Christmas | Wise Men: This Changes Everything - Pt. 2
Springcreek Church | Lead Associate Pastor Jessica Fernandez, PhD.
November 28, 2021
WISE MEN: This Changes Everything
Jesus changed everyone He ever met. His birth caused people to question their beliefs on who they should be following, their purpose, and who the true King is. This is exactly what the wise men experienced when they saw the star that would lead them to Bethlehem. During this season, let’s look at how His birth changed the lives of the wise men.
SERIES: This Changes Everything
In these days leading up to Christmas, we’re going to look at how Jesus’ coming into the world transformed the lives of those who experienced a genuine encounter with Him. The truth is, Jesus changed everyone He ever met. There was hardly ever a hint of ambivalence in most reactions toward Jesus. You were either decidedly for Him or against Him. But in those whose lives were changed for the better, their life and testimony is an encouragement for us all to surrender to the One Who loves us like no other. Join us for this journey into the lives of those most changed by Christ’s coming into the world.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Compassion, education, the value of children and women (two
groups that have been marginalized in many societies for
thousands of years), art, literature, music, civil rights, the slave
trade, community transformation, and many other sectors of life.
Take some time to discuss or reflect on some of the ways Jesus
changed the world whether they were examples given in the
message or others that you have thought about and
considered.
2. There have been truly evil things done in the name of
Christianity, like the crusades, the inquisition, witch trials and
slavery. Pastor Keith talked about the difference between those
who call themselves Christians and those who are genuine
Christ-followers. People who’ve done evil in the name of
Christianity have done so not because of what it teaches but in
spite of what it teaches. Take some time to discuss or reflect on
these evils perpetuated in the name of Christianity, the thinking
that was used to justify such atrocities and your own critique as
to why it was absolutely incongruent with Christ’s teaching and
example.
3. A church is a community of people who present living proof of a
loving God to a watching world - living proof of a loving God to
a watching world. Is that what we are? Does the world see
evidence of a loving church when He looks at your life and
mine? In all the ways Jesus has left an indelible mark on history,
those are all the ways we continue to shine His light into a dark
world. The last thing we would ever want as Christ-followers is
to eclipse the teaching of Christ by our failure to live out His
love at work, at home, and in our community. Yet it’s likely we all
have failed from time to time to do just that. Share with the
group times when God has used you to be an example of His
love and at least once when it did not happen. When we fail at
this, why do we fail? What do we do with that failure? How do
we redeem those failures that have happened?
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