Jesus Won

• Teaching Text

  1 Peter 3:18-22

  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

SPIRITUAL PRACTICES

Read 1 Peter 4:1-6, four times this next week.
Use the ‘O.I.A.’ Study method to look at 1 Peter 4:1-6

Is baptism your next step of faith? Learn more here.

DISCUSSION GUIDE

Personal Reflection Questions:

1. Jesus suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous. What does this truth mean in your life?

2. How is the concept of baptism symbolized in this passage?

3. How does the idea that ‘Jesus won’ change the way you respond to suffering in your life?

Small Group Discussion Questions:

1. Discuss the significance of baptism. What does it mean to be "saved through water"?

2. Jesus suffered for us, for our sins. How does that (should that) shape your understanding of forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation?

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, thank you for your love and grace. Help me to extend that same love and grace to others as I seek to reflect your character to the world. Help me to live in the reality of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Holy Spirit, bring this to my mind when I face suffering in this life, remind me that ‘because Jesus won, I have victory’.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Take some time to sit silently before God. What action will you take this week because of what you heard from the Lord during the teaching of His Word?