Brian Priebe | Executive Pastor | May 5, 2024

Are you praying for things that only God can do?

Mark 8:27-29a (NIV)

Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

John 5:16-18 (NIV)

John 8:54-59 (NIV)

John 10:30-33 (NIV)

John 20:26-29(NIV)

Matthew 16:16 (NIV)

CS Lewis’ Trilema from Mere Christianity:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him (Jesus):

I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Acts 12:15-16 (NIV)

Psalm 1:2-3 (NIV)

Are you praying for things that only God can do?
Is your faith growing?
Is loving others your priority?

Reflection Questions:

Read John 5:16-18, 8:54-59, 10:30-33 and 20:26-29. What stands out as you look at passages that claim Jesus' divinity?
Read Mark 8:27-29 and Matt 16:13-16. What are the ways you would answer Jesus' question, 'Who do you say I am?’
In light of Jesus' divinity, Are you praying for things that only God can do? Why or why not? What things could you be praying for that would fit that description?
In light of Jesus' divinity, Is your faith growing? Why or why not? What things could you be doing that could help your faith grow?
In light of Jesus' divinity, Is loving others your priority? Why or why not? What things could you be doing that would make loving others your priority?

Three additional questions to unpack loving others...

a) Do you prioritize understanding others or being understood?
b) How easily are you offended?
c) Do you have margin in your week to have your plans interrupted by people?

Next Steps:

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Notes Page: https://journeybozeman.com/sermons/notes/2024.05.05.pdf

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