Sermon Discussion Guide 2-1-26
Sermon Discussion Guide
The Book of John | John 15:1-17
Gathering Question
What is one way you’ve experienced God in your life this week?
Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, would You guide us into all truth. Help us to hear and be attentive to Your voice as we work through this study. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, Amen.
Opening Questions
Read John 15.1-17
Jesus the True Vine
We are Chosen, Grafted In, Pruned/Cleaned
- John Wesley had three ways the Lord works to prune us:
1) by obeying the truth
2) Inward suffering
3) Outward sufferings
How have you sensed the Lord present in your life in these ways? Have you found it good?
We are Invited to Abide/Remain in Him….It’s a choice
- NT Wright said, “No such thing as a solitary Christian - we can’t go it alone.” How does corporate worship, or a group, help you abide in Him?
- What are some ways you abide in Him on a personal level?
We are meant to bear Fruit
Four marks of fruit-bearing are in the text:
1) Bold Praying and answers
2) Joy
3) Extreme Friendship
4) to Love as Jesus does
How do these marks line up with your expectations of fruit-bearing? What do you normally think of as being “Spiritual Fruit”? How do these marks encourage or challenge you?
Clement of Alexandria remarked: “He lets the justice from his veins flow in support of the branches… and in the Eucharist we find an antidote to our grief.”
Take heart, dear friend, in his giving of life, we live and are healed.
Closing Prayer
Kind Father,
What an invitation
To remain in You,
To have your life surging in us.
Yet similar invitations come
from every corner of the world.
Our hearts go astray and
We know the fruitlessness…
time, talent, treasure given for that which is not life.
Open our ears anew.
Graft us into the vine.
Bind us to Jesus with faith, hope, and love.
May his life surge in this life…
Amen.
The Book of John | John 15:1-17
Gathering Question
What is one way you’ve experienced God in your life this week?
Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, would You guide us into all truth. Help us to hear and be attentive to Your voice as we work through this study. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, Amen.
Opening Questions
- What stood out to you in the sermon?
- What insights did you gain?
- What questions did it raise?
Read John 15.1-17
Jesus the True Vine
- What other “vines”, or sources of life, do we turn to? What kinds of things do religious (we) people seek to add to the fullness of Jesus?
- Read Acts 15.1-21 - how did the early church work through this question in such a way that the Jewish teaching gave insight to Gentiles, and Christ continued to be the True Vine?
We are Chosen, Grafted In, Pruned/Cleaned
- John Wesley had three ways the Lord works to prune us:
1) by obeying the truth
2) Inward suffering
3) Outward sufferings
How have you sensed the Lord present in your life in these ways? Have you found it good?
We are Invited to Abide/Remain in Him….It’s a choice
- NT Wright said, “No such thing as a solitary Christian - we can’t go it alone.” How does corporate worship, or a group, help you abide in Him?
- What are some ways you abide in Him on a personal level?
We are meant to bear Fruit
Four marks of fruit-bearing are in the text:
1) Bold Praying and answers
2) Joy
3) Extreme Friendship
4) to Love as Jesus does
How do these marks line up with your expectations of fruit-bearing? What do you normally think of as being “Spiritual Fruit”? How do these marks encourage or challenge you?
Clement of Alexandria remarked: “He lets the justice from his veins flow in support of the branches… and in the Eucharist we find an antidote to our grief.”
Take heart, dear friend, in his giving of life, we live and are healed.
Closing Prayer
Kind Father,
What an invitation
To remain in You,
To have your life surging in us.
Yet similar invitations come
from every corner of the world.
Our hearts go astray and
We know the fruitlessness…
time, talent, treasure given for that which is not life.
Open our ears anew.
Graft us into the vine.
Bind us to Jesus with faith, hope, and love.
May his life surge in this life…
Amen.
Posted in Sermon Discussion Guide