Join us this Sunday for Trinity's Easter Services.

Friday, Good Friday Service, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm Bethel Baptist Church (10705 East 86th Street North, Owasso, OK 74055)

Sunday, 7AM Easter Sunrise Service, Barnes Elementary Field (7809 E 76th St North, Owasso, OK 74055)

Sunday, 10AM Easter Worship, Barnes Elementary Gym (7809 E 76th St North, Owasso, OK 74055)

Join Us Sunday: 10am at Barnes Elementary

Community Group Questions | Galatians 3:24-29; John 17:17-23 | March 21, 2017

Adoption: Community - Rev. Blake Altman

Galatians 3:24-29 (ESV)24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

John 17:17-23 (ESV)

17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Sermon Point: The Christian community is the dance of God that changes the world.

  1. Jesus calls us to community.  (Gal 3:28; John 17:19-23)
  2. Jesus, the Father and the Spirit model community.  (John 17:21)
  3. The presence & practice of community changes the world.  (John 17:18, 23)

 

  1. What has been your experience with the Christian community?  Have you been a church member before?  Share one memorable experience of community that comes to mind?  
  2. Jesus calls us to community: Jesus assumes Christians are bound together in mutual accountability, love, delight and vision for the Kingdom? How would you say you’re growing in this area?  What are your obstacles to being in community with other Christians? 
  3. The Trinity as the model of Community: Tim Keller writes in Reason for God, “Each of the divine persons of the Trinity centers upon the other.  None demands that the others revolve around him.  Each voluntarily circles the other two, pouring love, delight and adoration into them.  Each person of the Trinity loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others.  That creates a dynamic pulsating dance of joy and love” (p. 215).  How is God as Trinity dancing together in mutual love and delight (Greek: perichoresis) new to you?  In what ways does it challenge your assumptions about God?
  4. The presence and practices of community change the world:  Where do you see an opportunity in your community to be the hands of feet of Jesus now?  What public conversations need to happen (i.e., where is your community growing more divided?) How can your Community Group begin addressing this problem?