We loved seeing everyone this weekend! Feel free to message us during the week if you have any questions. If you missed this week’s message, or want to hear it again, be sure to check out our SERMONS Page. Messages are generally posted each week by Tuesday afternoon.
Every week, it’s our goal to provide you with some questions to process the message deeper, either personally, or with a small group. Here are some questions for you to consider from this week’s message, “Honor Everyone”, part 1 of the ONE message series, with Pastor Shawn M. Shoup.
KEY SCRIPTURES
- 1 Peter 1:1-2; 2:9-12, 16-17 ESV
TALK IT OUT
Discuss these questions with someone—maybe a family member, friend, or member of your Connect Group. Use a communication method that works best for your situation.
Start talking.
Find a conversation starter for your group.
- How are you feeling today? Good? Bad? Down in the dumps? Elated?
- How do you feel honored and respected by others when you are in different types of moods?
Start thinking.
Ask a question to get your group thinking.
- Identity is a big thing when it comes to being the beloved of the Almighty God. What does it mean to you to be called His son or daughter?
- What do you think Peter intends for us to take away from the statement that we are sojourners and exiles? Strangers and aliens?
Start sharing.
Choose a question to create openness.
- Are you offended that God asks us to abstain from certain things, even if they are for our benefit?
- Do you ever feel like you know better than God?
- How do you honor those who disagree or are different than you? Do you honor them as if they are valuable (because they are)?
Start praying.
Be bold and pray with power.
Jesus, help me to see and honor people the way that You want me to. I want to open up my eyes to the beauty in every person that you’ve created. Help me to live my life for You AND for them. You came and rescued me when I was still rebelling against heaven. Help me to do the same to those who feel like they are rebelling against me — those who are different from me. I know that it is Your desire to see them come to know You and to live their life to the fullest. I pray this in Your mighty name. Amen.
Start doing.
Commit to a step and live it out this week.
- We know, this might be hard: but take some time today to pray for those who persecute you. To lift them up. Jesus recommended this. Maybe it will change your perspective, and help you to see them through His eyes.
- Think about ways that you can honor everyone; even those that you might find hard to like. Think of the examples given this weekend: 1) Francis Schaeffer, who reluctantly debated atheists on college campuses, but then invited them out to dinner, 2) Watchman Nee’s story of the rice farmer who was getting water stolen from him, so he just started pumping enough for both fields, and 3) Polycarp, who made refreshments and prayed for the soldiers who came to bring him to his own death in a collessium.
- Remember that you belong to Father God. And that will make you weird. Counter-cultural. Different. But different doesn’t mean offensive. And it doesn’t mean offended. Those who know grace, we show grace. And we’re not just different from the world. We’re different FOR the world. We come with a source of love that overflows the banks of our hearts.
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