WEEK 4 : Built Together, Not Alone

Warm-Up Question: When’s a time somebody showed up for you exactly when you needed them?

Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, please speak to us and teach us today. Help us listen closely and become more like Jesus.

Read 1 Peter 2:4-10

Peter talks a lot about stones in this passage… Let’s figure out why!

Read Matthew 16:13-20

In this story, Peter boldly proclaims that Jesus is the Christ (another word for the Messiah or God’s promised Rescuer). Jesus responds by telling Peter that his name (which means “rock”) fits because “on this rock I (Jesus) will build my Church.” 

Here’s the big idea! King Jesus is the cornerstone, the most important stone that everything else is built on and lines up with. Peter was one of the Church’s first leaders. And everybody who believes what Peter believed (that Jesus is the Christ), is like a living stone who gets built into that same Church.

Nobody is left out and everybody matters in Jesus’ Church.

Read Acts 4:1-22

Question 1: Where did Peter get the power and courage to speak so boldly? (Look at verse 8 for the answer.)

Look at what Peter says in verses 11-12. He connects Jesus back to a prophecy from the Old Testament, Psalm 118:22. Despite Jesus being the “rejected stone” by some, He turned out to be the most important stone all along. Verse 12 is a great verse to write down on a sticky note and put it somewhere you’ll see often like your bathroom mirror!

Question 2: How does verse 13 make you feel? Encouraged, surprised, or something else?

Question 3: Look at verse 20! Peter and John couldn’t stop talking about what they’ve seen and heard. Have you experienced something so real and amazing with Jesus that you just had to tell somebody about it?

Read Acts 4:23-30

Read this Bible passage slowly together out loud. It’s an actual prayer early Christ followers prayed! Then read Acts 4:31 to see what happened afterward. Finish by praying your own version of verse 31… asking God for more of His Holy Spirit and courage to boldly share about King Jesus.

Read 1 Peter 2:9-10

Question 4: These verses describe Christ followers as a chosen people, a forever family, a group that’s set apart for God. Why do you think it’s important that we KNOW Jesus and follow Him together instead of alone?

Read Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37

Question 5: What stands out to you about how the early Church treated each other and shared what they had?

Question 6: What might it look like for our own church, MCC, to have that same kind of closeness and care today?

Family Prayer

Lord over everything, You made the sky, the Earth, the oceans, and all that’s in them. Even when the world around us feels scary or hard, help us, Your people to speak about You boldly in a dying world. Use us to bring healing and to make things right, here on Earth, the way You want them to be. Amen.