Covenant Naples

Caleb refused to be satisfied with half-hearted devotion or be lulled into complacency. At its heart, complacency is a willingness to be satisfied with how things are, but not how things should be. It affects people of every age and generation. Like rivers, people flow toward the path of least resistance. But not Caleb.

Sermon Outline:

I. The Fully Satisfied are Fully Devoted to God’s Cause.

II. The Fully Satisfied are Fully Devoted to God’s Word.

III. The Fully Satisfied are Fully Devoted to God’s Glory.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. What competing causes or priorities sometimes pull you away from being fully devoted to God’s cause? How have you experienced the tension between living for yourself and living for God?

2. Caleb waited 45 years for God’s promise to be fulfilled and never gave up. Share about a time when you’ve had to wait on God’s promises. How did that season affect your faith? What helps you continue trusting when God’s timing doesn't match your expectations?

3. What fears, sins, challenges, or obstacles are you currently facing or avoiding? What would it look like for you to have Caleb’s mindset about the challenges in your life?

4. What would full devotion to God look like practically in your current season of life? What specific step of obedience or trust is God calling you to take this week?

Even when we die with work left undone, God finishes what he starts. God’s mission continues beyond any one leader, lifetime, or generation. Our calling is to be faithful in our time, trusting that God will finish what he has started.

Sermon Outline:

I. Our Strength will Fade, But God’s Mission Remains.

II. God Uses People but the Results Belong to Him.

III. God Commands Obedience Even When We Won’t Complete the Work.

IV. God Secures the Inheritance by Grace, Not Merit

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. Are there tasks, conversations, or goals you’ve been carrying that you either need to finish or give yourself permission to let go of? How does it feel to consider that even faithful leaders like Joshua and Moses died with unfinished work?

2. In what area of your life or ministry do you most struggle with wanting to control outcomes rather than simply being faithful in your role? How might remembering that “the results belong to God” change the way you approach parenting, work, ministry, or relationships?

3. What long-term, multi-generational work is God calling you to invest in, even if you won’t see the final results? How can we faithfully plant seeds for future generations in our families, church, community, or calling, trusting that God will bring the harvest in his timing?

4. How does knowing that God’s promises are grounded in his grace rather than your performance free you to serve differently?

Apart from God’s grace, rebellion is the posture of humanity toward God. But in this passage, we will see that rebellion against God is futile, the victory of God’s anointed is certain, and the record of God’s faithfulness is perfect. To the degree that we see and believe this, we can avoid the folly of these Canaanite nations who resist the King of Kings, and we can bow the knee to him instead.

Sermon Outline:

I. The Rebellion of the Wicked is Futile.

II. The Victory of God’s Anointed is Certain.

III. The Record of God’s Faithfulness is Perfect.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. What forms of rebellion against God’s rule are most subtle in our culture—and even in our own hearts?

2. Is God’s sovereignty the basis for bold, faith-filled action in your life, or a truth you affirm but rarely apply? How might your life look different if you applied this truth to your life each day? How might you feel different?

3. What good things are you tempted to trust in instead of trusting in the name of the Lord? Can or should anything be done about that?

4. How do Romans 1 and Hebrews 3:12-13 help us understand the progression and danger of unrepentant sin? What role does the church community play in helping one another resist the hardening of the heart?

5. How are you intentionally remembering and rehearsing the faithfulness of God in your life? Or, how could you start doing so?

Our spiritual enemies taunt us for our feeble efforts to resist, and we grow discouraged thinking we will never win. But the victory is not ours to earn; it is God’s to give. He does not call us to overpower our enemies, but to trust and obey him in our weakness while he fights for us. We’re outmatched by our enemies, but we need not fear or be dismayed because the Lord fights for us.

Sermon Outline:

I. God Fights for Us When We Don’t Deserve It.

II. God Fights for Us When We Call Upon His Name.

III. God Fights for Us Until Every Enemy is Subdued Under Our Feet.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. Share about a time when you made a poor decision or found yourself in a difficult situation because of your own choices. How did you see God's faithfulness even in the midst of the consequences? What does this teach us about God's character?

2. What “impossible” situations have you given up praying about? How might this passage encourage you to pray more boldly and specifically?

3. Joshua invited the leaders to put their feet on the necks of the defeated kings, showing that God had given them victory. What “enemies” (sin, fear, shame, etc.) do you need to confront with the confidence that Christ is already victorious over them? How can this group support you in that battle?

4. Looking at your current circumstances, what fears or discouragements are you facing? How does the truth that “the greater Joshua is fighting for you” change your perspective on these challenges? What would it look like to be strong and courageous in your specific situation this week?

Acts 2 shows us that the earliest Christians were empowered to devotion to true doctrine, fellowship, and to prayers.

The early church wasn't just inspired—they were transformed. Let’s be a people marked by fresh devotion to Jesus,

because He is worthy of it all.

Sermon Outline:

I. They Devoted Themselves to the Apostle’s Teaching.

II. They Devoted Themselves to the Apostle’s Doctrine.

III. They Devoted Themsleves to the Breaking of Bread and to Fellowship.

IV. They Devoted Themselves to Prayers.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. What experience or moment in your life first stirred your heart toward devotion to Jesus?

How has that devotion grown or changed over time?

2. Acts 2:42 says the early believers “devoted themselves” to the apostles’ teaching.

What does personal devotion to Scripture look like in your life right now, and what steps could deepen it?

3. Why do you think the early church had “all things in common” despite their differences in background, language,

and culture? What would it look like to reflect that kind of unity today?

4. How has doctrine shaped your understanding of suffering or trials?

Can you share a time when biblical truth helped you endure hardship?

5. The sermon mentioned the power of fellowship in discerning God’s will (e.g., the decision to go to China).

When have you experienced God speaking clearly through the voices of fellow believers?

6. “Awe came upon every soul…” (Acts 2:43)

What helps you recover a sense of awe toward Jesus when your spiritual life feels routine or dry?

God’s intention is to use the proclamation of the gospel message through his people to save people from sin, death, and hell from every people group on earth. In this passage we see that he has given us his Holy Spirit to empower us to proclaim that message.

Sermon Outline:

I. The Source of the Proclamation.

II. The Crux of the Proclamation.

III. The Effect of the Proclamation.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. How do you personally relate to the common fears about sharing your faith that were described in the sermon? What do those fears reveal about your view of God, others, or yourself?

2. Peter once denied Jesus out of fear, yet in Acts 2 he boldly proclaims the gospel. What do you think made the difference, and how does that encourage or challenge you today?

3. Peter says the events of Pentecost fulfill Joel’s prophecy that God would pour out His Spirit “on all flesh.” How does that reshape your understanding of who is called and empowered to share the gospel? How do your gifts and context shape the way you proclaim the mighty works of God?

4. The sermon describes how Peter's audience was “cut to the heart” when they heard the message. Have you ever experienced this kind of conviction when hearing God’s Word? How did you respond? How can we sensitively help others work through conviction without minimizing it or making people feel condemned?

5. What step of response might the Spirit be calling you to take after hearing this sermon?

Christ’s apostles are not idle in the days between His ascension and Pentecost. They pray and organize leadership to witness deliberately and powerfully to the most significant event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus.

Notes:

Significant movements of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel almost invariably flow from the committed and concerted prayers of God’s people. If the resurrection didn’t happen, nothing of the Christian message matters. If the resurrection did happen, nothing but the Christian message matters.

Questions:

1. After the loss of Judas, why was it important to restore the number of apostles to twelve?

2.Do you have examples in your own life or experience of clear works of the Holy Spirit that are preceded by prayer?

3. Is it possible for you to be a witness to Christ’s resurrection if you were not actually there to see it with your own eyes?

4. In Acts 26, Paul asks King Agrippa: “why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” Why do you think people find it incredible?

5. Why is it best to lead apologetics discussions toward the issue of the resurrection?

After the risen Christ ascended into Heaven, He empowered His church by the Holy Spirit, not to indulge in useless speculation about the timing and circumstances of His return, but to be His witnesses to the entire world. Their obedience spawned a Gospel movement that we live in and advance by developing and deploying fully devoted followers of Christ to make disciples.

Notes:

- For our good and for his divine purposes, there are things that God chooses to conceal from us.

- Holy Spirit power is granted for and evidenced by boldness, utterance, effectiveness, and authority of Gospel witness.

- While there is a healthy longing for the return of Christ, our time as believers is best spent, not gazing into the clouds, but zealously pursuing the call to witness for Him, near and far.

Questions:

1. There are many things that God reveals to us. Why do you suppose he chooses to conceal the timeline of the last days?

2. Who is eligible to receive power from the Holy Spirit?

3. Thinking back over Jesus’s teaching from the Gospels, why should the apostles have known that His Kingdom agenda wasn’t primarily about restoration of political Israel?

4. How would you answer somebody who argues that Jesus’s final instructions in Acts 1:8 apply only to the apostles and not to us today?

5. At Covenant, we support mission efforts all over the world. Why not focus on our own backyard and leave the rest of the world to others?

We often live as if Jesus’ resurrection is past history but fail to see it as present power. But the resurrection was not the end of Jesus’ ministry; he was only getting started.

Sermon Outline:

I. The Risen Christ is Still Working

II. The Risen Christ is Still Living

III. The Risen Christ is Still Baptizing