Acts 29 Guest Pastors: Recent Episodes
missio Dei: Falcon
Sermon Outline:
- Rejoice amidst your pain (1 Peter 4:12-13).
- Be faithful in your pain (1 Peter 4:14-16).
- Keep an eternal perspective on your pain (1 Peter 4:17-19).
Discussion Questions:
- Why are we so caught off guard when we suffer? How will this passage prepare you for future trials?
- How has God matured you through difficult situations? Share some examples to encourage those at your table.
- When do you most struggle to genuinely trust God? How does this passage (and 2 Cor. 4:17-18) help?
This is the 12th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Discussion Questions:
- What are some actions we take to avoid suffering in our life? Which of those are legitmate? Which of those may go too far into taking us out of what God wants for us?
- How does having an eternal perspective help us with disappointment and unmet desires?
- How can living in community with other believers help us step into difficult things?
This is the 11th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- A picture of God’s people thriving (1 Peter 3:8-12).
- What God’s people should expect as they thrive (1 Peter 3:13-17).
- The reason God’s people will always thrive (1 Peter 3:18-22).
Discussion Questions:
- How would you describe “the good life?” What first comes to mind with that phrase? How might your mental picture be different from Peter’s?
- When have you grown through pain? How does that build trust for God’s will in your life amidst suffering?
- What types of things are Christians reviled for in our culture? How can we bless those who attack us?
This is the 10th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Honorable wives in exile (1 Peter 3:1-6).
- Honorable husbands in exile (1 Peter 3:7).
Discussion Questions:
- Women, which of the three attributes discussed today is most challenging? Which is most appealing? (1-2: Missional Submission; 3-4: Authentic Beauty; 5-6: Communal Calling);
- Men, which of the four attributes discussed today is the most needed exhortation? (7a, live in an understanding way; 7b, show honor; 7c, remember we are co-heirs; 7d, prayers can be hindered);
- What would a church culture that embodied these attributes feel like? How can you help cultivate that culture?
This is the 8th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Servants and suffering (18-20).
- Christ's Example (21-23).
- Christ's work on our behalf (23-25).
Discussion Questions:
- How Can the truths in verses 23-25 help us in our daily work?
- What are some ways we can practically entrust ourselves to Christ and ground ourselves in Him?
- Pray for anyone at your table who may be experiencing a suffering season at work or in other places God has placed them.
This is the 7th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Honorable exiles (1 Peter 2:11-12).
- Honorable exiles and government (1 Peter 2:13-17).
Discussion Questions:
- What is your flesh passionate about? What does the war feel like? How does God enable you to abstain?
- When people think of you, what comes to mind? When people think of the American church, what comes to mind? How is Jesus different and better? How can we help people think of Jesus instead of us?
- What good deeds (Verse 12) would you like our church to be known for as a way of bringing glory to God? What beautiful behavior would direct attention to our beautiful Savior?
This is the 6th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Our individual responsibility (1 Peter 2:1-3).
- Our corporate identity (1 Peter 2:4-6).
- A universal reality (1 Peter 2:7-8).
- An overwhelming beauty (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Discussion Questions:
- What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better?
- God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements?
- Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)
This is the 5th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Command #1— Set your hope (1 Peter 1:13).
- Command #2— Be holy (1 Peter 1:14-21).
- Command #3—Love earnestly (1 Peter 1:22-25).
Discussion Questions:
- What are the things that narrow your gaze or focus? What desires/hopes cloud your mind from seeing Jesus? How does hope in the Gospel broaden your gaze? Or, how is Jesus better?
- God’s kindness leads to repentance (not the reverse) and our salvation fuels our obedience (not the reverse). Why are we so tempted to switch the order of those statements?
- Finish the sentence: In my life, greater holiness looks like… (Hint: It looks more like Jesus!)
This is the 4th sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ… (1 Peter 1:1a)
- To those who are elect exiles… (1 Peter 1:1b)
- Know that… (1 Peter 1:2)
Discussion Questions:
- What are some examples of how the American church has struggled to remember we are exiles? How does living as if this is our home negatively impact our ability to live for Jesus?
- What does it feel like to not belong in a culture you are immersed in? How does knowing God chose you change those feelings?
- Are there any areas of your life that you might be living as if you belong in this world, rather than you are an exile?
This is the 2nd sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- A confusing theme in 1 Peter…
- Evil is real, God is good, and that’s not a contradiction.
- It turns out, we aren’t the first ones to suffer…
- Could something bigger be going on behind our suffering?
Discussion Questions:
- When in your life did you grow the most as a follower of Christ? How did God grow you?
- Have you ever felt that the existence of evil is a barrier to trusting Jesus? How do the verses we read today about Jesus suffering help deal with that barrier?
- What is hard in your life right now? What would it look/feel like to experience Jesus’ presence in that?
This is the 1st sermon of the series 1 Peter: Thriving In Exile.
Sermon Outline:
- Longing for home (Psalm 90:1-2).
- Remembering we are dust (Psalm 90:3-6).
- The origin of our problem (Psalm 90:7-11).
- Finding our way home (Psalm 90:12-17).
Notable Quote:
“Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter. Wordsworth’s expedient was to identify it with certain moments in his own past. But all this is a cheat. If Wordsworth had gone back to those moments in the past, he would not have found the thing itself, but only the reminder of it; what he remembered would turn out to be itself a remembering. The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” —C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Discussion Questions:
- In what ways do you feel “homeless?” What longings do you have? How is God your dwelling place?
- How does your heart respond to the Psalm’s reminder that we are temporary, that death is inevitable? How does Jesus tasting death for us change your heart’s response?
- Which of the 6 prayers in Vv. 12-17 stand out to you the most? Why? How will you pray each of those this coming week?
Sermon Outline:
- In Christ the impossible is possible (John 1:14).
- 4 implications of the impossible becoming possible (John 1:15-18).
Helpful Quotes:
- “The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” Tim Keller
- “For the solidarity of mankind is such that, by virtue of the Word's indwelling in a single human body, the corruption which goes with death has lost its power over all. You know how it is when some great king enters a large city and dwells in one of its houses; because of his dwelling in that single house, the whole city is honored, and enemies and robbers cease to molest it. Even so is it with the King of all; He has come into our country and dwelt in one body amidst the many, and in consequence the designs of the enemy against mankind have been foiled and the corruption of death, which formerly held them in its power, has simply ceased to be. For the human race would have perished utterly had not the Lord and Savior of all the Son of God, come among us to put an end to death.” St. Athanasius, 318 AD
Discussion Questions:
- Which aspect of John 1:1-18 (what we’ve studied the past four weeks) stands out as the most encouraging thing for you personally?
- Why do we typically view grace and truth as existing in opposition? How does Jesus coming full of grace and truth change how you view their relationship?
- Faithful Christianity embodies many “dichotomies” similar to what John outlines in v. 14. E.g. loving our enemies, finding peace amidst trials, etc. What other dichotomies are we called to embody as Christians? How does God becoming man help us with that?
**This is week four of Advent 2022.
Sermon Outline:
- The nature of Jesus (John 1:9).
- The natural response to Jesus (John 1:10-11).
- The unnatural grace of Jesus (John 1:12-13).
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever wondered if you would have chosen to follow Jesus if you lived in the 1st Century? What does this passage do to your opinion of yourself?
- Read verse 12, what part of this is the most astonishing to you? Why?
- Verse 9 hints at the fact that people are always looking for “light,” or people to look up to/worship. Where do you see this in our day? Why are we prone to fall for this temptation?
**This is week three of Advent 2022.
Sermon Outline:
- The temptation to see God as uninterested and uninvolved (John 1:6).
- The temptation to see ourselves as self-sufficient and capable (John 1:7).
- The temptation to see the world as chiefly about us and our story (John 1:8).
Discussion Questions:
- How often do you honestly feel that God is involved in your life? What does forgetting that fact produce in your heart?
- When are you most tempted to feel self-reliant? When are you most tempted to see yourself as the center of the universe? How does John the Baptist help us find humility?
- How can you bear witness about the Light this season? Be specific!
**This is week two of Advent 2022.
Sermon Outline:
- We are the furthest thing from God… (John 1:1-3)
- …but God is no longer the furthest thing from us (John 1:4-5).
Discussion Questions:
- What aspects of the Christmas season personally distract you from Jesus?
- What plans do you have to keep Jesus first in your heart this Christmas? Do you have an Advent devotional you are going to do? Who will you process it with?
- Where else, besides Jesus, do you look for life? How is that thing time-bound and finite/limited? How is Jesus better?
**This is week one of Advent 2022.
Sermon Outline:
- Why do we sing?
- What do we sing?
- Who is our worship leader?
Discussion Questions:
- What stuck out to you in the passage or in the sermon today? Was there anything new that stretches you in how you think about singing?
- In your own words, what does it mean to follow Paul's instruction to "be filled with the Spirit"?
- Why is singing so important to our spiritual growth?
- How does recognizing Jesus as our worship leader shape how you worship?
*This sermon was preached by Andy Beams of The Oaks Church in Denver, Colorado.
Helpful Quotes:
In the kingdom, we receive comfort in a very different way than we’re taught to in American culture. We receive comfort not by, on the one hand, whining in our sense of entitlement or, on the other hand, pretending as though we’re happy. We are comforted when we see our sin, our brokenness, our desperate circumstances, and we grieve, we weep, we cry out for deliverance. —Russell Moore—
Four Parts of Lament (Mark Vroegop)
- Turning to God
- Bringing your complaint
- Asking boldly
- Choosing to trust
Until Jesus returns, the world will be marked by tears. Children will continue to be born and their first cry will announce their arrival into a broken world. To cry is human, but to lament is Christian. —Mark Vroegop—
Table Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think it is difficult for us to Lament? What is the big difference between lamenting and complaining? (Hebrews 4:16)
- What are some harmful things that can happen when we always try to edit our lives (internally or externally) towards the positive?
- Pray for anyone at your table who is facing a difficult circumstance right now.
Sermon Outline:
- The call to go and make disciples depends on the authority of King Jesus (v. 16-18).
- The call to go and make disciples depends on the command of King Jesus (v. 19-20a).
- The call to go and make disciples depends on the promised presence of King Jesus (v. 20b).
Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think people struggle with the authority of Jesus?
- What about you: Are you a doubter or worshipper of King Jesus?
- Are you discipling or being discipled? What does that relationship look like?
- Discuss the aim of biblical disciple-making (Romans 8:29).
- Discuss what the promise of the presence of Jesus means to you.
**This sermon was preached by Ed Davis from missio Dei: Raleigh.
Sermon Summary:
This Sunday we had the privilege to hear from one of our previous elders, Perry Marshall. Perry taught through the passage on “taming the tongue”. James warns of the power and harm that can come from our tongues. In seeking to be not just hearers of the Word, but also doers, Perry encouraged us to recognize the significance of this part of the body. Most of us have been built up by someone else's words, but also hurt by them. It “ought not be so”, and we need not look any farther than Jesus for grace when we have a slip of the tongue. What comes out of our mouth points to the condition of our heart, and reminds us all the more that we are sinners in need of the saving grace of Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
- Have you ever had a time where someone’s words lifted you up or inspired you? What happened?
- In what situations or circumstances do you find it most difficult to tame your tongue?
- How can the link between our words and our hearts help us lean more heavily on the grace of God given through Jesus?
**This sermon was preached by Perry Marshall from Calvary Bible Church in Boulder, Colorado.
Sermon Outline:
- The Calling of Levi
- The Party for Jesus
- The Mission of Jesus
Discussion Questions:
- What's your why?
- Where or who can you engage the mission of Christ for in the months ahead
**This sermon was preached by Rick Eisenberg from Redemption Parker.