25 May
2025

Those Who Will Believe

Passage: John 17:20-23 & Acts 2:42-47

“The church is…made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together…because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance…They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.” —D.A. Carson

SERMON OUTLINE:

  • Jesus’s Prayer
  • The Outworking of Jesus’s Prayer

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Describe a memorable experience being part of a team. What brought your team together? What strengths and challenges are part of working as a team?

Read John 17:20-26 . What does this passage show you about God’s character and about being his follower? What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this passage?

Jesus prayed for you! He prayed for all those who believe in him to be brought to complete unity. Note the various times Jesus prays for unity in this passage. What is the source of believers’ unity?

Bible scholar D.A. Carson provocatively wrote: “The church is…made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together…because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance…They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.” How is this reality reflected in Jesus’s first followers? How is this reality reflected at Covenant?

Read Acts 2:42-47. How did the early church reflect the unity Jesus prayed for?
The early church practiced unity by living, learning, loving, and facing outward in community. In what ways does our church family live, learn, love, and lean out together? In what ways can our community group practice the unity Jesus prayed for?
How can we praise God for answering Jesus’s prayer for unity historically and locally? Where do we long to see the fruit of believers’ unity in Christ?

What from this passage and this discussion is something you want to put into practice or be more aware of this week?

PRAYER

Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”