Sermon Discussion Questions

Psalm 110

1) What did the Spirit bring to mind for you as you listened to the sermon? What parts stood out or impacted you?

2) Why do you think Psalm 110 was so frequently quoted by Jesus and the apostles?

3) What is most meaningful to you about Jesus’s role as our king and high priest? More than just giving us theological knowledge, how does it provide comfort to our souls?

4) Psalm 110:3 uses military imagery to describe the people of God. Professor Jim Hamilton says that “When the king goes out to battle, his people will want to risk all for him, even their very lives. No conscription necessary, the people gladly give themselves for the king and his mission.” What do you think it practically looks like to have a “wartime mentality”? Where in your life do you need courage from the Lord to take a kingdom-advancing risk?

5) What’s your initial reaction to hearing about God’s wrath against his enemies? What aspects of it are uncomfortable for you? What aspects encourage you?

Psalm 90

1) What did the Spirit bring to mind for you as you listened to the sermon? What parts stood out or impacted you?

2) How do you feel when you think about how short life is? Is it scary, or do you feel at peace about it? Is it something you’re normally aware of, or does it feel distant?

3) What has been the hardest aspect of the aging process for you (if there has been one)?

4) What are some ways that you might spend your time differently if you were to number your days? What would it take for you to de-clutter your life and pursue a lifestyle of meaningful simplicity?

5) In Gavin Ortlund’s video What Is Heaven Like? he says that a devotional exercise he often does is to stop and think about heaven until it makes him happy. What’s one aspect of eternal life with God that excites you?

6) In what ways do you need the Lord to establish the work of your hands? This could be a part of your daily grind that you struggle to find meaning in, or a dream that you want to pursue for his glory. What are some concrete ways that you can honor him in that work?

Matthew 12:9-21

1) What is your biggest takeaway about the character of Christ in this passage?

2) How does the restraint of Jesus help him accomplish his mission?

3) How does the bible describe justice? What other passages on justice can help describe biblical justice?

4) How has Jesus mended you at times when you felt like a bruised reed or a smoldering wick?

5) What makes the free grace of the gospel hard to believe sometimes? 

Matthew 10:16-33

1) James likened the Matthew 10:16-33 to a storied advertisement from 1914, “Men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” What’s your response to straightforward expectations conveyed by this ad and by Jesus in this text?

2) How does Jesus clarifying the expectations we should have of the world, ourselves, one another and God, impact you? Is it encouraging or discouraging? Is it intimidating or exhilarating? How does it affect  your discipleship?

3) What new or helpful insight do you gain as it relates to what you expect in these three areas highlighted?

4) Jesus is emphatic calling us not to fear. What is it you most fear about going all in with Jesus? And how do Jesus words address those fears?

Matthew 10:5-15

1) How did your heart react to the scenarios of the risks and rewards of being called to missions or called to a new job by a company?

2) Is there a reason to be responsible for history?

Matthew 9:36-10:4

1) Have you ever considered going into global missions? Why or why not?

2) How can you be a laborer in the current fields God has you in right now?

3) Go to Joshua Project and pick a couple people groups to pray for. Pray God would send laborers to these fields.

4) Discuss as a group ways you can engage in missions at Generations. See Scottie's missions packet #4 in this folder. 

Matthew 9:18-35

1) James suggested that Matthew’s aim in this sequence is to help us see Jesus clearly with eyes of faith. What new glimpses of Jesus did the Holy Spirit give you today through God’s Word?

2) There were 5 big points today about the kind of King Jesus is… he is a King who Heals our Deepest Pain; a King who Covers our Deepest Shame; a King who Meets our Deepest Need; a King who Frees us from our Deepest Strongholds; and a King who Fulfills our Deepest Longings. Which of these scenes could you most relate to?

• Share with each other which of these most impacted you or ministered to you and why.
• Share with each other which of these is most difficult for you to internalize or connect with and why.

3) Two side notes in the message pertained to Jesus’ responsiveness to interruptions and Jesus’ avoidance of the spotlight. Do you see any relationship between these two features of Jesus’ ministry? What concrete things can you adjust to your life in order to follow Jesus in these ways?

4) Consider this quote from Richard Lovelace: "In the hearts of people there is a groping, inarticulate conviction that if the right ruler would only come along, the world would be healed of all it’s wounds. Creation is headless and desperately searching for its head.”

Discuss the ways in which you see this groping in your life, in the church and in the culture along with how we might orient ourselves and approach this election year in a distinctly Christian way that looks to Jesus as the King we all want.

Matthew 9:9-17

1) Is there tension in us as we see the relationships Jesus had with sinners? Are we as  open to people like Matthew as Jesus was? If not, why?

2) How does the priority of God's mercy affect how we follow Jesus? 

3) Who are people we have a hard time believing are worth trying to bring to Jesus? In light of this text, how are you going to extend yourself toward them?

Matthew 8:18-22

1) Who is the most faithful disciple of Jesus that you know personally? Why do you say that about them? What about their life and character leads you to this conclusion? See if you can identify common traits and characteristics of the different people identified by the individuals in your group?

2) In this week’s message, Clarity from the King, we suggested the Jesus is giving us clarity about what it means to be a true disciple of his. As reflect on your journey as a Christian, what are you encouraged by and what you're  convicted about? Or, in other words, what clarity did Sunday bring for you personally, in relation to both how you are following Jesus faithfully and how you are struggling to do so?

3) We want to apply that same line of thinking to the specific points drawn out of the text this week, and offer some personal reflections and corporate observations.

Personally:

- In what ways are you decisively estranging yourself from the world, and in what ways would you say you are convicted regarding your enmeshment with the world?

- In what ways have you urgently reordered your life in this world, and in what ways are you to assimilated in your order of life to this world?  

Corporately:

- In what ways do you think we as church are decisively estranging ourselves from the world, and in what ways do you think we are too enmeshed with the world?

- In what ways do you see us urgently reordering our church located in this world, and in what ways are do you think we are too assimilated in our church life to this world?  

4) James recounted the story of Jim Elliot and his missionary colleagues who were martyred for their faith in Ecuador. One of his journal entries for which he is famously is that “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” What concrete things do you find yourself clinging to and treasuring or cherishing which you cannot keep? And what might you gain if you made a decision to give some of that or any of that up?

Colossians 1:1-8

1) As we surveyed the biblical and historical record to see the progress of the gospel, or as Paul said in Colossians 1:6, how the gospel is “bearing fruit and growing through the whole world”, what was the impact on your heart and mind?

2) Share about your personal exposure to, experience with and ambitions to be part of global missions. How has the Holy Spirit used global missions to shape your discipleship?

3) What impact on and insights into life with Christ have you gained from the missionaries you know personally or from those you’ve read about or heard about biographically?

4) Read Matthew 9:35-37. Discuss Jesus’ characterization of the world and his heart for his people.  As we’re in our week of Prayer and Fasting, spend time praying for our church partners and those you know personally who are serving to take the gospel to the nations; and pray for the Lord to raise up workers to be sent into the harvest.

5) How is the Spirit working in your heart in relationship to the nations? What part is God giving you to play? Give yourself in this week to prayerfully ask the Lord to give you His vision for your part in His mission.

Jeremiah 29:1-9

1) We opened the messaged talking about playing a small part in the greatest story ever told v. playing the lead role in our own story. Share from your own life about ways you’ve seen the futility of making things about you v. the joy of playing your part in something where Jesus is center stage.

2) We talked about 2 Identities, 2 Strategies, and 2 Practices as a baseline for playing our part in the story of redemption right where we are. The 2 identities we pulled from Jeremiah 29 are that we are exiles and we are sent.

• In what ways is it difficult for you to internalize being an “exile on earth”? Or more specifically, in what ways do you tend to over-value and over-identify with the world? How would internalizing this as part of your identity change how you think about and engage with the world?

• Looking at your current station in life, in light of where you live, work and play, how would the notion of being sent help you engage more differently or more intentionally?

3) The Strategies we pulled from the passage for bearing fruit for the Kingdom were Locality and Longevity.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 together with these two strategies in view. Walk through the passage, thinking through these questions:

• If our ministry is a ministry of reconciliation, what does that indicate about what most people are experiencing? What is the context of us ministering to people?

• What it is an ambassador in a formal sense? Discuss the range of their responsibilities, the work they do and how they go about it?

• What do these insights indicate about how we enter into normal life and Ambassadors of Christ?

4) The 2 Practices which we identified from Jeremiah 29 are the practice of Blessing and Praying.

• The Lord’s word through Jeremiah was to “seek the welfare” of our community. James characterized that as intelligently and curiously investigating how we can give ourselves to blessing the people and places among whom we live. Discuss together the areas of lostness and brokenness you see around us and where we may have opportunities to do this.

• We were challenged to think about walking our neighborhoods and communities to pray blessing over people. As a lead up to that, have each person name someone in their life who doesn’t know Jesus, and let’s take time in our groups to pray blessing over them together.

Colossians 1:13-20

1) Paul says in v. 16 of this passage that all things were created by Jesus and for Jesus. James made the statement that “if everything exists for him, then the corresponding reality is that nothing exists for you.” We suggested that this is good news for us, not bad news. How is “it’s not about you” good news for every one of us?

2) Paul speaks of Jesus as the “firstborn of all creation” and the “firstborn from the dead.” We covered the idea of firstborn denoting an elevated status, but then James also introduced the idea of Jesus as a “prototype”. Explore the implications of this idea together, considering what it means for Jesus to be the model, both in our creation and redemption, that we are patterned after.

3) We ended the message talking about the first-ness or preeminence of Jesus in 4 particular areas of our lives: our inner life, our relationship, our resources and our time. Let’s get honest with ourselves and each other. Where is the Holy Spirit convicting you about the diminishing of Jesus? In what ways, personally, is Jesus’ preeminence being ignored or walled off?

4) We heard this quote from Devern Fromke: “Believers may not often realize it, but even as believers we are either centered in man, or centered in God. There is no alternative. Either God is the center of our universe and we have become rightly adjusted to him, or we have made ourselves the center and are attempting to make all else orbit around us and for us.” In light of the previous question, discuss a specific change or specific changes that you need to make “to become rightly adjust to him.”

John 8:56-59

1) What stood out to you from the sermon today? What did the Holy Spirit put on your heart?

2) How do you see slavery to the fear of death at work in our culture? In what ways does it directly or indirectly manifest itself?

3) Read Ecclesiastes 7:2 and Psalm 39:4-6. Why do you think that Scripture instructs us to contemplate our mortality? How does thinking about death help us to live rightly?

4) How do you deal with the thought of death? Is it something you’re afraid of, something you numb yourself to, or something that you don’t think about often? What new ways of thinking and living does the death of Jesus open up to us?

5) It’s easy to hear stories of martyrs and feel discouraged by the weakness of our own faith. But Jesus meets us with grace where we're at and his Spirit leads us forward. Where in your life do you long to experience victory over fear, and what's one practical step of faith you can take in that direction?

John 8:56-59

1) We covered a ton of ground in this week’s message (Genesis 3:14-15, to Genesis 12:1-3, to Genesis 15:1-7, to Genesis 49:10, to 2 Samuel 7, to Micah 5:2-5, and Isaiah 7:14 to Isaiah 9:1-7, all the way to Matthew 1-2, and Luke 1-2 and John 1:1-4, to John 8:56 and even Hebrews 11:12-16… and more). Share any new and fresh insights about the narrative arc of Scripture and your reaction to them, emotionally, theologically and spiritually.

2) When you think about the phrase, “always winter and never Christmas”, what realities are you facing that flood to the surface? What are the points of darkness that linger in and over you? Explore as a group how the finished work of Jesus addresses these things, and how the glorious reappearing of Jesus will resolve them.

3) Read back through Hebrews 11:12-16. Maybe zoom out for context and read from v. 8-16. What was the hope of Abraham and his offspring before the incarnation of Jesus. How does their waiting in faith mentor us in our own waiting in faith?

4) Hebrews describes God's people as hoping for a heavenly home and realizing that they were "strangers and exiles" here on earth. How does that notion of being strangers and exiles challenge our identity and inform how we should think about the world around us, our place in it and how we live?

1 John 4:7-11

1)How do you think people conceptualize love in our culture?

2) How is love defined according to John?

3) How is love demonstrated according to John?

4) How is love "triangular" in 1 John 4?

5) What are ways you could be sent in love?

6) What are ways you could sacrifice in love?

7) What are ways you could refuse hate in love?

Isaiah 6:1-7

1) Share any personal insights and impact from this weeks message. What do you see more clearly about God? About yourself? About Jesus and the gospel? What is the emotional response to this passage?

2) Read Revelation 4. Identify and discuss in this throne room scene any similarities and differences from Isaiah.

3) Read John 12:37-43. This is where John tells us that it was God the Son whom Isaiah saw upon the throne. Discuss the response of the authorities, and the factors related to their response. In what ways might we be struggling with these same pressures?

4) Read Ephesians 1:3-10. How does Paul define the state of Christians before God because of Christ? Respond and interact over this, in light of Isaiah 6.

5) 1 Peter 1:13-21 with special attention to v. 15-16. What are the implications of the holiness of God, and that holiness conferred upon us? What specifically is the Holy Spirit (the Spirit, that is, of holiness) calling you to in pursuit of holiness?

Mark 1:1-11

1) What passages of Scripture would you personally use to talk about  the Trinity in the Bible? Why?

2)What is the role of the Spirit in the New Covenant?

3) Read Ephesians 1:3-14. What does each person of the Trinity do for us in our salvation? What is the ultimate goal of the Father, Son, and Spirit in saving us (hint: look at verses 6, 12, 14)?

4) Is there a member of the Trinity that you engage with less than the others? Why? 

5)  What are ways we live the Christian life or do Christian ministry from a place of "law" and "flesh" rather than from gospel and Spirit?

Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Exodus 32; 2 Kings 22-23

1) Why was the truth that "God is one" so vital for the Israelites to affirm and live in light of?

2)Why is idolatry so enticing?  Why would people choose idols or self-worship over worship of the one true God?

-Consider R.C. Sproul's explanation for why Israel was attracted to worship of the golden calf:
“The cow gave no law and demanded no obedience. It had no wrath or justice or holiness to be feared. It was deaf, dumb, and impotent. But at least it could not intrude on their fun and call them to judgment. This was a religion designed by men, practiced by men, and ultimately useless for men.”

3) What are the biggest idols in our society? What about in our life? How  do we become like these idols? (see Psalm 135:15-18)

4) How can we cut these idols out of our life?  (see Ephesians 4:17-24)

5)  BONUS: Read Zechariah 14:9 and pray that the LORD would fulfill it soon.

*There will be a forthcoming Weekday Worship podcast episode on examples of idolatry. 

1) When you think of "glory" in the Bible, what do you think of? What passages of Scripture?

2) Why is God's purpose and priority of his name and his glory good news to us?

3) What is the connection between God's praise and our joy?

4) What ways do we disregard  or work against the purpose and priority of God's glory in our lives?

5)  How can we live more in light of and for God's glory in our lives?

According to Hebrews, faith is looking forward to God’s promises in Christ and looking upward to the unseen reality of God’s presence in Christ.

1) What aspects of faith do you struggle to believe? What are the hardest unseen realities and future promises that you have trouble placing faith in?

2) What aspects of faith are you most encouraged by? What are the unseen realities and future promises that you find to be the most powerful in your life?

3) What are potential ways you can exercise the sacrifices of faith?

4)  What are potential areas in your life where you need to walk with God by faith rather than walk away from him?

5) In your life, what are potential opportunities for you to risk and work by faith for the kingdom of God?

1) How does Jesus’ statement that many of his self-identified followers will  not enter the Kingdom of Heaven impact you generally?

2) Jesus focused on the problem of self-deception among professing Christians.

• In what areas do you perceive self-deception in the broader landscape of the church? 
• In what areas  do you perceive self-deception among us at Generations?

3) James referenced a couple passages toward the end of the passage related to self-deception:

• Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 1 Cor 3:18
• If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Galatians 6:3

Starting with Jesus in Matthew 7, and with these words from the Apostle Paul in consideration, in what ways and in what relationships  are you prone to operating in self-deception?

4) Romans 8:12-17 indicates that God wants his children assured of their salvation and adoption. In the message, we  mentioned that assurance comes, not from past experiences or achievements, but from a present posture of repentant faith and glad obedience. If this is true, what evidence can draw upon personally, or what  encouragement can you offer to each other, that you belong to the community of disciples?

1) A false prophet speaks a message they claim is from God, but in reality it contradicts or opposes His word. The effect is that it numbs our conscience and makes us comfortable in our sin. How did the Pharisees’ superficial teachings on righteousness fall into this category? How did Jesus correct their false teachings?

2) Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, false prophets take something true but then subtly twist it. This makes their teaching even more dangerous, because it has a semblance of truth but is in reality a lie. What kinds of false teachings do you think are most prevalent in our culture? What element of truth is there in them, and how is that truth then distorted?

3) By God’s grace, we are a healthy church that strives to hold to His word. But Jesus gives us a dire warning here that no one is immune to the lure of false teaching. Which false teachings do you think our church, Generations, is most vulnerable to? What’s an example of a lie that you once believed about yourself or God?

4) Consider those who are most vulnerable among our church family. How can you personally take responsibility for protecting your brothers and sisters in Christ from the ravenous wolves who seek to devour them? What kind of skills and knowledge would be helpful in this fight, and how might you pursue developing them?

5) How does Jesus’s identity as the true Prophet give us hope despite the very real dangers that we face from false prophets? What kind of fruit do you long to see him produce in your life?

1) What are particular (good and/or godly) desires or longings that you want to see done to you but have been lacking in your life?

2) What are specific ways you can fulfill those desires in another person?

3) How can you apply the Consider→Desire→Do cycle to your life?

4) How would sum up the Old Testament in 15 words or less? (This is a great way to stimulate thoughts on the big picture of God’s Word.)

5) How do you react to Jesus' summation of the OT?

6) Where have you neglected the worship of God by not caring for his image bearers?

7) How can we make sure people understand the narrow gate and the hard road that conversion to Christianity is while also winsomely offering the wonderful news of the gospel to them?