Jesus’ Call to Community - Two: Centred on Jesus
Opening Prayer:
Almighty God,
Open wide our hearts, that we may welcome the stranger and share our faith with others;
Open wide our minds, that we may receive Your truth and understand Your will;
Open wide our doors, that as we come in to meet with You we may go out to serve the world;
Open wide our lives, so that we may experience Your power in daily living.
Amen.
Key Scripture:
“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”
Summary:
This week we opened scripture and asked the question - Who does Jesus call into community? Below is a summary of Sunday’s talk.
Questions to Consider:
Why do you think Jesus called these people? What were the factors that informed his decisions?
Putting yourself in Simon’s shoes, how would you feel about Matthew joining your new family?
Do you agree with his choices? Why or why not?
Looking around your own community, if it was your choice, would you have called these people? What does this tell you about the inclusive nature of the kingdom?
Putting yourself in the shoes of the Pharisees, what would you think as you see Jesus and His disciples walking around town?
Putting yourself in the shoes of someone outside of your community - what would you think of your community as you watch on?
How could your community be more ‘peculiar’?
Who is missing from your community? What could you do to include others in your community?
Having been called together, what is God asking your community to do to share His love with the world?
What is God saying to you?
What are you going to do about it?
Who are you going to tell?
Practices to Consider:
Take a Relational Inventory of your life. Ask yourself - who are my key people, are they like me? Who is God bringing alongside me at this time?
Prayer Prompts:
Pray that we may be a community and people centred on Jesus.
Additional Resources:
Find the full sermon recording here.
For a printable version of this guide click here.
Recommended Podcast: Family of God - Bible Project
Recommended Reading: When the Church Was a Family: Recapturing Jesus' Vision for Authentic Christian Community - Joseph H Hellerman