1 Peter 2:2-10

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

This honor, then, is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the very head of the corner,”

and

“A stone that makes them stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people,
    but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
    but now you have received mercy.

Discuss these questions among yourselves or on our Facebook page:

• Look at all the uses of the word "stone" in this passage: Jesus is a living stone, 1 Peter 2 v. 4; we are like living stones, v. 5; Jesus as the cornerstone, v. 6-8. What might it mean to be like living stones (v. 5)? Do you think Peter is offering this imagery from his personal experience?  
• What does it mean to you that God is including you in building this spiritual temple? What aspects of our church shape us (as stones) to fit together well?
• 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, "…God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9b) and "now you have received mercy" (2:10b). How is this your story? What does it mean to be part of God’s people? How have you experienced moving from darkness to light in your journey? What are you going to do this week in response to these two scriptures?

Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14