Sermon Outline:

Our individual responsibility (1 Peter 2:1-3).Our corporate identity (1 Peter 2:4-6).A universal reality (1 Peter 2:7-8).An overwhelming beauty (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Discussion Questions:

What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better? God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements? Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)

This is the 5th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.

Sermon Outline:

*This sermon was preached by Andy Beams.

Sermon Outline:

Command #1— Set your hope (1 Peter 1:13).Command #2— Be holy (1 Peter 1:14-21).Command #3—Love earnestly (1 Peter 1:22-25).

Discussion Questions:

What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better?God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements?Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)

This is the 4th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.

Sermon Outline:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ… (1 Peter 1:1a)To those who are elect exiles… (1 Peter 1:1b)Know that… (1 Peter 1:2)

Discussion Questions:

What are some examples of how the American church has struggled to remember we are exiles? How does living as if this is our home negatively impact our ability to live for Jesus?What does it feel like to not belong in a culture you are immersed in? How does knowing God chose you change those feelings?Are there any areas of your life that you might be living as if you belong in this world, rather than you are an exile?

This is the 2nd sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.

Sermon Outline:

A confusing theme in 1 Peter…Evil is real, God is good, and that’s not a contradiction.It turns out, we aren’t the first ones to suffer…Could something bigger be going on behind our suffering?

Discussion Questions:

When in your life did you grow the most as a follower of Christ? How did God grow you?Have you ever felt that the existence of evil is a barrier to trusting Jesus? How do the verses we read today about Jesus suffering help deal with that barrier?What is hard in your life right now? What would it look/feel like to experience Jesus’ presence in that?

This is the 1st sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.

Sermon Outline:

Longing for home (Psalm 90:1-2).Remembering we are dust (Psalm 90:3-6).The origin of our problem (Psalm 90:7-11).Finding our way home (Psalm 90:12-17).

Notable Quote:

“Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”      —C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Discussion Questions:

In what ways do you feel “homeless?” What longings do you have? How is God your dwelling place?How does your heart respond to the Psalm’s reminder that we are temporary, that death is inevitable? How does Jesus tasting death for us change your heart’s response?Which of the 6 prayers in Vv. 12-17 stand out to you the most? Why? How will you pray each of those this coming week?

Discussion Questions

Sermon Outline:

In Christ the impossible is possible (John 1:14).4 implications of the impossible becoming possible (John 1:15-18).

Helpful Quotes:

“The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” Tim Keller“For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all. You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” St. Athanasius, 318 AD

Discussion Questions: 

Which aspect of John 1:1-18 (what we’ve studied the past four weeks) stands out as the most encouraging thing for you personally?Why do we typically view grace and truth as existing in opposition? How does Jesus coming full of grace and truth change how you view their relationship?Faithful Christianity embodies many “dichotomies” similar to what John outlines in v. 14. E.g. loving our enemies, finding peace amidst trials, etc. What other dichotomies are we called to embody as Christians? How does God becoming man help us with that?

**This is week four of Advent 2022.

Sermon Outline:

The nature of Jesus (John 1:9).The natural response to Jesus (John 1:10-11).The unnatural grace of Jesus (John 1:12-13).

Discussion Questions: 

Have you ever wondered if you would have chosen to follow Jesus if you lived in the 1st Century? What does this passage do to your opinion of yourself?Read verse 12, what part of this is the most astonishing to you? Why?Verse 9 hints at the fact that people are always looking for “light,” or people to look up to/worship. Where do you see this in our day? Why are we prone to fall for this temptation?

**This is week three of Advent 2022.