May 10, 2020

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for May 10th” : Acts 7:55-60, Psalms 31:1-5,15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14, Theme: Mother’s Day 1 Peter: As believers we are called to these five things: Hope, holiness, to be frugal, to love one another and to continue to grow in knowledge of God. Peter is giving us a sense of identity. He knows that sometimes knowing who you are can help you to get through difficult situations. Peter is giving us an identity that goes back to being children of God. No matter what our culture of family history, we are royalty in faith because of God. In Peter’s time Christians were going through persecution just because of their faith. Seeing that happen can have an affect on your identity. You can start to think that you deserve that. Peter says that as children of God we do not have to let circumstances or other people define us. We are children of God and deserve the best in all of life. It is our faith that determines our identity. John: Once again John is giving assurance of what it means to be a believer. Jesus tells us to trust in him. Thomas and Phillip say that they want to trust Jesus, but there are so many other voices out in the world, how do you know who to listen to. They seem it does not matter who you listen to, all people say the same thing. We all know that is not true, we know that there are some people in the world who do not have out best interest at heart. So Jesus responds by saying that he is the way the truth and the life. There are no other voices to listen to, we can trust Jesus. If we trust Jesus, then we are able to hear his voice very clearly. If we hear Jesus, then we can know that we have heard the voice of God. Questions: What exactly does it mean to be a child of God? How does having a Christian identity make a difference in your life? Who in your life gave you your identity? How do you know God is speaking to you instead of someone else? Do your follow Jesus as the way or is there someone else more important?