Description

Welcome to Family Up – the second component of our Following Jesus discipleship program.

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Pre-Requisites

The material in this component of Following Jesus depends on key material from Following Jesus: Focus On The Message, including:

• Habits and Ministries
• Assignments
• The Bible

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Purpose

Follow this link for information about our training’s: purpose, goals, habits, ministries, and assignments.

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Joining and Functioning In The Family

This component focuses on joining God’s family and learning how to function in it. Our Following Jesus: Focus On The Message component was based on working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. For our Following Jesus: Family Up component we will explore what happened when the first large group of people (3,000 men and probably a comparable number of women and children) responded to Peter’s announcement of the Good News on that first Pentecost after Jesus’ resurrection (read Acts 2 for the whole context):

  They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.All the believers were together and had everything in common.Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.  Acts 2:42-27 (NIV)

These were pilgrims from outside Jerusalem who had come to town for the feast of Pentecost with the intention of then returning to their homes. Instead, having embraced the gospel and become followers of Jesus, they stayed. The core group of Jesus’ followers quickly embraced their new brothers and sisters and folded them into their extended family.

Note their devotion to the following elements of their new family relationship:

• The Apostles’ teaching
• The fellowship
• Breaking bread (i.e. eating together, including The Lord’s Supper)
• Prayer
• Sharing resources
• Meeting in homes and in large gatherings

Note the following outcomes of their new lifestyle:

• Wonders and miraculous signs by the apostles
• Daily influx of new followers of Jesus

Topics

Using Acts 2:42-47 above as a framework, we will address the following topics:

• The Apostles’ teaching
  • The teaching itself is largely covered by our Focus On The Message component.
  • Submission to authority
• The fellowship
  • The importance of joining a congregation.
  • Meeting in homes.
  • Meeting in large gatherings.
  • Foot Washing
  • Edifying others
• Breaking bread
  • Eating meals together
  • The Lord’s Supper
• Prayer
• Sharing resources

This section will include notes and resources related to each chapter that we will be reading

• The Gospel of Matthew continues the Bible story with Jesus’ ministry. | BibleProject™
• Matthew for Everyone, Part 1 (The New Testament for Everyone) by Tom Wright – Amazon.com
• Matthew for Everyone, Part 2 (The New Testament for Everyone) by Tom Wright – Amazon.com
• Tim Mackie: Matthew – YouTube

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

• • Read and watch the material in the Bible Project link above.
  • Order the “Matthew for Everyone” commentators above.
  • Discussion Questions:

Lessons (under construction)

Lesson 1: The Apostles’ Teaching

Main text and related passages:

• Acts 2:42-47 NIV – The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah – Bible Gateway

Topics to explore in discussion:

• • The backstory to the Gospel.
  • The women in Jesus’ genealogy.

Additional resources to check out:

• • N. T. Wright – The Big Picture: The New Testament and the Mission of God on Vimeo
  • Yahweh Saves [Matthew] – Tim Mackie (The Bible Project) – YouTube

Assignment for training your crew (using this material to bring others to spiritual maturity):

• • Read the main passage and related passages above.
  • Watch the “Yahweh Saves” video from the Tim Mackie series on Matthew above.
  • Discussion Questions:
    • What does this chapter say about who Jesus is?
    • How does this chapter compare with what you’ve believed about Jesus in the past?
    • How does this chapter compare with what you believe about Jesus now?

Habits

• • Make a list of the people in your sphere of influence (i.e. people you connect with at least once a week) who aren’t followers of Jesus.
  • Begin praying for them regularly.

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