Saying Yes to God’s Mission
Acts 10:9-16
Jonathan Nolasco, Mission & Outreach Associate, jonathann@churchbcc.org
The calling of the church is to accurately reflect the life of Jesus through his spirit that dwells within us. But what happens when our discipleship to Jesus reflects only a faint, blurry, and distorted depiction of Jesus; a Jesus we have made in our own image rather than the Jesus portrayed in Scripture?
In our text today we will see how disciples of Jesus can offer a more clear and faithful reflection of His life within us by saying yes to three invitations:
I. God’s healing mission
II. God’s transforming mission
III. God’s peacemaking mission
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Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
1. Did you wear glasses as a child, or ever wish you did?
2. What happens when our discipleship to Jesus reflects only a faint, blurry, and distorted, depiction of Jesus; a Jesus we have made in our own image rather than the Jesus portrayed in Scripture?
Read the full passage aloud for the full context of this week: Acts 9:10-41
3. Dallas Willard defines a disciple as someone who has decided to be with another person in order to do what that person does and become what that person is.
a. How does that inform how we act as disciples of Jesus?
b. Are there aspects of who you are that need refining or retuning to be closer to that?
4. What is your comfort level with healing as a Christian? Have you experienced some of the problematic or manipulative theology of healing that Jonathan mentions? Or do you have an experience to share when you or another has been met in their physical brokenness?
5. Is there someone in your life that you can be praying for their healing? Consider the second hand out attachment from the Global Monastery which walks through the practice of intercessory prayer.
6. What assumptions or expectations might we be holding on to that may be preventing us from receiving God’s revelation and the opportunity for transformation that follows?
a. Are there ways in which you can relate to Peter's experience of ongoing transformation? (i.e. The example of Paul calling Peter out when he stopped eating with the Gentiles)
7. When have you faced a truth revealed by God in a such a way that it could either be obeyed or ignored? Share your response to that crossroads moment. Read Jeremiah 6:16
8. As we begin our own peacemaking work, what would it look like for you to join God in seeking holistic restorative peace for the interpersonal, local, and global conflicts that you see?
a. What would it look like for us as part of the local church to be a peacemaking community?
9. As disciples of Jesus we are called to reflect Jesus in our lives and even in our deaths. What do you think this hope means for us in the midst of all our pain and suffering and injustice we face today?