Grace South Bay

This Q&A conversation is based on the sermon "Failure and Succession" from August 13th based on Numbers 27:12-23

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 

Sermon Questions
1. When have you experienced  'uncertainty bordering on hopelessness' ? What event or series of events threw you into that?
2. Where do you see moralism comforting or distressing you?
3. Does Jesus' rescuing acts for you seem future-only?
4. What are some way-points where Jesus has shown up for you?
5. How might a true and living hope change how you live today/tomorrow/next year?

This Q&A conversation is based on the sermon "Not Home Yet" from 1 Peter 1:1-12 on Aug 20th 2023

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 

Sermon Questions:

This Q&A conversation is based on the sermon titled Disruptive Grace from Numbers 26 and 27 on Aug 6th 2023. 

The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.

Sermon Questions: 

1.     How do you handle failure?  Is it something you fear?  How does that show up in your life?

2.     What is one of your potential failures you fear the most?  Does God’s work and plan overshadow that in your heart and mind?

3.     Do you struggle with thinking you need a shepherd?  In what parts of your life do you invite being shepherded, and in what parts do you resist it?

4.     Do you know that Jesus is the good shepherd who loves you in your failure?  Have you experienced that?

5.     In what ways have you ‘seen’ or ‘encountered’ Jesus?  Has that served as a view that sustains you?

6.     Where in your life can you ask God to give you a view?

This Q&A Conversation is based on the sermon "Repeat Offenders" on July 30th 2023 from Numbers 25.

After the plague, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all in Israel who are able to go to war.” …

Reuben, the firstborn of Israel…

This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names.” … 

These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.”

Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.”

Sermon Questions:
1.     Do you agree that there is a growing pessimism about the future?  Do you feel it?  What is the cause do you think?

2.     Was Israel prepared, and did they deserve, to enter the Promised and receive it?  Why did they ultimately?

3.     Can you trust God with society and the course of history?  Do you believe by his grace he will preserve the world and his people to the end?  Should that impact how you live now?  If so, how?

4.     If you have children, do you feel the pressure and insecurity of being a parent?

5.     If you have children, what are your deepest hopes for them?  How much control do you have over achieving those hopes? 

6.     Can you leave your children in God’s hands, trusting his disruptive grace?

This Q&A conversation is based on the sermon titled "Curses and Blessings" from July 23rd 2023 - based on Numbers 22 and 23

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor."

And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites. And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.

Sermon Questions
1.     Do you ever feel like your own worst enemy? When/how so?

2.     What are the lies of our culture that you seem susceptible to?

3.     Do you agree that evil’s best strategy against us is to distort the truth? What are the implications of that?

4.     The passage suggests that idolatry is equivalent to adultery. Is that how you think about it when you find you are serving idols?

5.     Do you ever struggle with falling for the same lie repeatedly? Discuss.

6.     Do you walk around believing you are a part of the problem? If not, how do you think about it?

7.     The sermon suggests that the main truth of Jesus is that he was crucified for our lie-believing sin. Is that how you relate to him? What are others ways you might relate to him?