Use the programme which can be found on the link ‘discipleship challenges’. The ‘worksheet’ will help you follow through anything you feel is right to take up.  The following notes are for your interest and consideration.

Personal comment:

Every disciple of Jesus stands in awe of the story of the Saviour standing upright and facing the accusations and political manoeuvring going on all around Him.  He remained focussed upon His calling and His Godly purpose in the midst of the most extreme of circumstances.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, we may gain strength to do the same.  There is no great merit in observing what Jesus has done for us and not preparing ourselves to follow in our master’s footsteps, even though we do not know what trials we will face.  Let us be prepared, and ready to follow His example!

Ideas for discipleship programme

• You will often have faced difficult choices.  How do you go about making up your mind?  Do you make choices at random when it is hard to decide, or do you agonise over them?  Offer this to the Lord in prayer and see whether you need to change.
• Pray for people in positions of power over other people’s lives, perhaps not over life and death, but certainly over their jobs, for example.

Holy Spirit, come and fill my life again with Your power and love and self control.  Power to follow through every aspect of my call; love to do this with compassion, care and purpose; and self control to make sure that I do not take credit for what You are doing.  Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Use these for group work, or to assist your personal reflection.

1. Discuss the silence of Jesus.  What does his silence mean, and why does He reply only occasionally?
2. Did Pilate make a mistake, or a deliberate mistake in offering the crowd the choice of Jesus or Barabbas?
3. What effect do you think that Jesus had on Pilate, and what effect did his wife make on what he felt about the situation he faced?