Group Guide

January 18th, 2026

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)

Ice-Breaker:

Are you an oldest child, youngest child, or somewhere in the middle? Which one has it worse?

Scripture

Jude 1
This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.
2 May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

Discussion Questions:

We will eventually find out in our study of Jude that his purpose in writing is to correct false teaching that is running rampant in the church. It was true then and it's true today. Some false doctrines of today include, "Grace means you don't have to live a holy life; God wants you to be you and to follow your heart wherever it takes you; God doesn't care what we do with our bodies and with whom; Restricting yourself isn't something God would ever want for you." But the bottom line is that your doctrine and theology matters. What you believe matters! Which of the false doctrines listed above have do you see the most in the world around you? Are there any more not listed? Are there any you have fallen prey to in the past?
Jude was a brother of Jesus. If you recall from the history of Jesus' life, his family, including Jude, thought Jesus was crazy for claiming to be the Son of God. What is astounding is that now, in the introduction of his letter to the church, Jude introduces himself not as Jesus' brother, but as His SLAVE! Jude was saying that he was a servant of his brother! So what happened? Why the drastic change? It was because Jude saw Jesus risen from the dead. Jude was a servant and so is every Christian today. What does it mean to be a servant? Servants are CONVINCED. Jude was obviously convinced that Jesus was God. How convinced are you? What has helped you in your faith journey to move from a blind faith to an unshakeable, reasonable, knowing kind of faith? Or are you still somewhere in between?
In verse 1, Jude is pointing to the fact that God loves those who serve Him. Servants are LOVED. The Greek word for loved used here is referring to a love that was proved in the past that results in a present cherishing. God proved His great love for us by sending His one and only Son to die for us so that we might have a relationship with Him and have eternal life. While we would never admit this out loud, sometimes we respond to God in our everyday life as though this gift from God wasn't enough. We want more! By our actions and attitudes it's like we are saying to God, "Oh you gave up your only Son for me? What else you got?" Look at your life, attitudes and the way you pray. Are you guilty of these types of attitudes? How can we make sure we are staying in a place of gratitude and humility before a loving and gracious God?
Servants are SATISFIED. In verse 2 Jude prays that God would give the reader more mercy, peace and love. The Christian should be fully satisfied by these things from God in our lives. We need mercy because we can't earn His love or forgiveness on our own. We need His peace that comes from knowing we are in right standing with God. And we need His agape love, which is unmerited, unwarranted and unconditional. Can you say you are fully satisfied in these things that God has and is giving to you? What else in your life might you be looking to for ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction?
The challenging question we were left with on Sunday was this: "WHO or WHAT do you SERVE?" We all serve something. Maybe it's yourself. Maybe it's culture. Maybe it's money. Maybe it's status or a relationship or even your kids. Maybe it's even your calendar! But really it comes down to one of two choices... either you are serving Christ or you are serving the god of this world. What has God been speaking to you through this message? What is He asking you to do? What needs to change?

Prayer Topics:

That we would be fully convinced that Jesus is God, proven by the way we live.
That we would serve Him only.
That we would find ultimate satisfaction in Him.

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