Who do you Trust?

Sermon Notes April 21, 2019 Luke 24 Short Review Review the main points of the morning message. Focus on: Do we trust ourselves or trust Christ? Some Questions for Discussion: 1. Read the accounts of the resurrection in Luke 24 and John 20. a. Why were the women not believed? b. Did it take a while for it to sink in that ‘Christ had risen?’ Why? c. What convinces you? 2. Look at some of the places where Jesus promised to rise from the dead (e.g. Matt. 16:21f) a. How did the disciples respond to these predictions? b. Why did they not “remember” them? What does it tell us about how they listened/trusted what Jesus had said? 3. Trusting and ‘faith’: talk about why the expression “faith in Christ” is best understood as “trust in Christ.” 4. Is it true that people trust in themselves? a. What advice does our culture give us about this? b. Some say that their desires form their identity. Who affirms these desires as good and right, or not good and wrong? c. Why does it make sense to trust Christ (God incarnate) more than ourselves, our feelings or our desires? 5. What are the areas that Christians struggle with – where are we likely to trust ourselves more than trust Christ? a. Think of the kinds of people who succeed and get attention in our culture and in church. Are we willing to be different? E.g. do we pursue being gentle and humble in a culture where the aggressive and loud get attention? (see e.g. Mt. 5:5; II Tim. 2:24; James 3:17,18) b. How are we different in the way spend, marry, spend out time? How does ‘trusting in Jesus’ rather than trusting in ourselves change those things? 6. How is ‘faith in God’ a theme of the Bible? a. Talk about Abraham and why he is the ‘father of those’ who live by faith? [Read passages in Genesis 15:1-6, Romans 4:1-8] b. Read and discuss John 11:25,26 (and surrounding verses) c. Read Hebrews 11:6. Why does faith/trust please God? And why is this important if we want a life that is flourishing? 7. How can we pray for one another in response to the word today?