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I AM ALIEN

This World Is Not My Home

I AM ALIEN

Alien Faith During Trials 1Peter 1:1-12

Parepidēmois - exiles, sojourners, ALIENS, strangers, foreigners

What am I?

Native Tourist Immigrant Alien

Core principle: A TESTED faith is a TRUSTED faith

1.What is a trial?

• A trial is a difficult season allowed by God to PURIFY and STRENGTHEN me

2.Why do I have trials?

• Trials REVEAL my faith

Question: Is my faith fake or genuine?

INHERITED faith

SHALLOW faith

CONDITIONAL faith

• Trials REFINE my faith

• Trials DRAW me closer to God

*A trial TRIGGERS the thermostat that ignites faith

3.How do I have alien faith during trials?

“Little faith will take your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.”

- Charles Spurgeon

• Focus on the benefits of SALVATION

“Becoming a Christian means that God did for Jesus at Easter what he does for you, in the very depth of your being.”

- N.T. Wright

• Focus on ETERNITY rather than examining the present

• Focus on the REWARD of persevering

• Focus on the HOPE I have in Christ

“This confident hope gives us the encouragement and enablement we need for daily living. It does not put us in a rocking chair where we complacently await the return of Jesus Christ. Instead, it puts us in the marketplace, on the battlefield, where we keep on going when the burdens are heavy and the battles are hard. Hope is not a sedative; it is a shot of adrenaline, a blood transfusion.” - Warren Weirsbe

Life Group Ice Breaker:

1. Looking back on the time of sheltering in place - what words, phrases or cultural idioms do you think will be remembered in the future?

Discussion Questions:

2. Regarding this sermon, is there any truth that stands out as being particularly helpful, insightful or difficult to grasp?

3. Read 1 Peter 1:1. How are believers aliens, foreigners, exiled, strangers today? How do you think Peter would expect that to affect the ways we think and act?

4. Difficult seasons are part of life. How do you know the difference between a trial, temptation, and consequence? (see 1 Peter 1 & James 1) As Aliens how is our response to each different?

5. Think of a time when you went through a trial. What kind of faith did it reveal (inherited, shallow, conditional)? What affect did the trial have on your faith in the end? Did you draw closer to God or further away?

Application Questions & Prayer:

6. You are either in a trial, just came through one or are headed into one. What can you do this week for those going through a trial? Share spiritual disciplines, scriptures and tools that have been helpful to you.

7. What trial (a season of difficulty allowed by God to purify and strengthen you) are you facing right now? How can you begin to trust God with it? What do you need to focus on to endure it?

8. Pray for those in your group who are being refined right now and ask God to meet their unique needs. Also, ask God to grow in all of us a faith that can be trusted. Pray that each person will cultivate genuine (Alien) faith as they learn joyful endurance!