6: The Ministry of Peter - Discussion Starters

First Paul, now Peter. Peter loved Jesus all of his career, didn’t he? Well…What about the scene when Peter announced, “I do not know Him”? Why do you think this incident is featured in the Bible by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? What qualifies “Peter the betrayer” to be remembered as a faithful believer and follower of Jesus? Should that experience give us hope today?
Peter the miracle worker. Why do you think God gave Peter the ability to heal the sick and even raise the dead to life? Why were miracles so effective in winning souls in Peter’s day? Would we have more Christian believers today if we could work more miracles? If Tabitha was a member of your church, what would she do to share God’s love with the believers? Now she was dead. Until Peter spoke to her: “Get up!” And she did.
A formula for soul winning. A = person is sick; B = person gets well; C = person becomes a Christian. Did this sequence happen when the apostles performed miracles? Does it happen today? How should this story affect our soul-winning activities?
Let’s enjoy meat-eating. This has to be one of the most vivid and puzzling visions of the Bible. Cornelius decides to obey a vision he received and travel about 25 miles on foot or chariot to Joppa, where Peter is staying. There Peter has a vision that continues to astound people today. What was that vision? Does it have anything to do with vegetarianism? What is the earth-shaking meaning in this vision for hope-filled Christians today?
Preaching to the uncircumcised. The nerve of Peter. There he is, sitting down at the dinner table with a group of people who are ready to become Christians but haven’t met all the requirements. Like it doesn’t matter? Isn’t it fair to say that early Christians were highly suspicious of Jewish converts who didn’t follow the religious custom initiated by God for circumcision?
You want to be called a Christian? In those days, Gentiles supplied this term as a form of mockery. Said with a sneer. What do you feel these days when someone calls you a Christian? an Adventist?
Herod is coming. King Herod, that is the king known as Agrippa I and the grandson of Herod the Great, cannot tolerate Peter or James. Why? That hatred rates so high in his heart that Herod has James, the brother of John, executed. Peter is next on the list. What happens instead?
Pray, brother; pray, sister. A closing thought comes to us from I. Howard Marshall, a theologian and writer quoted by Ellen White in Acts of the Apostles: “When the church prays, the cause of God will go forward, and His enemies will come to naught, even if this does not exempt the church from suffering and martyrdom…”