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2)GG Questions
02/09/2019
Saturate: ‘In’ or ‘All In’?
Acts 2:42-47
1. ‘Disciple’ : Every believer in Jesus is a disciple of Jesus, called to be with Jesus, be like Jesus, and do as Jesus did. Vanderstelt provides this other helpful definition of discipleship: “It is the ongoing process of submitting all of life to Jesus, and seeing him saturate your entire life and world with his presence and power. It’s a process of daily growing in your awareness of your need for him in the everyday stuff of life.” What stands out to you from that definition? How has such a disciple moved from just being ‘in’ to being ‘all in’.
2. Life-on-Life : This kind of ‘all in’ discipleship, Vanderstelt teaches, happens in three environments – life-on-life, life in community, and life on mission. Why would life-on-life relationships, like Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, or Paul and Timothy, necessitate vulnerability? Vanderstelt describes such friendships as “others in your life who are committed to bringing your brokenness out into the open and bringing the gospel of Jesus to bear on it.” Who knows you well enough to peel back the layers and speak the truth of the gospel into areas of need or disbelief?
3. Life in Community : ‘One of this week’s big themes,’ Vanderstelt recalls, ‘is our need of each other’s strengths in our areas of growth’. Summarize Paul’s big idea behind his ‘church is a body’ metaphor (1 Cor. 12:14-26) then skim his spiritual gift lists (1 Cor. 12:7-11, 28; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph 4:11). Who in your community is strong in areas you’re weak and who is weak in areas God has made you strong? How might you serve one another to “grow up in every way into him who is the head” (Eph. 4:15)?
4. Life on Mission : It isn’t pastor Jonathan’s job to grow the church. On the contrary, Jesus “gave … pastors … to equip THE SAINTS for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body” (Eph. 4:11, 12). The saints, you and me, get about this great task, in the words of Vanderselt, “in the everyday stuff of life.” How was Jesus’ ministry an ‘everyday stuff of life’ ministry? Why did he feel confident involving his disciples in hands-on ministry while they were still in training (Luke 10:1-2)? What experience have you had ‘learning on mission’ from others?
