Message Topics & Discussion Questions 

"New Life in Christ"

Friday Evening

"The Compelling Love of Christ"

2 Corinthians  5:14-21 [TEXT]

1. The compelling love of Christ must capture your heart.

2. God's reconciliation leads to complete renewal.

3. The reach of God's reconciliation requires a comprehensive re-evaluation of our lives in this world.

Discussion Questions:

1. What loves in your life compete with the love of Christ? (Consider loves that are more

immediately "compelling" or influential.) How is the influence of these other loves

evident in your life?

2. How might the love of Christ become more compelling?

3. Before God is Savior, he is Creator. Therefore, his aim is to reconcile the world to

himself and make all things new: What does this have to do with your present life in this

world?

4. How does the reach of God's reconciliation (including the whole world) change the way

you think about particular roles and responsibilities you currently have in this world?

5. How should the office of ambassador shape the way we think about the Christian life?

Saturday Morning 

"The Obedience of Faith"

Romans 1:1-6, 16-17; 16:25-27 [TEXT]

1. New life in Christ originates through faith.

• The stimulus to faith is the preaching of Jesus Christ.
• The preaching of Jesus Christ is about promises fulfilled.
• 1 Corinthians 15:45, "The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit."

2. New life in Christ operates through faith from first to last.

• Faith is the obedience required.
• Every expression of new obedience is an act of faith.
• Hebrews 11

Discussion Questions:

1. If new life in Christ requires faith, how might you increase your own?

2. 2 Cor 1:20 says that "all the promises of God find their 'Yes' in him," referring to Jesus. Which of God's promises, fulfilled by Christ, do you need to believe more deeply if you are to live differently?

3. Are there circumstances or situations in your life where God is calling forth greater faith? See 2 Cor 1:8-9.

4. Martin Luther said, "O, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith." How does new obedience require a living and active faith? Consider some examples. If God is calling me to do _______________, it requires that I believe _______________.

Saturday Evening

"Learning Christ" 

 Ephesians 4:17-32 [TEXT] 

1. There is a right way and a wrong way to learn Christ.

• The wrong way leaves you in your former life.

• The right way begins the renewal of your whole life.

2. Learning Christ replicates the pattern of his life in our own.

• There are two essential steps

• The whole of our lives must be governed by Christ's death and resurrection.

3. The reach of this change means that every day we'll have plenty of opportunities to put this pattern into practice

Discussion Questions:

1. If God's purpose is to renew us completely in his likeness, in true righteousness and holiness, why does he not cause this to happen immediately? What redeeming value is there in our continued struggle with remaining sin?

2. How is learning Christ more than merely following new ethical principles as a Christian? What are some ways we can continue to learn Christ, to study the truth in Jesus?

3. Paul provides the apostolic "standard of teaching" (Rom 6:17) that is found in various places in the NT. Put off and put on replicates the pattern of death and resurrection. How does this require more of us than merely stopping one thing and doing another?

Sunday Morning

"The Public Witness of New Life in Christ"

 1 Peter 2:9-12 [TEXT]