Rooted Fellowship: The Church Scattered

20 Early on Sunday morning,[a] while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home.Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene11 Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 12 She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 15 “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”16 “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”18 Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

At Rooted Fellowship, we believe in community, we love to say that God has beautifully designed us for fellowship. We are a collection of stories and experiences and one of the ways we bring those to the surface is through what we call ‘question of the day’. We ask a question, you answer it and our desire is that we get to know one another a little bit better.

30 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial31 On the way, Jesus told them, “Tonight all of you will desert me. For the Scriptures say,‘God will strike[e] the Shepherd,    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’32 But after I have been raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.”33 Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”35 “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same.Jesus Prays in Gethsemane36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[f] unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested47 And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading priests and elders of the people. 48 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.” 49 So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss.50 Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.”Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. 51 But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear.52 “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. 53 Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands[g] of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? 54 But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?”55 Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. 56 But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.

The Crucifixion32 Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene,[g] and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 33 And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 34 The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.35 After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.[h] 36 Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. 37 A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Two revolutionaries[i] were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.39 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. 40 “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”41 The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. 42 “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! 43 He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way.The Death of Jesus45 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 46 At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[j] lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”[k]47 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 48 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. 49 But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”[l]50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, 52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. 53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.54 The Roman officer[m] and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”55 And many women who had come from Galilee with Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance. 56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.

56 But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.Jesus before the Council57 Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered. 58 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end.59 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council[h] were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. 60 But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward 61 who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 63 But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”64 Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand[i] and coming on the clouds of heaven.”[j]65 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your verdict?”“Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”67 Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, 68 jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?”Peter Denies Jesus69 Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”70 But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.71 Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.[k]”72 Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.73 A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”74 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.75 Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.Judas Hangs Himself27 Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. 2 Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”5 Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.6 The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.”[a] 7 After some discussion they  ... *Please continue to read the rest of the prescribed passage on your favourite Bible platform.

At Rooted Fellowship, we believe in community, we love to say that God has beautifully designed us for fellowship. We are a collection of stories and experiences and one of the ways we bring those to the surface is through what we call ‘question of the day’. We ask a question, you answer it and our desire is that we get to know one another a little bit better.

Acknowledging God's goodness, sovereignty and control in the midst of our struggles, uncertainty and lack of control in the face of the unknown.

1-6 God, investigate my life;    get all the facts firsthand.I’m an open book to you;    even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.You know when I leave and when I get back;    I’m never out of your sight.You know everything I’m going to say    before I start the first sentence.I look behind me and you’re there,    then up ahead and you’re there, too—    your reassuring presence, coming and going.This is too much, too wonderful—    I can’t take it all in!7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?    to be out of your sight?If I climb to the sky, you’re there!    If I go underground, you’re there!If I flew on morning’s wings    to the far western horizon,You’d find me in a minute—    you’re already there waiting!Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!    At night I’m immersed in the light!”It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;    night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;    you formed me in my mother’s womb.I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!    I worship in adoration—what a creation!You know me inside and out,    you know every bone in my body;You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,The days of my life all prepared    before I’d even lived one day.17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!    God, I’ll never comprehend them!I couldn’t even begin to count them—    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!And you murderers—out of here!—    all the men and women who belittle you, God,    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.See how I hate those who hate you, God,    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.    Your enemies are my enemies!23-24 Investigate my life, O God,    find out everything about me;Cross-examine and test me,    get a clear picture of what I’m about;See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

New Man, by Given 'Illustrative' Masilela, is a poem about embracing the newness that comes with being bornagain in Christ Jesus. It encourages the Christian to cast away all the burden of the old life he/she used to live & to rather hold on to the lighter burden that Christ offers in Salavation. It is a poem that echoes 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

1 there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion.  2 There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees,  3 for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”  4 How can we sing the LORD’s song on foreign soil?  5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.  6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!  7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites said that day at Jerusalem: “Destroy it! Destroy it down to its foundations! ”  8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us.  9 Happy is he who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks.

At Rooted Fellowship, we believe in community, we love to say that God has beautifully designed us for fellowship. We are a collection of stories and experiences and one of the ways we bring those to the surface is through what we call ‘question of the day’. We ask a question, you answer it and our desire is that we get to know one another a little bit better.

'While there are multiple options that may desire to sway our focus from the truth, being rooted in God's sovereignty has always encouraged me to keep grounded in Him in all types of life's seasons.This poem was my way of reminding myself to find comfort in His majesty despite all. To not shy away or look away from the light, however blinding the warmth can sometimes be to my sometimes cold heart.' - Pinky Mokwena

I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might,    I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.2-6 I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord;    my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal.When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,”    I didn’t believe a word they said.I remember God—and shake my head.    I bow my head—then wring my hands.I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep;    I can’t even say what’s bothering me.I go over the days one by one,    I ponder the years gone by.I strum my lute all through the night,    wondering how to get my life together.7-10 Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?    Will he never smile again?Is his love worn threadbare?    Has his salvation promise burned out?Has God forgotten his manners?    Has he angrily stalked off and left us?“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business    just the moment I need him.”11-12 Once again I’ll go over what God has done,    lay out on the table the ancient wonders;I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished,    and give a long, loving look at your acts.13-15 O God! Your way is holy!    No god is great like God!You’re the God who makes things happen;    you showed everyone what you can do—You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble,    rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.16-19 Ocean saw you in action, God,    saw you and trembled with fear;    Deep Ocean was scared to death.Clouds belched buckets of rain,    Sky exploded with thunder,    your arrows flashing this way and that.From Whirlwind came your thundering voice,    Lightning exposed the world,    Earth reeled and rocked.You strode right through Ocean,    walked straight through roaring Ocean,    but nobody saw you come or go.20 Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron,You led your people like a flock of sheep.

1 I cry aloud to God,aloud to God, and He will hear me.2 I sought the Lord in my day of trouble.My hands were continually lifted upall night long;I refused to be comforted.3 I think of God; I groan;I meditate; my spirit becomes weak.Selah4 You have kept me from closing my eyes;I am troubled and cannot speak.5 I consider days of old,years long past.6 At night I remember my music;I meditate in my heart, and my spirit ponders.7 “Will the Lord reject foreverand never again show favor?8 Has His faithful love ceased forever?Is His promise at an end for all generations?9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?Has He in anger withheld His compassion?”Selah10 So I say, “I am grievedthat the right hand of the Most High has changed.”11 I will remember the Lord’s works;yes, I will remember Your ancient wonders.12 I will reflect on all You have doneand meditate on Your actions.13 God, Your way is holy.What god is great like God?14 You are the God who works wonders;You revealed Your strength among the peoples.15 With power You redeemed Your people,the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.Selah16 The waters saw You, God.The waters saw You; they trembled.Even the depths shook.17 The clouds poured down water.The storm clouds thundered;Your arrows flashed back and forth.18 The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;lightning lit up the world.The earth shook and quaked.19 Your way went through the seaand Your path through the great waters,but Your footprints were unseen.20 You led Your people like a flockby the hand of Moses and Aaron.