SERIES TITLE
Some Things Never Change Week 6: Jesus Still Saves
SERIES OVERVIEW
It feels like everything is changing all the time. Seasons change, people change, and society changes. It can be hard to keep up. It can also be unsettling. However, The Bible tells us that while everything changes around us, God remains the same. No matter how uncertain our lives look, we can count on God to remain the same yesterday, today, and forever! Join us for our new series, “Some Things Never Change,” and discover the consistency of God.
SERMON TITLE
Jesus Still Matters
WEEKEND IN REVIEW
This weekend Pastor Gene wrapped up the series “Some Things Never Change” with a message called “Jesus Still Saves.” We learned from the New Testament history recorded by Luke in Acts 16 that thanks to the extraordinary testimony of two imprisoned Christians and God’s intervention with a timely and perfectly located earthquake, a pagan prison warden learned that “Jesus is able to save completely those who come to God through Him.” Hebrews 7:25
WARM UP
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. You can talk about whatever you’d like, but here are a few potential questions to get the conversation going.
- When did you learn that you were completely saved (not partially saved, not mostly saved, but completely saved) by Jesus, and who was it that helped you understand Jesus saves completely those who come to God through Him?
- This week’s “Pursuing God’ podcast with Pastor Gene is about the relationship between faith and works and how the two work together to reveal the authenticity of our salvation. You can hear “Pursuing God with Gene Appel” on the Eastside App or view it on Facebook, Instagram, or on iTunes We recommend that you do. How did you come to realize that your works and good deeds were evidence of your salvation but not the means by which your salvation was accomplished?
DISCUSSion
Select 4-5 questions from the list below to guide your discussion time.
- Paul and Silas were newcomers to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city in that region of Macedonia, yet very quickly they got on the bad side of a lot of people. Ask someone in the group to summarize how and why Paul and Silas ended up in prison in Philippi. Read Acts 16:16-23.
- How does the text describe what happened to Paul and Silas before they were put into a high-security section of the jail and how was their confinement described? Read Acts 16:22-24.
- Given the harshness of their treatment, what was so extraordinary about the Christian witness of Paul and Silas to the other prisoners? Read Acts 16:25. What would you have likely been doing at midnight if you had experienced all that they had been through that day?
- God intervened with an earthquake. This earthquake had to be just right, strong enough to cause _______________________________ and ____________________________ but not so strong that they would be buried alive in the rubble of a collapsed building. Acts 16:26.
- Following the earthquake, how did Paul and Silas demonstrate grace to the jailer? Acts 16:27-28.
- This happens in a city that has heard very little about Jesus. Paul and Silas were the first missionaries to arrive there. Philippi is a pagan, idol-worshiping city. What do you think caused the jailer to ask the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:29-30 How do you think he knew to ask that all-important question?
- How did Paul and Silas answer that question in verse 31 and how did they answer it in verse 32? Acts 16:31-32.
- Do you think speaking “the word of the Lord” in verse 32 included instruction about baptism? How do you know? See Acts 16:33.
Application
- In this story, what do you learn about being a Christian witness from Paul’s and Silas’ example?
- When you have a person asking you that all-important question, “What must I do to be saved?” What will your short answer be?
- …and what will your longer, explaining “the-word–of–the-Lord” answer include?
- What do you see in the life of the jailer that he had both a change of mind (thinking) and a change of heart?
- What do you learn from this story about the need for and the power of prayer? Acts 16:16, & 16:25.
wrap up | prayer
Share prayer requests and close your time together by praying for one another.