Coastline Bible Church is doing a five-week sermon series called: "Flawed but Faithful." This is going to be a unique sermon series because typically when we read the Bible we are looking for the text to be God-centric; meaning we put God at the center of our focus. But for five weeks we’re going to focus on the life of Peter. We’re going to see that Peter is a human just like us. We’re going to learn that Peter followed Jesus, stepped out in faith, tried to justify himself, and had wild ideas. We’re going to see that Peter is a flawed man who was faithful to God. Peter played a key role in building the local church and because of his faithfulness to Jesus we have the local church. For this series I volunteered to write the small group questions that go along with each sermon. It seemed like a waste to leave them in a file on my computer and not share them with everyone.
Small Group Questions ::: Walking on Water ::: Matthew 14
Last we studied the calling of Peter and today we will look at one of his greatest acts of trusting Jesus. Hours before this story took place the disciples watched Jesus feed thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish. After the miraculous feeding, Jesus instructed the disciples to meet Him on the side of the lake. They acted in obedience and it brought them into a treacherous storm. It was in the middle of the Sea of Galilee that Jesus came to them, walking on water. It seems that Jesus is breaking the laws of nature to care for His disciples. In fact, we learn that Jesus is the Lord of creation. But since we’re studying Peter we see his bravery in following Jesus by walking on water with Jesus!
1) Neal shared about the catastrophic destruction that hurricane Katrina caused in the golf coast back in 2005. Share about a time in your when you were in a literal or figurative storm that caused you to trust God.
2) Read Matthew 14:22-24. The disciples obeyed when Jesus asked them to get in the boat and head to the other side. Read John 8:51, 14:23, Acts 5:29, and Romans 2:13. Why is it easy to obey Jesus sometimes but other times it seems so difficult?
3) In the middle of the storms of life, what keeps you committed to obeying the truth of God? Do you find it hard to remember the truth that Jesus has spoken to you in the dark times? Psalm 119:11 teaches us to hide God’s word in our hearts.
4) We need to know what voice to listen to in the storm (read Matthew 14:25-27). In the middle of the lake Jesus encouraged the disciples not to be afraid. What are you afraid of right now? Read Isaiah 41:10, Genesis 15:1, and Psalm 118:6.
5) Jesus said: “It is I” to the disciples. This would have made them think about what God spoke to Moses in Exodus 3:1-15. Discuss the significance of Jesus declaring His deity to the disciples during that storm.
6) Read Matthew 14:28-31. Peter is the one disciple who was courageous enough to get out of the boat. Two questions: What is holding you back from getting out of the boat and what is pushing you to step out of the boat this week?
7) The first thing the disciples did was worship Jesus when He got in the boat. Read Acts 14:8-18. In the boat, Jesus permitted the disciples to worship Him. What does this teach us about Jesus being fully God and fully man?
Close your time in prayer. Talk about who you will invite to Coastline Online?
No comments:
Post a Comment