Prepared (2) – Reliable Witness

Welcome to CROLCC, we are so glad you are here worshiping with us. If you are a Christian one of the struggle you might have is what do you say when people challenge your faith? I mean if they are curious and really wanted to have a conversation about faith you will know what to say. But what if they throw a one liner just to throw you off balance? As Christians we wish we have something we can say back to them when that happens.

Last week we started this series called Prepared and we encourage all of you to craft a statement of why you decided to follow Jesus. Because Peter said “be prepared to defend your faith, or the hope that you have in Christ.” We suggested that you include the resurrection in your personal statement of faith. And then we ended last week by saying, “I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead, but I don’t believe it because the Bible says so, it’s better than that…” So, let’s talk about that “better than that” part today.

Moving Forward

Life causes us to doubt. But the foundation of your faith is not your personal experience. It’s better than that. We take the Old Testament seriously because Jesus did. We take Jesus seriously because of the resurrection. We take the resurrection seriously because Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, and James took it seriously.

Changing Your Mind

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Matthew 5:17

Discussion Questions

1. Think about your own faith journey. How has your faith—your view of God, Jesus, and the Bible— changed? What people and circumstances influenced these changes?

2. Do you know someone who walked away from his or her faith? If so, what caused that person to change what he or she believed?

3. Talk about a time when something you read in the Bible seemed to conflict with something you believed about the world. Were you able to resolve that tension? If so, how?

4. “Life causes us to doubt. But the foundation of your faith is not your personal experience.” To what extent is your faith currently based on personal experience? What are some practical things you can do to begin to reorient your faith toward Jesus?

5. Last week you were given the assignment of beginning to craft a simple statement that answers the question, “Why do you follow Jesus?” How did it go? How will this week’s message help you to refine that statement?