Group Guide
This Week's City 7:
3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
Ice-Breaker:
- What food do you absolutely hate?
Scripture
2 Peter 1
16 For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” 18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
16 For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” 18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, 21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
Discussion Questions:
- In verse 16, Peter is making the case that his stories about Jesus weren't just made up fairytales. He says that he saw Jesus' majestic splendor with his own eyes! He was giving proof of the INCARNATION (God in flesh). The truth is, we don't have to just believe in the gospel message on blind faith. Even the disciples didn't believe until they saw the risen Jesus in the flesh. And if God didn't expect THEM to just take someone's word for it, why would He expect YOU to? The evidence for the resurrection is truly overwhelming! How convinced are you, intellectually, that Jesus actually did rise from the dead? Where are there lingering doubts?
- There were mockers of the faith THEN just like there is NOW. There will always be people that say the gospel is a myth. This is why it is so important for us to know WHY we believe WHAT we believe. Do you think you could respond to a mocker and make a case for your faith giving reasonable and historical evidence? Would you say that you are ready to defend the faith at any moment?
- In verse 17, Peter recounts witnessing the TRANSFIGURATION. This was when he got to see the Son of God radiating in God's own glory. He heard the very voice of God with his own ears. He was in the presence of the Most High God! And while he was in the presence of God, you can bet Peter wasn't board. He wasn't looking at his watch or wondering when they were going to get to lunch. In those moments all he cared about was worshiping God and staying in His presence. What about you? How hungry are you for God's presence in your life? How focused and tuned in are you when you are at church? How engaged is your heart in worship? Do you lean in during the messages trying to soak up every bit of what God has for you?
- Then Peter moves on to talking about how much confidence he has in the message of the prophets. Why? Because he saw with his own eyes how Jesus fulfilled each and every Messianic prophecy. In fact, there are at least 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah that were fulfilled by Jesus. A skeptic might argue that Jesus purposefully fulfilled those predictions to APPEAR to be the Messiah. But this is a ridiculous claim, seeing as how so many of the prophecies would be out of Jesus' control, i.e. the place, time and manner of His birth, the manner of His death, burial and resurrection, etc. In fact, it is a mathematical impossibility. The chances of one man just fulfilling eight of those prophecies is 1 in 1 quintillion (1 followed by 17 zeros). What about the odds of fulfilling 300 of them? That would be 1 in 10 followed by 2,000 zeros! There are many Christians today that want to unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament. They want to downplay or discard the Old Testament to somehow make it easier for someone to come to Jesus. But what would you lose if you did this? Why is it important for Christians to know not just the New Testament, but the old as well?
- The bottom line is, it's all real. Jesus rose from the dead. All Scripture is inspired by God and is absolute truth. CS Lewis once said that Hamlet couldn't know Shakespeare unless Shakespeare wrote himself into the play. That's exactly what God did. He wrote Himself into the play of humanity so that we might know Him through the person of Jesus. We serve a God that has revealed Himself to us and who wants us to know Him, His heart and His ways. What are you doing with the gift of His Word? How often are you digging in to Scripture that you might know Him better and be even further convinced of the truth? What is God asking you to do?
Prayer Topics:
- That we would be even more convinced of the resurrection.
- That we would fall in love with God's Word.
- That we would long to know Him more.
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