Sermon by: Andrew Stuart
1. Did anything strike you in the sermon that you had never thought about before? Any new insights? Any new ways of thinking about something that you thought you “had a handle on”? Discuss.
2. A main of point of the sermon was that lukewarmness (feeling distance from God, or like God is less real) comes when we have somehow excluded Jesus in one way or another from our lives.
(a) Do you agree with this claim? Discuss how it is that excluding Jesus leads to lukewarmness. (think about who it is that we are excluding).
(b) What does this tell us about how we were made and how we are meant to live (think fellowship and intimacy with God).
3. How do you think the church of Laodicea got to the point where it had excluded Jesus? What is the relation between
(a) being wealthy, having lots of clothes, and having good medical care and
(b) excluding Christ? Are wealth, clothes, medical bad in themselves? How we they misused by the Laodicean church? Discuss.
4. Can you think of any similarities between the city of Laodicea and the city of Toronto? If we can describe the “spirit” of Laodicea as one of self-sufficiency or self-reliance, how might we describe the “spirit” of the city of Toronto? Discuss.
(a)In the sermon it was mentioned that the church of Laodicea looked no different than the city of Laodicea - that the spirit of the city (self-reliance) had infected the church with the same spirit. What does this show us about how TAC ought to relate to the city of Toronto. What are the dangers might there be that threaten the fruitfulness of the church in such a big city? What do we need to be careful of?
5. Can you think of any other examples in the New Testament where Jesus sits down to have a meal with people? What stories come to mind? (Zacchaeus in Luke 19; the Lord’s Supper in Mat 26:17-30//Mark 14:27-31//Luke 22:7-23//John 13
(a)How might the scene in Revelation 3:20 have something to do with the Lord’s Supper? Discuss
6.At the end of the sermon, a variety of possible areas of life were suggested as potential areas where we can exclude Jesus (ex: relationships, finances, marriage, work, school, emotions). Did the Holy Spirit bring any such areas to mind for you? Any doors that Jesus was knocking on for you?
7.What are some ways we can be making sure that our doors are kept open for Christ? Any disciplines we can undertake to make sure we are not excluding Jesus?
No comments:
Post a Comment