Read:  Acts 18:1-18

Open

Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 where Paul describes his feelings when he first arrived in Corinth.  Can you share with the group a time when you entered into a new situation “in much weakness, and in much fear and trembling” [RSV].

Dig

Notice the context for Paul’s arrival in Corinth.  He arrives there after being beaten and jailed in Philippi, threatened by a mob and escaped under the cover of darkness from Thessalonica, being chased out of town in Berea, and receiving a lukewarm response to the gospel in Athens.  As he begins his ministry in Corinth we are told that the Jews in Corinth opposed him and “became abusive.”  Certainly fear and/or discouragement would be a normal response to all of this.  Do you think Paul was afraid or discouraged?

In the sermon we were told that fear oftentimes keeps us from freedom in Christ and from speaking up for Christ.  Can you think of an example of how fear has kept a person from freedom or from speaking up?

The sermon highlighted the characteristics of Paul’s mission to the Corinthians.  We observed that Paul was:

· personal—he went to people and made personal contact with them,

· thoughtful—he reasoned with them (v. 4), it was not just an emotional appeal, and

· faithful—he stayed, did not expect immediate results but stayed “for some time” (v. 18)

How can our mission to Durham/our job/our school/our neighbors, etc be more personal, thoughtful, and faithful?  Which of these three do you think we do best?  Which do we need to work on more?  What are some concrete ways we can live out our mission in these three ways better?

Reflect

Where in your life are you tempted to give into fear?  How can we speak Christ’s words of encouragement (vs. 9-10) to one another?

Allan asked the question, “Will we be governed by fear or by the greater power of the love of God found in Jesus Christ?”  How would you answer that question?  How would an objective observer answer that question if they were observing our lives?  How can we allow the “greater power of the love of God found in Jesus Christ” to take greater control of our lives?

Read:  Mark 15:16-39

Open

Do you have favorite Holy Week traditions or memories of when God spoke to you clearly through the events of Holy Week?

Dig

In the sermon we were reminded that every religion affirms that there is something wrong with the way things are.  As Christians, we believe that Christ came and died on the cross to fix what is wrong.  Historically, the nature of the problem that Christ came to solve is discribed in various ways:

· The power of death

· Our own sinfulness and divine judgment against sin

· A break in the relationship between God and his creation

· The dominion and power of Satan who seeks to destroy us

How would you describe the primary problem that we need Christ to save us from?

What did the death of Christ accomplish?  How would you explain that to someone who knows nothing about the Christian faith?  What does the Cross teach us about God?  About ourselves?

The sermon said that the Cross is the “final blow to pride and self-sufficiency” and that it “opens the door to joy.”  Can you share with the group how the Cross has impacted your pride and your own sense of self-sufficiency?

Reflect

Is your life characterized by joy?  Share with the group a time when your realization of what Christ did for you on the cross resulted in an overflow of joy in your life?

Read:  Acts 17:16-34 and Isaiah 40:12-31

Open

Athens was famous in the first century as a center for intellectual and philosophical thought.  For what would your hometown growing up have been famous?

Dig

In the sermon, idolatry was defined as any time “we dethrone God and enthrone creation…. It is any time we attribute to the creature what only the Creator can do.”  Was this definition helpful?

In the sermon, we named some of the idols in our city.  What idols would you name?

If you were outlining Paul’s message in Acts 17:22-31 what would you say are his main points?  How does his message relate to our own struggles with idolatry?

In Acts 17 and in Isaiah 40 idolatry is confronted by the greatness of the Lord.  Looking at the idols you named above, how would you compare their puny, debilitating, handicapped nature to the greatness of God?  What language and metaphors can you come up with to contrast the living God with these idols?

Reflect

Are you “greatly distressed” (Acts 17:16) by the idols all around us?  Why or why not?  What can we do about it?

Read Acts 16

Open

Can you share briefly about the impact of spiritual friendship in your life?

Dig

Gannon pointed to the way the gospel brings people together in pilgrimage as believers, mentioning Jesus and the disciples as a primary example.  Can you collectively think of other illustrations of the power of spiritual friendship in the Scriptures?

The sermon suggested three keys to deepening our experience and practice of friendship.  The first had to do with yielding to the power of the Christ in us, allowing him “to move to the forefront of our story.”  What does that mean?  Gannon mentioned how he responded to his neighbor at the beach who wanted to take them to a bluegrass concert, when he only wanted to be left alone with his schoolwork.  How do you view interruptions in your life?

Second was the reminder that all of us are bearers of the image of God.  How does that reminder serve to deepen, potentially, our lives of friendship?

Third, we were encouraged to allow Christ to recreate us, to set aside the self protection that keeps us from connecting with others

and put ourselves in his hands.  (Watch out!  Earthquakes follow!)

Can you think of a time when you were surprised by God’s faithfulness in friendship when you didn’t expect it?

Reflect

“Spiritual friendship provides fertile ground for the Holy Spirit.”  How?  Can you remember a time when the Holy Spirit made use of an encounter with a spiritual friend?

Read:  Acts 15

Open

How would you answer Allan’s opening question in the sermon, “Name a time when there was a momentous meeting that changed the course of history?”

Share with the group how you met your spouse or some other significant friend in your life.

Dig

The Circumcision Party believed that one needed to believe in Jesus as the Messiah AND to be circumcised in order to be included in the people of God.  They believed:

Grace + Circumcision = Life with God

The New Testament witness says:

Grace + Nothing = Life with God

because

Grace + Anything ≠ Grace

What do you think are some of the things that we are tempted to add to Grace as a condition for our being included in the people of God?  What has been a particular temptation to you to cling to as a “trump card” that guarantees that God will accept you?

In the sermon we talked about how we rebel against this grace and how we keep reverting to asking questions like, “How much is good enough?” and feeling good (or bad) about ourselves because of our “comparative righteousness.”  Has there been a particular moment in your life when you fully realized that you can never be “good enough”?  Can you share with the group how you came to that realization?

What did it take (or what would it take) for you to not to place your trust in your “trump card,” i.e. that one thing that you hold onto as a guarantee that God will accept you?

In the sermon we were asked the question, “In light of God’s great mercy, how can we respond in ways that are pleasing to him?”  In Acts 15:20-21 James encourages the Gentiles to respond by abstaining from “food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”  What is on your list of responding in ways that are pleasing to God?

Reflect

How well does our congregation live as a community of grace?  How does understanding and living in this grace impact how we live together as a body of believers?  What are symptoms in our life together that might suggest we are not living as a community of grace?  What things do you need to do or to stop doing so that as a community we better embody the grace of God?

Read:  Acts 12:1-25

Open

Please share with the group a time when you were most desperate in prayer.

Dig

Notices the powers that are arrayed against Peter and the Church: Herod, prison, four squads of four soldiers each, two soldiers shackled to him, two chains, sentries, etc.  What could the followers of Jesus do for Peter?  What was Peter’s only hope?  What application can we make from this in our lives?

In the sermon we were told, “the Church only exists by the power and mercy of God…. We have no power or weapons… we are a fellowship of the dependent.”  The Church in Acts knew this and prayed for what they were powerless to obtain.  Allan said that we do not pray because we are so seldom at the end of our rope.  Do you agree with this?  Why or why not?  What can we do so that we pray as the Church in Acts did and as the Church in many parts of the world does?

Are you comforted, challenged or convicted by the truth that God is for the Church?

Are you surprised when the Church seems irrelevant or powerless in our world?  How does this story in Acts 12 help us to live in the Church’s current context of growing irrelevance and powerlessness?

Reflect

How can we in our small group help remind each other that we are totally dependent on God alone?  How can this small group as a Christian community have humility and dependence at its heart?

Note from Dave Dunderdale: “My thought is it would be great for small groups to interact with these 7 Core Commitments together.  Feel Free!”  ~David

Read:  Colossians 1:9-14

Open

Can you think of a time recently when you have “lost sight of the forest for the trees”?  When you have been caught up in going from point to point and forgotten where you were going?

Do you observe a Sabbath?  How?  If not, how would you like to observe it?

Dig

In our text, Paul describes his prayers for the Colossians.  In vs. 12-13, he reminds the Colossians that in spite of all that may be going on in their lives they have now entered into the Kingdom of God’s Son, the Kingdom of light.  In the sermon we heard that we live in “the overlap of the Ages,” the time between Christ’s first coming when he ushered in the Kingdom and his second coming when the Kingdom will be fully revealed.  Given this view of time what does it mean to describe the church as an “outpost” or “embassy” or “vanguard” of the Kingdom?

For the past fifteen years Blacknall has understood itself as an “outpost of the Kingdom” to imply the following Core Commitments:

The gospel is the content of the outpost, the message of a faithful God who has not rejected his people.  Christ is the gospel, revealing the person and character of God.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the enlivening agent in our life together, uniting us to Christ, leading us to repentance, calling forth gifts, reconciling us one to another, and empowering us in mission.

Worship is the first priority of the church in grateful encounter with the God we meet in Christ.

Scripture is the unique authority in the life of the outpost.

Our life in Christian community, in the church, is the laboratory in which we learn how to love Christ and his people, in a process of ongoing sanctification.

The church does not exist for itself but is called to give itself away for the life of the world.

The church is a sentinel and signpost of hope in a world tempted to fear and despair.

Do any of these commitments excite you, positively or negatively?  Do you struggle with any of them?  Which of these commitments is the greatest challenge to you?  Which do you think is the greatest challenge for us as a congregation?

Reflect

Allan challenged us to evaluate our own lives in light of the four-fold challenge of worship, learning, fellowship, and mission that are in our text.  We were charged to evaluate ourselves in light of giving instead of getting.  In which of these areas do you need to think more of giving instead of getting?

Can we pray Paul’s prayer for the Colossians for one another?

Read:  Acts 9:32-43

Open

Have you ever been witness to a “miracle”?  Can you share a story of when you saw or heard God breaking into our world outside the normal laws of the universe?  This miracle does not necessarily have to be a physical one.

Dig

Our text tells the story of two healings performed by the Holy Spirit through Peter.  In the sermon we noticed the lack of drama or embellishment to these stories.  A dead woman is raised back to life and it is described in eight verses.  Why do you think these miracles are so understated?

In the sermon, we looked at two implications from these two miracles.  The first is that the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to minister in the power of Christ.  Allan said “there is a power let loose in the world that is even able to overcome death.”  Where do you see this power of Christ in your life and in our life together?

The sermon contrasted this view of God invading our world to work in our lives with the view that we live in a closed universe of cause and effect.  How do you see Christians succumbing to this mechanistic, closed universe, world view?  “The Church has given anemic witness to an anemic God.”  Do you agree?  Why or why not?

Reflect

The second implication in the sermon is that those who witnessed these miracles became believers.  The sermon told us that our believing that God is making us into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) is a miracle for many of us.  What is miraculous about your own coming to believe in the gospel of Jesus?

Read:  Acts 9:1-19

Open

What is your “conversion” story?  How is it similar and how is it different from the Apostle Paul’s?

Dig

In the sermon, we heard that our stories about coming to Christ may differ in their outward circumstances but that the inner reality of our coming to Christ is similar in two significant ways:

1. The first is the reality that to be in Christ is to surrender.  What are some of the things that Saul/Paul had to surrender in coming to Christ?

What does Ananias have to surrender in this story in order to follow Jesus?

“To be in Christ is to surrender.  It is to lay down our weapons and cease our rebellion.”  “Submission is demonstrated in deed.”  What are the weapons of our rebellion?  How about for you personally?  How can you demonstrate that surrender and submission in deed?

2. The second inner reality of coming to Christ means that we must be reconciled; that when we come to Christ we “join a new race.”  We see this in this text by Saul/Paul and Ananias becoming brothers in Christ.  Have you experienced this in your life?

Where do you feel Christ might be calling you to be reconciled with another person?

Reflect

Allan shared with us the children’s story, “The Pirate Who Tried to Capture the Moon.”  Did you resonate with this story?  Why or why not?

The Pirate at the end of the book says, “Moon, wonderful Moon, it is you who has captured me.”  Can you say the same thing about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?  Why or why not?

Read:  Acts 8:26-40

Open

As you read this text, engage your imagination.  How do you imagine this story?  What detail about the story captures your imagination?

Dig

In this scripture passage we discover three gifts for us.  The first is the importance of the Bible as an entry point into life in the Kingdom of God.  What is your habit in terms of reading the Bible?  Are you satisfied with your practice of Bible reading?  If not, how would you like to improve your practice of Bible reading?

The second gift we receive in this passage is that wisdom is about friendship.  The Ethiopian receives wisdom through his new friendship and mentoring relationship with Philip.  Have you had someone who has acted as a mentor to you in your life?  Share with the group about this person.

The third gift that is revealed in this passage is the Holy Spirit and his activity in our lives.  Allan asked the question, “Do we try to keep the Holy Spirit boxed in?”  Have we domesticated the gospel?  How would you answer these questions?

“Following Christ is the grandest adventure of all.”  Do you agree?  What evidence would you cite from your own life that this is true?

Reflect

Is there a friend/mentor in your life that you need to thank?

In the sermon we were told that Philip’s story is not an isolated story, that we are surrounded by people afraid to voice their questions about God.  Are there any people or “chariots” that you believe the Holy Spirit may be telling you to go to and “stay near it” [v. 29]?  Can you pray together for those people?  Can you pray that the Holy Spirit might direct you to such a person?  Can you ask one another to share with one another the next time you meet how the Holy Spirit answered that prayer?