Group Guide
Ice-Breaker:
- What were your Easter family traditions growing up?
Scripture
1 Peter 1
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
Discussion Questions:
- 1 Peter 1:3 says that it's by God's great mercy that we have been born again. At the moment we put our trust in Jesus, we are spiritually reborn and adopted into the family of God. First, we are born into a new PROMISE. Verse 3 also says we can now live with a great expectation because Jesus was RAISED from the dead. Despite what some people think, there is overwhelming evidence for the resurrection. This means we don't have to just take it on blind faith. Even Jesus' own disciples didn't do that. They believed when they saw him alive with their own eyes. What does it do for your faith to know that you can be certain that all of this is real and Jesus is alive?
- We are also born into a new POSITION. Romans 8 says that because we are now the adopted children of God, we are his heirs. In fact, we are CO-HEIRS with Christ Himself. This is your new position! You are a child of the Most High God! You have a priceless inheritance that is being kept in heaven for you; an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading! We will have new bodies that are perfect and without sickness or pain. We will live in a new heavenly city that will come down to a brand new earth. How often are you looking forward with anticipation to this priceless, eternal inheritance? How much hope does it give you to know that this world isn't all there is?
- We are born into a new POWER. Verse 5 says that through our faith, God protects us by his power. Our salvation is guarded and protected by HIS power! This is not something we do on our own. God does it. We don't earn our salvation or even maintain it. The assurance we have is the fact that our standing with God isn't based on our past record or present effort or ability. If it was, none of us would make it to heaven! If we truly understood and believed the gospel, that Jesus died for us and was raised from the dead, and that we are adopted into God's family through our trust in Him, and that we now stand before God perfect and spotless, we would live this life with full assurance that we will spend eternity with Him one day. What is your level of assurance of this truth? How certain are you that you will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant" when you stand before God? If there are doubts, where do they come from?
- Lastly, we are born into a new PERSPECTIVE. Verse 6 talks about the wonderful joy that is ahead for us. Peter goes on to tell us that since we trust Him fully, we should rejoice and live a life that is full of inexpressible joy. This is telling us that our perspective on PAIN needs to shift. Pain lets us know whether or not our faith is genuine. It helps us develop perseverance. It humbles us and softens our hearts, making us more compassionate towards others. It can reveal idols in our lives. And it redirects our love, energy, focus and hope towards heavenly things. When we consider the eternality and glory of heaven, we are able to suffer in this life with hope and joy because we know it's only for a little while. Is there pain in your life right now that is robbing your joy and hope? Is there a place where you need God to help you shift your perspective?
- The big idea from Sunday was that EASTER means EXPECT IT! Because we've been born again, because of the resurrection, we can now expect our inheritance. This is where we are to place our hope. What are you hoping in? Hoping for? Are you expecting something besides God to satisfy you (money, career, marriage, kids, etc.)? What needs to change?
Prayer Topics:
- That God would fix our eyes on eternity.
- That we would live with hope and expectation.
- That our hope would be in HIM alone.
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