Discussion Questions

The speaker compares wheat being ground into flour with “deny ourselves and take up our cross daily,” saying, “We lose our personal identity and become a part of the whole”; what parts of your “personal identity” do you instinctively protect, and how might protecting them keep you from becoming “a body” and “a community”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What parts of who you are do you most try to protect (like your image, independence, or opinions)? How might holding tightly to them keep you from really becoming part of a church family and community?

In the speaker’s imagined retelling of that Sunday morning, the disciples’ dreams are crushed “like a tsunami”; what does that scene reveal about God’s willingness to let sincere followers experience disillusionment before they understand resurrection, and how does that confront the way we expect God to manage our emotions and expectations? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the disciples’ crushed hopes that morning show about God letting real followers feel disappointed before they understand resurrection? How does that challenge the way we want God to protect our feelings and expectations?

The speaker insists on “a physical death that results in a physical resurrection,” using Sister Anna’s unmoving body and 1 Corinthians 15’s “sown…raised” language; how does the certainty of a bodily resurrection reshape what you think God intends to redeem—especially concerning suffering, aging, and the “dishonor/weakness” of the present body? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does believing in a real, physical resurrection change what you think God plans to make new? What does it change about how you see suffering, aging, and your body’s weakness right now?

Walking through Romans 6, the speaker describes baptism as being “buried” and coming up as “alive unto righteousness…alive unto kingdom values”; how would an early Christian community have expected baptism to change a person’s daily behavior and allegiances, and where do modern baptism practices seem to expect far less? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How would early Christians expect baptism to change someone’s everyday choices and loyalties? Where do we act today like baptism should change much less?

The speaker uses Bishop Alan A. Miller’s “dead dog offered meat” illustration to describe how a baptized person should respond to temptation; what does it expose about the way you currently negotiate with sin, and what would have to change for your response to temptation to look more like “dead to sin” than “managed sin”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the “dead dog offered meat” picture show about how you currently deal with sin and temptation? What would need to change for you to act more “dead to sin” instead of just trying to control it?

Quoting D.L. Moody—“the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar”—the speaker argues that many church conflicts and “lifeless churches” come from refusing to die; what specific “staying alive” behaviors in your church culture fit his diagnosis (rights, comfort, control), and what would “dying” look like in those same situations? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What “staying alive” habits in your church—like protecting rights, comfort, or control—lead to conflict or a lifeless church? In those same moments, what would it look like to “die” to yourself instead?

The speaker says, “The Spirit of God will not force you to do his will,” and contrasts modern instincts with early-Christian-sounding statements like “I do not count my life dear to myself” and Acts 4’s unity; where do you see yourself expecting God to empower you without requiring surrender, and how does that expectation differ from the early church’s assumptions about obedience and shared life? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you expect God to help you without you fully surrendering to him? How is that different from how the early church seemed to think about obeying God and sharing life together?

The speaker frames resurrection power as flowing through a sequence—realizing sinfulness and God’s holiness, repentance, faith, full surrender, baptism, and the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence (Romans 8:10–11); which link in that chain do you suspect many evangelicals mentally bypass, and what practical fruit is lost when that step is minimized? JumpstartAnother way to ask: In the steps the speaker lists (repentance, faith, surrender, baptism, Holy Spirit power), which step do you think many evangelicals skip or downplay in their minds? What real-life results do we miss when that step is treated as unimportant?

When the speaker’s marriage hopes were denied (“everything was perfect…But God said no”), he interprets it as God causing a cherished desire to die so “resurrection power and abundant life” could follow; how do you discern the difference between God killing a dream versus mere disappointment or poor decisions, and what would faithful surrender look like while you still feel “devastated”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can you tell the difference between God letting a dream die and you simply facing disappointment or the results of bad choices? What does faithful surrender look like when you still feel devastated?

The speaker concludes, “There cannot be a resurrection without first there being a death…How dead are you?”; if your life had to supply evidence for being “dead to sin, to the world, and to Satan,” what evidence would you present—and what evidence would your habits currently present against you? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If you had to prove you are “dead to sin, the world, and Satan,” what evidence would you point to? What parts of your habits would argue the opposite?