On Sunday, June 7, 2015, we began a new sermon series at Wildwood Community Church entitled “True Grace.” This series (based out of the book of 1 Peter) talks about how God has given us the grit to stand in hostile territory. The first sermon in this series was grounded in 1 Peter 1:1-12. Below are questions for personal reflection or group discussion based on this message.
Discussion Questions:
- Read 1 Peter 1:1-12
- In this message, I made the statement that “we are living in (at least) a PG-13 world.” The idea being that life can be quite hard and challenging. What are some of the challenges you are facing in life right now?
- Do any of the challenges you are currently facing (or faced in the past) want to steal your hope?
- Peter writes to the church to encourage them to have hope in hostile times. On what is this hope founded (according to 1 Peter 1:1-12)?
- Many times we spend our lives looking backward (on our past sin and failure), or to the present day (focusing on the struggles we are currently experiencing). Peter here encourages Christians to have hope in light of tomorrow (not just today). In what way is Jesus’s promises concerning tomorrow an encouragement to you today?
- We are often preoccupied by only what we can see. However, the Christian life is often a step of faith, believing in what we cannot see. In 1 Peter 1:8-12, Peter gives an argument about why it is OK and even normal for Christians to believe in things they cannot currently see. Yet faith in these unseen things is not unreasonable given all that God has done in history. Do you find Peter’s argument here compelling? Why or why not?
- What is going on in your life that you are tempted to lose hope over? How does today’s passage encourage you to have a big faith and a big hope in our BIG GOD?
- Anything else particularly stand out to you in today’s message?
The entire “True Grace” study on 1 Peter can be found at this link.