NOTES:
1] Repentance always has 2 thrusts: turning back to God, & turning your life around as a result. 2] Sadducees & Pharisees were factions within Judaism. The former accepted only GEN-DEUT as binding, & denied resurrection. Pharisees were strict upholders of the Law, expected resurrection, & by MT's time, were leading opponents to Christianity from within Judaism.

WARMING UP: Have we ever had some kind of actual, (physical) wilderness experience?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week's Group?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1-2  Whether or not we've done much exploration of geographical wilderness, how much exploring of our own inner, spiritual wilderness(es) have we done? Or can't we find them on the map? Have we ever repented of something because we realised God's Rule was at hand in some sense, or more because we wanted to save our skin? Are there any things we do / might do that would disqualify us from being forgiven, changed, restored people living out God's Rule?

3-6  How do we know a true Prophet when we see / hear one? Or don't they exist any more? If the prophet of IS 40:3 is originally & primarily Isaiah himself, why would MT now identify him as John Baptist? How far is it OK to 'project' the persona of Isaiah forward to JB, or JB backwards to Isaiah? Is that the way story keeps Isaiah & his teaching alive? When we contrast the crowds going out to hear JB & later, Jesus, with the dwindling numbers most of today's churches attract, is it just that we don't know how to get our message across any more? Or is there more to it than that?

7-10  If JB is very blunt & demanding in the way he offers his baptism for repentance, have we gone too far the other way in 'being nice to people'? Is the way we practise baptism still closely enough connected with repentance and forgiveness, or have we changed the rules of the game? Has it actually become unacceptable to look for 'fruit worthy of repentance' in people's lives in our secular society? Do we ever at least appear to be doing what JB warns those who hear him against, i.e. trading on the family we come from to claim status in the church? What would we say are the essential differences between JB's baptism & Jesus' (i.e. Christian) baptism? If there isn't a difference, where do we go from here?

11-12  Are there those within the church who strike us as being more like JB than his successor, Jesus, in the way they 'lay it on the line' to people? Do pitchfork, threshing floor, separating wheat from chaff imagery sound more a John thing than a Jesus thing? Did JB get it wrong? Jesus? Neither of them? Have we lost the ability to tell the difference between wheat & chaff, in a spiritual sense, these days, or doesn't it matter?
 
 

NOTES: 1] In 15, literally, Peter stands up among 'the brothers'. In 16 he addresses them as 'men, brothers'. The early church was quick to push the womenfolk off the stage! 2] The 120 (presumably only men were counted!) & not just the Apostles apparently got to vote. 3] Despite the quotes from PS to justifty the election, some think Saul / Paul was meant to be the new Apostle in due time. 4] After his death & resurrection, the church began to interpret the Jesus events in the light of the Hebrew Bible. 5] Casting lots was an ancient practice; see a biblical dictionary or concordance for more.

WARMING UP: How do we feel about the way people are elected or appointed to office in church & wider community?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened since last week's Group?

EXPLORING ACTS:

15-20    Do we consciously, consistently, naturally think of our fellow Christians as 'brothers' (& 'sisters'!), or believers? How hard is it these days to tell who's a Christian brother or sister or not; a believer or not? How much does a fellow Christian  being our brother or sister affect our relationship with them? Are there those in our own church fellowship we wouldn't allow to vote on important issues if we were 'running the show'?

Does Scripture 'have to be fulfilled' (Peter's words) in the sense in which he means it? Isn't it God who fulfils Scripture, in God's own ways, rather than us 'forcing the issue'? If Judas hadn't taken his own life, how might the church have had to deal with him? Do we have adequate & appropriate ways of dealing with those who betray Jesus & the church today in a serious way?

21-23    Do the conditions Peter sets for Judas' replacement make sense to us? How important is it today that those who are elected / appointed to any leadership role in the church have adequate experience & a proven track record? What about those who would argue today that the church needs the new blood that new converts often bring to decision-making processes? If we were to set out the conditions on which someone can become a church leader among us, how important would it be that they must 'become with us a witness to his (Jesus') resurrection'? How good are we ourselves at being that? Given that we can't put the clock back, what is the most effective 'witness to the resurrection' we can give today? Are we so busy trying to keep the church going that witnessing to anything, let alone to the resurrection gets dropped well down, or off the list? If there's any truth in that, what do we need to do about it in the light of what Peter tells the gathering here? Or, don't we think the issues are the same today?

24-26   Are our prayers consistently based on asking God, who 'knows everyone's heart, to show us..........', or are we more used to telling God what it is we want to happen? How conscious are we that God has, in some sense, chosen us? If we don't have any consciousness of being chosen, should we have? Remembering that 'ministry' means 'to serve', & 'apostleship' means 'to be sent', what is our 'ministry' & 'apostleship' in our church & community? How much are our own ministry & apostleship set back by 'turning aside' as Judas did, to do our own thing? If by some process the lot has fallen to us to be members, leaders, witnesses today, are there things we could do to become more effective in those roles?