Click here to see the sermon discussion questions or see them listed below. We highly encourage you to listen, think, and talk about the sermon. These are questions you can reflect on by yourself, with your family, or with your small group.

Sermon Discussion Questions: 

1. Describe the perfect church. In your opinion, is such a church realistic and attainable? Was the first church, as described in our passage, a “perfect church”?  Why or why not?

2. In our sermon we heard that Devotion to, and a hunger for the word of God is one of the greatest proofs of genuine spiritual life and We will never be strong happy Christians until we devote ourselves to and continue steadfastly in God’s word.  Take one at a time…agree or disagree and why?

3. How would you define “fellowship” and why is it so important to the health of the church? How does the “breaking of bread” contribute to our fellowship? How does real fellowship blur the line between our daily life and our spiritual life?

4. The first church was devoted to a regular time of scheduled prayer. Why is this necessary for the health and well being of the church? How/why does prayer contribute to an ongoing sense of awe and reverence for God and why is this so important?

5. How does a deep understanding of the gospel loosen the Christian’s grip on worldly possessions? (See 1 John 3:16-18, Luke 12:15, Acts 20:35 ) How is a “me first” perspective slowly removed when we devote ourselves “to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers?”

6. How/why would the church grow, even today, when it embraces the timeless beauty of the earnestness and purity of the first century church, as described in our passage this week? (see John 13:34-35)

Additional Scripture References:

1 John 3:16-18 “16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

Luke 12:15 “15 And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’ ” 

Acts 20:35 “35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

John 13:34-35 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”