Sermon Discussion Guide
Sunday, June 6, 2010
In These Last Days: Change
A series of sermons examining what the Scriptures teach us about time, the future, and what lies beyond time. What you believe about the “big picture” affects how you live your life day by day.
How do you live your life when you know everything is going to change?
You put your trust in the One who will not change.
You work for the things that will last.
1.) Read II Peter 3:1-12. What emotional reactions do you have to this passage? Why? Peter clearly spells out the sudden, huge change coming to the whole creation; but the scoffers (verses 4-5) say that nothing ever changes and nothing ever will. If the scoffers are right (though they’re not), how would that impact how you live your life? If Peter is right (and he is), how does that affect how you live your life? Is it better to pretend to yourself that things won’t change, or is it better to live with the awareness that everything will change? Why?
2.) Read Matthew 24:1-8. Jesus makes plain to His disciples that all of history will be full of change, trial, and difficulty. What have been the most difficult changes you have had to face in life? What made those changes so difficult? Why are we so often frightened by change? How does fear of change affect how we live our lives? Share a change that happened in your life that you had feared, but in the end God worked a great good through that change.
3.) Read Isaiah 44:6-8 and Psalm 46:1-3. What does it mean to you to know that the Lord is the first and the last? Pastor Craig spoke of living your life in a world where everything will change by putting your trust in the One who does not change. In practical terms, what does that mean to you? Why is it so easy to put trust in the changing things of this world, but so hard to put trust in the unchanging Lord?
4.) Read Matthew 6:19-21. What are the treasures in heaven Jesus speaks of? How do you, “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven”? Pastor Craig spoke of working for the things that last. In what ways are you working for the things that last? What other people do for you is a blessing in this life, but what remains through every change is what you did for others. How do you see that working in your life?