leading to Easter: Searching the Soul

This innovative 4-week campaign for your whole church takes an in-depth look at the Easter season.






Click below to download this entire Church Discipleship Campaign as a ZIP file, and receive 4-weeks of preaching materials and PowerPoint presentations, Bible studies, small-group ideas, and a bulletin insert for your church.




Click here to see a preview of the Bible-study PDF.

Click here to see a preview of the preaching material PDF.

Overview

This 4-session series looks at the last week of Jesus’ life as told in Matthew 26–28. You will be encouraged to search your own soul through the lenses of the people closest to Jesus in his last hours. While the theme of rejection runs through these chapters in Matthew, there is the joy of the Resurrection that you can experience with new eyes.

Note: The formats for each piece of the campaign are bundled as follows: one PDF for all preaching material, one PDF for Bible study material, one PowerPoint presentation for all four weeks, and one Microsoft Word document for the bulletin insert. These files are bundled as a ZIP file for your convenience.

Session One

The Dinner Guests of God
Communion searches and strengthens our hearts.
Matthew 26:17–31
Communion—the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist—is a powerful experience. It is a meal that touches the soul. During this Lenten season, most churches partake in communion. As we study Matthew 26, we look at the story that gives rise to our observance of the Lord’s Supper. This passage helps us see what makes Communion such a uniquely significant meal.

Session Two

The Faces of Failure
Peter, Judas, and Pilate demonstrate different ways to fail in faith.
Matthew 26:69–27:26
This week’s Scripture passage covers the stories of three failures—Peter, Judas, and Pilate. And they are painful to hear. The consequences were staggering. What’s more, none of them would have failed had it not been for Jesus. In fact, you might say that there’s a sense in which Jesus brings out the worst in people. Jesus is good and gracious, holy and mighty, but he is surely not safe to have around!

Session Three

Four Ironies of the Cross
In his weakness on the cross, Jesus Christ revealed his greatness.
Matthew 27:27–50
As Matthew relates the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, the theme that runs through all the details is rejection. Not only did people fail to see the value of Jesus, they also didn’t understand the value of his death. This study tracks this trail of rejection so that we can avoid being so blind.

Session Four

Resurrection Watchers
Christ’s resurrection calls us to believe.
Matthew 27:62–28:15
Pastor Robert Russell told about sitting behind a 5-year-old boy at their church’s Easter pageant a few years ago. The boy was enthralled. Russell said, “When the crucifixion scene took place, he got real quiet. But then Jesus came back from the grave, and there was a song of celebration, and his eyes lit up. He looked at his mother and said, ‘He’s alive, Mom. He’s alive!’ and began to clap. And he hugged her around the neck.”

Wouldn’t it be great to see the Resurrection with new eyes?



This Church Discipleship Campaign is based on a PreachingToday.com sermons by Lee Eclov and D.A. Carson.

To purchase the Bible studies only, click here.

You have permission to make up to 1,000 copies for use in your local church.

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ZIP File
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CDC08$39.95

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