Building Our Future

1 Peter 2:4-10

Connecting Questions

· What’s a favorite billboard or street sign you have seen?

· How did you learn, “it’s not polite to point?”

Prayer for Illumination

Let us pray, Loving God, we pause today grateful for this next breath. We are grateful for the chance to connect with others today for we all carry such hurts and hope. Open your Word to us. Open our hearts to let your word speak to us and change our lives. We pray in the name of the Jesus, Amen.

Context

This Sunday, we continue our worship series, Building Our Future. As Easter people, we are living into the next chapter as a church community by rediscovering the stories of God at work in and among us. Each week, we will explore a “building” theme. But, before we can build with sticks and bricks, “the Lord must build the house”--that’s you, me and the neighbors we are called to serve.

Don’t miss Pastor Megan’s sermon in the Building Our Future series. Sermons can be found at Easter.org/worship.

From Kristofer Phan Coffman at EntertheBible.org:

This letter is one of the most hope-filled books in the New Testament. Its purpose is to encourage Christian converts living in the midst of a hostile society. It does this by emphasizing their new life and salvation in the risen Christ (who is their “living hope”), showing how they became heirs of the people of God described in the Old Testament, and helping them understand what it means to live faithfully among people who ridicule and harass them. Throughout this letter, Jesus Christ’s life, and especially his suffering, is used as an example of how they are to understand and bear their sufferings as they seek to do God’s will.

Look at the Book

Open 1 Peter 2:4-10. Circle the first few words. How would you describe them?
Jesus invites us to follow him with our entire lives. Tell about an invitation that meant a lot to you.
Notice the invitation is not to a place but to a person. Come to him—meaning, to Jesus. It is in him we find life. What else might we find with Jesus?
Verses 4 and 5 link or “chain” together a number of images from the Hebrew Bible (or, Old Testament). Write down or circle those images or ideas. Which one speaks to you? Which one feels the most foreign?
Define “living stone.” Why is this connected to Jesus?
How is Easter Lutheran like a “spiritual house” with “living stones?”
The author quotes two passages of scripture to support these ideas being a “spiritual house.” Can you find out what is quoted in verses 6-7 and verse 8?
In verses 6-7, what is the key image for Jesus? Name a song that celebrates that image.
In verse 8, what does the stone do? Is this good news?
In verse 9, notice the author uses the word, “you,” addressing the people. What does the author remind them that God has done? And what was the purpose of that work?
Circle verse 10. What’s the good news? What’s the promise?
We can build things with sticks and bricks, but what is God’s role in this work? The church is here to point, like a sign, to Jesus. How do we do that?
What do you want to talk about that has not been brought up yet?

Taking it Home

The Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther lifted up the “priesthood of all believers.” Namely, everyone, not just a priest, could pray to Jesus. Text one person right now and let them know you are praying for them or ask what you can pray for them about?

Another part of the “priesthood of all believer’s” is that everyone can share the story of Jesus in their own words. What’s your faith “elevator speech?” Why does faith matter to you?

Grow Guide | Aug 13, 2023