Discussion Questions

Peter quotes Deuteronomy 18 in Acts 3 and then says, “God has raised up this Jesus”; how does Chuck Pike argue that the wording “raise up” (anistēmi) intentionally carries resurrection meaning, and what does that suggest about God’s long-range purpose in prophecy? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does Chuck Pike say the phrase “raise up” in Acts 3 is meant to point to Jesus’s resurrection, not just God sending him? What does that say about God’s long-term plan in prophecy?

Deuteronomy 18 includes the warning that anyone who will not “hear” the promised prophet will be “utterly destroyed” and that God will “require it of him”; how does that threat reshape the way you think about Jesus’s commands, and what parts of modern Christian preaching make it easy to blunt that edge? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the warning in Deuteronomy 18 about not “hearing” the prophet change how you take Jesus’s commands? What parts of modern Christian preaching can make that warning feel less serious?

Chuck highlights Eusebius’s point that Moses was unique because he introduced new law, while later prophets mostly called Israel back to Moses; if Jesus is “a prophet like Moses” precisely because he brings further commands (“You have heard…but I say”), how should that affect the way Christians talk about “law,” “grace,” and “obedience”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Jesus is “a prophet like Moses” because he gives new commands (“You have heard…but I say”), how should that change the way Christians talk about law, grace, and obedience?

Chuck describes Deuteronomy 18 as an “11th commandment” given alongside Sinai—“there’s more to come…you must listen to him”; what does that framing imply about God’s intention for the Sinai covenant itself, and how might it challenge the assumption that the Old Testament law was meant to be a final, closed system? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If Deuteronomy 18 is like an extra command saying, “More is coming—listen to him,” what does that show about God’s plan for the Sinai covenant? How does it challenge the idea that Old Testament law was the final system?

The lesson stresses that the prophet must come “from among your brethren,” meaning Jewish and descended from Abraham; how does this emphasis on Jesus’s Jewish identity and fulfillment of Israel’s story correct common Christian habits of reading the Old Testament as mere background material? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does focusing on Jesus being Jewish and from Abraham’s family change the way Christians read the Old Testament? How does it correct the habit of treating it as just background information?

Peter says “all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow…foretold these days,” and Chuck goes hunting for a Samuel-era prophecy; what do you learn from his method of letting Peter’s wording drive a deeper search in Scripture, and where might your own Bible reading be less rigorous than that? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do you learn from Chuck’s approach of letting Peter’s words (“all the prophets…from Samuel”) push him to search deeper in Scripture? Where is your own Bible reading less careful than that?

In 1 Samuel 2, God promises, “I will raise up…a faithful priest,” and Chuck connects it to Hebrews’ theme that Christ is the “merciful and faithful high priest”; what does this reveal about God’s desire to provide access to Him through a faithful mediator, and how does that confront individualistic approaches to spirituality? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the promise of a “faithful priest” (1 Samuel 2) and Jesus as a “faithful high priest” (Hebrews) show about God wanting to bring people to Him through a mediator? How does that challenge the idea that you can do faith totally on your own?

Chuck underlines Hebrews’ warning note: “we are his house if we hold fast…to the end”; how does this conditional language land on you compared with common evangelical “assurance” talk, and what practical forms of drift would it call you to name honestly? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How do you react to Hebrews saying we are God’s house “if we hold on…to the end”? What kinds of slow drifting do you need to admit and name honestly?

The lesson mentions Korah’s rebellion to stress that the Aaronic priesthood was tightly restricted, yet Christ becomes priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” and “abolished the old priesthood”; how should that shake up modern assumptions about who can represent God, what “ministry” is, and how seriously God takes unauthorized spiritual authority? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Since the old priesthood was tightly limited, but Jesus becomes priest in a new way and ends the old one, how should that change who we think can speak for God and what “ministry” means? What does it show about how seriously God takes people claiming spiritual authority they weren’t given?

Ezekiel 34 condemns Israel’s self-feeding shepherds and promises God will “raise up one shepherd…my servant David,” tying to Jesus as the “good shepherd” and Hebrews 13:20 (“brought up…from the dead…the great shepherd…through the blood of the everlasting covenant”); where do you see “bad shepherd” patterns today (in leaders and in yourself), and what concrete changes would it look like to live as people being actively searched for, gathered, and governed by the one Shepherd? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you see “bad shepherd” habits today—in leaders and in yourself? What would it look like in real life to let the one true Shepherd search for you, gather you, and lead you?