By Michael C. Mack

1. What is the biggest obstacle you’ve faced in your life? Have you overcome it? If so, how? 

Read Mark 16:1-8. 

2. What obstacles, literal and figurative, did the women face throughout this narrative?  

3. What faith do you see displayed in these women? (Though the women were afraid, they soon went to tell the disciples. See also Matthew 28:8-10; Luke 24:9-11.) 

4. Think about last week’s lesson, in which Peter denied Jesus three times (Mark 14:66-72). Why would Jesus single out Peter (Mark 16:7)? 

5. What obstacle or obstacles still keep you from having faith in Christ—or a stronger, more costly, more sacrificial faith in him? 

6. Impossible obstacles are often overcome by simply taking steps of faith, just as the women did in vv. 1-3, even though we don’t know what will happen when we get there. (Read other examples in Acts 20:22 and Hebrews 11:8.) What steps of faith do you need to take now, even though the obstacle looks impossible to overcome? 

7. Fill in the blanks for this sentence: 

Even when I am _____ (trembling/bewildered/afraid/something else) I will faithfully do what God is telling me to do. I will go and tell _____ the good news about Jesus. 

Michael Mack leads church training events and consults with churches through his ministry, Small Group Leadership (www.smallgroupleadership.com).