Week of 1/18/26: Chosen and Changed
SUMMARY
Formation Theme: Be the Church - Created and CalledWeekly Theme: Be the Church - Chosen and Changed
Sermon Text: Acts 2:1-13
Primary Reading: Acts 10-14
Secondary Reading: Genesis 19-27
Memory Verses (Through January 24th): 1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
[4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
[5] who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 | Theme Reflection - “Chosen and Changed”
God’s call meets us where we are, but does not keep us as we are.
Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel, the one who wrestles with God and prevails. Peter the denier becomes the preacher whose words ignite faith in thousands.
When the Spirit descends at Pentecost, ordinary people are chosen for an extraordinary task - not because of their strength, but because of His transforming grace. To Be the Church - Chosen and Changed is to live as those continually formed by the Spirit.
Election is not in conflict with evangelism - it is invitation: to bear witness with great confidence that God will accomplish His purposes. That through the proclamation of the Gospel the Holy Spirit makes something new when He gives the gift of faith.
2 | Daily Reading Rhythm
3 | Practice of the Week - Remembrance Prayer
Take time this week to recall a moment when God changed your direction.
Where were you resisting His call? How did grace interrupt your plans?
Pray through that memory, thanking God for choosing you not because you were ready, but because you were His.
Write one sentence that begins: “Because You have changed me, Lord, I will …”
Keep it somewhere visible as a daily confession of identity.
4 | Doctrinal Focus - The Doctrine of Sanctification
Sanctification is both a complete and ongoing work of God’s Spirit transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 17:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18).
It begins with new birth and continues through lifelong renewal - mind, heart and action reshaped by grace.
The Spirit both convicts and comforts, pruning what hinders and planting what bears fruit.
The goal is to walk in the newness of life we have in Christ: becoming what we already are in Christ - beloved, forgiven and sent.
The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith Chapter 13 Paragraph 1
“They who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really and personally,1 through the same virtue, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them;2 the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,3 and the several lusts of it are more and more weakened and mortified,4 and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces,5 to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”6
(Click here to see the Scripture references and to read paragraph 2 and 3 on Sanctification)
Sanctification is both a complete and ongoing work of God’s Spirit transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 17:17, 2 Corinthians 3:18).
It begins with new birth and continues through lifelong renewal - mind, heart and action reshaped by grace.
The Spirit both convicts and comforts, pruning what hinders and planting what bears fruit.
The goal is to walk in the newness of life we have in Christ: becoming what we already are in Christ - beloved, forgiven and sent.
“They who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really and personally,1 through the same virtue, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them;2 the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,3 and the several lusts of it are more and more weakened and mortified,4 and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces,5 to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”6
(Click here to see the Scripture references and to read paragraph 2 and 3 on Sanctification)
5 | Missional Focus - Changed Lives Change Lives
The gospel’s credibility is bolstered by transformed lives.
This week, let your story speak. Share one way Jesus has changed you - with a friend, coworker or neighbor.
Pray that God will use your testimony not as performance, but as invitation to hope. “Spirit of God, make the ways you’ve changed me visible to others, that they too might give glory to the Father through the Son.”
6 | Community Group Discussion Questions
From the Readings
Help children see that God loves to change hearts and make people new.
From the Readings
- How does God’s call of Jacob and His commission of Peter reveal similar patterns of transformation?
- What do these passages teach about God’s patience with imperfect people?
- How does the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost demonstrate that God chooses ordinary people for extraordinary purposes?
- What areas of your life do you need to experience God's restoration?
- Where have you resisted change God was trying to bring?
- How is God currently reshaping your desires or habits through His Spirit?
- What would it look like for our group to be known as “changed people” - not perfect, but transformed by grace?
- How can we celebrate and testify to God’s ongoing work in one another’s stories?
Help children see that God loves to change hearts and make people new.
- Who are some people in the Bible that God changed?
- What does it mean that God chose you to be part of His family?
- How does the Holy Spirit help us love and obey God?
- Can you think of a way God has helped you change or learn something new? How can we thank God this week for making us more like Jesus?
7 | Closing Prayer
Lord, thank You for choosing me in Christ before the foundation of the world.
By no merit of my own - only because of Your love, have You done this.
Thank You that, despite my still present sin, You will never see me as more righteous than You already see me, because of the work of Christ.
Change me, by Your grace, more and more into the person You already see me as - ever into the image of Your Son.
Amen.