From the Field: It All Starts in Your Jerusalem
God has made His people a “royal priesthood” so that we can take the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and “to the ends of the earth.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR SHEPHERD GROUPS
- What was one thing you found particularly challenging, insightful, helpful, or difficult to understand from this Sunday?
- Have you ever seen experienced the tension between external success and internal emptiness? In what way(s)? How do you deal with that tension?
- Read and discuss Acts 1:8, Acts 4:11, Matthew 16:13-18, and 1 Peter 2:4-5. What themes run through these verses? What do they tell you about you? What do they tell us about Jesus?
- What is the significance of Jesus as the chief cornerstone of the church?
- Read and discuss Exodus 19:5-6, Hebrews 5:10, 1 Peter 2:9, Hebrews 7:25-27, Revelation 1:5-6 and 1 Timothy 2:5. According to these verses, what is a priest meant to do? Why is it significant that Jesus is our high priest?
- How is Jesus both priest and sacrifice?
- How are we also priests? What does this mean for us?
- How does knowing that you are a “royal priesthood” in Jesus frame who you are and what you do? What adjustments do you need to make in order to live out this calling?
- Have you ever considered the spiritual tension between being a “needy sheep” and also a “royal priesthood”? How can we navigate this tension?
- How does the gospel make us “free from ourselves”?
- Where in your life have you grown comfortable to the point that you’ve “stopped pedaling”?
- Spend some time in prayer for the things you’ve discussed. Give thanks to the Lord that Jesus brings people to God and God to people. Pray that He will give you boldness and strength to do the same as a royal priesthood in Jesus Christ. Pray for Marcio, his teams and the gospel work along the Amazon and Purus rivers.