Women's Bible Study - October 9th, 2024 - Declaring Our Faith: Who Do You Say I Am?

In one paragraph

This message, brought by Natalie at the Wednesday morning Bible study, centered on the question Jesus put to His disciples: "Who do you say that I am?" Working through Matthew 16 and Matthew 19, Natalie traced what it means to move from a secondhand, textbook knowledge of Jesus to a personal, experiential one, and what an honest answer to that question actually requires of us. Natalie opened by...

Read together

1. Matthew 16:13-18 Peter declares Jesus is Messiah; central passage of the lesson
2. Exodus 3 God reveals himself to Moses as I AM in the burning bush
3. James 2:19 even the demons believe there is one God and shudder
4. Matthew 19:16 the rich young ruler asks what he must do to inherit eternal life
5. Matthew 5 Sermon on the Mount redefines murder as harboring anger and adultery as lust
6. Matthew 16:26 what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul
7. 1 John 2:15-17 do not love the world; lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life
8. Ephesians 2:8-9 saved by faith through grace alone, not by works so no one can boast
9. Ephesians 2:10 God set aside good works in advance for believers to walk in
10. 1 John 5:13 whoever has the Son has life; written so you may know you have eternal life
11. James 4 draw close to God and he promises to draw close to us

Talk about it

1. Natalie talked about the difference between a textbook knowledge of Jesus and an experiential knowledge, using Matthew as an example of someone who followed first and learned who Jesus was along the way. Where would you say you are on that spectrum right now, and what has shaped that?
2. Natalie presented C. S. Lewis's argument that Jesus has to fit into one of three categories: Lord, liar, or lunatic. Has there been a time in your life when you genuinely wrestled with which one he was? What settled it for you, or are you still working through it?
3. Natalie asked everyone to write down a number from one to ten representing how certain they are of their salvation, and then shared that she was a seven for a long time because she believed her good works could partly cover her sins. Where does that number sit for you, and what is driving it?
4. When Jesus meets the rich young ruler, Natalie said he goes straight for the one thing the man loved more than God. If Jesus sat down with you and did the same thing, what do you think he would put his finger on?
5. Natalie said that for many of us Jesus is a priority on our list of priorities but not the paper the list is written on. What does it actually look like in daily life to move from treating him as an add-on to giving him that kind of central place?