Session 9: Part 5(pgs 251-288)

Week 9: Part 5(pgs 251-288)

Challenge Review/Ice-Breaker

Share with your group how meditating on Christ’s love displayed through His sacrifice has impacted your week.

Videos:

Jesus the Messiah

The Great Commission

The Spirit of God

Discussion/Prayer:

1. What were the two primary messages God communicates to His people through the Old Testament? (251)

Read Mark  1:1-8, Malachi 4:5-6, Luke 1:13-17

2. What do these passages tell you about the purpose of John the Baptist?

Read Mark 1:9-45, John 20:31, Matthew 16:15-16, John 1:1-18

“Remember that Israel was waiting for the Messiah, the King who would come from the line of David. When Jesus was referred to as “the Christ,” He was being identified as that Messiah. “Christ” is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Messiah. So to refer to Jesus as the Christ is huge because we are saying that He is the promised Messiah—the person through whom God would accomplish His plan of redemption. God’s ultimate solution to the problem of sin had arrived. “(254)

1. What do these passages tell you about Jesus and His Ministry?
2. Why is it important to know that Jesus was fully human? Why is it important to know Jesus was also fully God?

Read Luke 4;17-30, 24:44-48, 22:17-20

3. Why is it important to know that Jesus knew who He was and what His mission was?
4. What is significant about Jesus fulfilling the OT prophecies made about the Messiah?
5. How does Jesus death serve as the connection point between the Old and the New Covenant?

“What exactly should the church be doing? The answer has been the same since the day Jesus spoke these words. Sure, each church will have some distinctives, and the church in different places and in different times has had some unique issues that it has needed to address. But the church has one mission. It is the mission that characterized Jesus’s ministry on earth, and it is the mission that He left to the church when He returned to His Father. “(268)

Read Acts 1:8, Mark 16:15-18, Matthew 28:18-20

“ But God’s commitment to His plan of redemption does not absolve us from our responsibility to obey His commands. God will reach every corner of this world, and He has chosen to accomplish this task by working through His church.”(271)

3. What is the mission Christ left his followers? How is your church fulfilling Christ’s mission? How are you involved in helping your church accomplish Christ’s mission?

“iAs we have said, a disciple is simply a follower of Jesus. If we believe that Jesus is who He says He is and we do what He tells us to 272 Multiply do, then we are disciples. So the process of disciple making amounts to telling other people about Jesus and calling them to follow Him as well. Discipleship is a lifelong process where we are continuously made more and more like Jesus.”(271-272)

4. What are the steps in the process of discipleship Jesus describes in Matthew 28:18-20?

1. How does one identify with Christ and His Church? Why is it important to be identified with Christ? Is identification with Jesus a one time or ongoing action? How/Why?
2. What does Christ command His followers to teach? How does he command them to teach? How does Christ’s command to instruct others grow us in humility before Him and fellow Christ followers?

Read Joshua 1:1-8, John 14:27, 15:5; Matthew 16:18; Ezekiel 36:25-27

5. How/Why is God’s promise to be with us(Matt 28:20) comforting?  What does God promising Himself to us tell us about what He desires?

1. What type of attitude(s) characterizes a person that is led by the Spirit? Why? (Eze 36)
2. How can you refocus yourself to make sure that you are abiding in Christ?(Jn 15)

6. What does Ezekiel 36 tell you about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christ follower?  What does this teach you about your role in salvation?

Read Mark 1:9-12, Acts 5:1-11, John 16:13-15

“the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an impersonal force, so we should not refer to the Spirit as an “it.” The Holy Spirit is a “He,” a person with the ability to act, will, and even be grieved “(282)

7. What does the passage in Mark teach you about the doctrine of the Trinity?  What do you learn about the Spirit and His relationship to the other parts of the God-head?

1. What does the passage in Acts 5 teach you about the nature of the Spirit?

Read 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1: 19-21, John 14:16-17, 26

8. What do the Passages in 2 Timothy and 2 Peter tell you about the role of the Spirit in Scripture?

1. How do these passages shape/interpret what you know about the Spirit from other passages of Scripture?

9. How have you seen the Spirit working in your life? How have you seen the Spirit work in your church? What obstacles make it difficult to see the Spirit at work in your life or in the lives of others?

Read Ephesians 2: 19-22, 4:1-6

10. What do the passages in Ephesians tell you about the role of the Spirit in the Church?

1. How do these passages influence your understanding of how the presence of God is manifested on Earth?
2. How are you involved in manifesting the presence of God on the Earth?

Individual Challenge:

Commit to asking God to reveal your spiritual gifts and how you can use them everyday this week.  Take a spiritual gifts inventory and meet with a church leader about how you can begin using your gifts.

Click here to take a spiritual gifts inventory