October 27, 2019 - FIRST PETER SERIES, Build the Spiritual House

OCTOBER 20, 2019 The smaller groups in our church community are inside our homes where we go deeper, build friendships, and walk out the Christian life with each other. HOME CHURCH GUIDE + “Breaking the Ice” question (group facilitator) + CHECK-INS: Introduce, check-in + CARE: Needs in the group + COMPASSION: What is the group planning? Are you inviting your neighbours to join in? + GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS Church-wide, group-only + DIG IN: Discuss questions as a group + END AND HOMEWORK: Final questions, prayer huddles for personal requests. Consider breaking into small groups (huddles) of 2-4, by gender, if large enough. General DISCUSSION questions: 1. When have you thrown something away, only to realize later that you needed it? What did you do to try to get it back? 2. Read 1 Peter 2:1-10 (two translations ideally) 3. How can the attitudes and behaviours (1-3) be destructive in the church? Have you experienced this or (be honest) when have you been part of the problem? Why do we act this way? 4. What are the different words Peter uses to describe Christians? Which one do you like the best, why? 5. How do these word reaffirm (y)our value? 6. Peter reminds us there is more to salvation than initially being saved. It’s something we grow up in (2:2). What does it mean to grow in our salvation? 7. God calls the church to be not just ethnic Israel, but a holy nation of all ethnicities and nations. What practical effect can this multinational and multiethnic people of God have on our local churches? And in our cities? 8. Jesus is called a rock and a rock that causes some to stumble. Discuss Jesus as a tripping or stumbling stone. 9. Jesus is supposed to be the cornerstone we set the rest of the building lines of our lives by. How can Jesus be a cornerstone in practical every-day life? Pray this prayer out loud together in your smaller prayer huddles (Lucado): “God, forgive us for the times we have left you behind in our struggle to get ahead. Forgive us for forgetting who you are and what you have done for us. We know you have been there--always waiting, always hoping, and always ready to forgive. May we understand what it means to make you the cornerstone of our lives.” Prayer Requests: Where do you live? Each of us is building and being shaped into something in our lives. Are you building a source of sanctuary or distress, a place of flourishing or floundering, strength or stumbling? As we continue our look into the ancient book of First Peter, we will learn what makes a good house for being in community and making a difference in the world. KEY VERSE: 1 Peter 2:1-10 (NET) So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation, 3 if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness. A Living Stone, a Chosen People 4 So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.” 7 So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, 8 and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy. OUTLINE THROUGH THE PASSAGE 2:7-8 Stumbling over the Stone (Isaiah 8:14) 2:1-3 Crave the Good Milk (Psalm 34:8) Whoever gossips to you will gossip of you -Spanish proverb Malice 2:9-10 Who You Are: Identity! (Isaiah 43:20-21, Deuteronomy 10:15, Exodus 19:5-6, Malachi 3:17) Deceit Hypocrisy Envy Slander Chosen Race Grow up! Royal Priesthood Holy Nation 2:4-6 Stones upon the Stone (Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 28:16, Ephesians 2:19-22) Special Possession Received Mercy TAKE OUTS