Grave Robber Participant's Guide , livre ebook

© 2014 by Mark Batterson
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2014
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-2340-1
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www. zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The author is represented by Fedd & Company, Inc.
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 2
Copyright Page 3
Introduction 5
Session 1 The First Sign: Water into Wine 7
Session 2 The Second Sign: Supernatural Synchronicities 19
Session 3 The Third Sign: Very Superstitious 33
Session 4 The Fourth Sign: Two Fish 45
Session 5 The Fifth Sign: Walking on Water 57
Session 6 The Sixth Sign: Never Say Never 69
Session 7 The Seventh Sign: One Little Yes 81
Notes 93
About the Author 95
Back Ad 96
Back Cover 97
Introduction
T hirty-four distinct miracles are recorded in the Gospels, while countless more went unrecorded. John’s Gospel spotlights seven miracles, unveiling seven dimensions of Jesus’ miraculous power. Like the sun rising in the east, each miracle reveals another ray of God’s glory until Lazarus steps out of the shadow of his tomb and into the light of the Grave Robber.
Maybe you’re at a place in your life where you need a miracle. Don’t we all at some point in our lives? And God wants to do now what He did then . But this is more than a course in miracles. It’s a study about the only One who can perform them. The seven miracles are seven signs, and each sign points straight to Jesus. So let me offer a word of caution at the outset:
Don’t seek miracles.
Follow Jesus.
And if you follow Jesus long enough and far enough, you’ll eventually find yourself in the middle of some miracles.
Everyone wants a miracle. But here’s the catch: no one wants to be in a situation that necessitates one! Of course, you can’t have one without the other. The prerequisite for a miracle is a problem, and the bigger the problem, the greater the potential miracle. If the wedding party in Cana hadn’t run out of wine, there would have been no need for the Wine Maker to do what He did. What the bride and groom perceived as a problem was really a perfect opportunity for God to reveal His glory. And nothing has changed since Jesus turned water into wine, healed a man born blind, or called Lazarus out of his tomb four days after his funeral.
He is the God who can make your impossible possible!
Session 1 The First Sign
Water into Wine

Before watching Session 1 of the Grave Robber DVD, read chapters 1–6 in The Grave Robber .
Read, pray, and meditate on the first sign, found in John 2:1–10:
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
Write down your personal reflections.

Introduction
For nearly thirty years, the One who had crafted the universe with His voice crafted furniture with His hands. And He was good at what He did—no crooked table legs ever came out of the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth. 1 But Jesus was more than a master carpenter. He was also God incognito. For three decades, His miracles were history’s best-kept secret. But that all changed the day water blushed in the face of its Creator.
Thirty-four distinct miracles are recorded in the Gospels. But John’s Gospel spotlights seven of them. It’s those seven miracles that we’re going to explore during this study of The Grave Robber . And it all begins in Cana.
This is where Jesus turned water into wine.
This is where the cabinetmaker became the Wine Maker.
Video Notes
As you watch the video for this session , use the following space to take notes .

Group Discussion
1. In the introduction to the Grave Robber study, there is a caution not to seek miracles but rather to seek Jesus. Has there ever been a time in your life when you were seeking a miracle more than you were seeking Jesus? Perhaps you sought God for the right thing in the wrong way , at the wrong time , or for the wrong reason . Share your experience and what you learned from it with the group.

2. We all want a miracle, but none of us wants to be in a situation that necessitates one. Of course, you can’t have one without the other. Share with the group a situation in your past or your present when you needed God to do a miracle.

3. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that once the mind is stretched by a new idea, it never returns to its original dimensions. 2 The goal of this study is to not only stretch your mind but also stretch your faith. Share with the group an experience that stretched your faith to new dimensions. What happened? What did you learn from it? And how do you believe God wants to stretch your faith through this study?

4. This first miracle isn’t about saving a life. It’s about saving face. It reveals how much God cares about the minute details of our lives. God is great not just because nothing is too big . God is great because nothing is too small .
Matthew 10:29–31 says:
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.