PPT slides for Peter: Openness from Acts 9:32-11:18

You might want to read Jeff Meyer’s commentary on “Peter: Openness”. In addition to the Lifeway material, I used his commentary to help prepare my PPT slides. I’ll continue to tweak them before finalizing them tomorrow evening. Happy Independence Day!

I noticed that the questions posted by Chester, Ill First Baptist (see below) started the lesson with the idea of “changing your routine”, which is not a bad idea.

-Share your name with the class and tell us one thing that you do daily as a part of your routine.
-Has anyone ever told you that you need to change your routine? Have you ever felt that it was time to do just that? Is it good to learn new things? Explain your answer.
-Do you have a spiritual routine? Is reading a few verses daily, praying at meals and bedtime, and sitting in a pew on Sunday morning part of your spiritual routine? Is this kind of routine enough for you? Would you like to have more?
-True or false? It is good to form spiritual habits but it is bad when those habits become meaningless.
-We all have our comfort zones, how do you react when you find yourself removed from yours? Has God ever stretched you and pulled you from your area of comfort? How did that feel?
-Circumcised...uncircumcised...what is our first lesson passage really about? Why do you think God wanted us to know about this incident in His Word? Why do you think Peter felt it was important to share this story with the circumcised believers?
-Would you agree that Peter was open to new truth? Do you show a willingness to be open to God's message, even if it involves something entirely new to you?
-Peter was criticized when he went to the home of the Gentile. Have you ever experienced criticism for breaking from accepted religious traditions? What did you think was so important that you did so?
-Who was Scripture written for? Is there any part of God's Word that is not important? Why do we often accept only the part of God's Word which supports our own beliefs rather than other teachings we don't like?
-The Jewish Christians had become rather smug about their beliefs. Peter showed them that the Gentile could become a fellow believer. Is there a group of people we look down our noses at today?
-The last verses of our lesson are called the turning point for missions and the church; why do you think this is so?
-There are many churches of people who worship differently from us and their method of presenting the Gospel varies greatly from ours. Why doesn't one presentation work for everyone? Is our way better than theirs?
-Is there a difference between being baptized in water and being baptized with the Holy Spirit? Has the Holy Spirit been trying to pull you from your spiritual box? Could it be that it is time for you to stretch your spiritual life past the talk and begin taking action? Will you visit the local food pantry and see if you can help? Will you share your Jesus with someone twenty years younger than you? Will you share your Jesus with someone twenty years older than you? Will you seek God's will and purpose for the next chapter of your life? Let's pray!