Loving the City? Urban Ministry and Urban Living often attract those who are infatuated or flirtatious with the mystique of the city and even some who profess to love the city. Some of us simply love the gospel and the density (crowded neighborhoods) and diversity (economic, ethic, educational, cultural, and age differences) of people who are found in the city – offering an opportunity for a strategic advance of the gospel. We should be cautious about the phrase ‘Loving the city’ because it can be no more than a cliché of those......

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Principles of a Submissive Life that apply to the Church 1 Peter 3:8-12 1 Peter 3:8-12 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away......

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1 Peter 1: 17-21 Live in Reverential Worship 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last......

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1. Discuss what it means to have an unearthly joy that transcends the temporal joys and sorrows of life. 2. Discuss the reference to the gospel ( “in this”) and what it is about the gospel that offers a transcendent joy. 3. How can this unearthly joy be real in the presence of trials? Discuss how the gospel calls us to and enables us to live with antinomies? 4. Grammatically, ‘rejoice’ may be either a command or a statement. Either way, why should there be an expectation of joy even in the......

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Discussion Questions The Servant’s Glorious Triumph over Suffering from God’s Perspective Isaiah 53:10-12 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear......

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Discussion Questions on Isaiah 53:1-9 The Glorious Triumph of the Suffering Servant As seen by redeemed sinners How does the text indicate that Isaiah, the prophet, speaks proleptically (puts himself in the place) of some in the future who have witnessed both the sufferings of Christ and his resurrection and who have responded in faith? How does 1 Peter 2:21-25 use of Isaiah 53 indicate that this is not only Israelites who come to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, such as at Pentecost, but also believers from among the nations? In......

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Discussion questions on 1 Peter 1:3-5 Who am I? – I have a living Hope How does being an exile and sojourning among the nations of the world compare to  a ‘short-term mission trip’? How does the above create the possibility for fear, isolation, retreat, and even hatred of the world in which we dwell? Why is it important to remember that our psychological response to the world in which we live (i.e. fear vs. confidence; despair vs. hope) is rooted in our theology? In what sense are all the events or......

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