Many Christians assume ministry belongs mostly to clergy, yet this study challenges that idea by returning to the priesthood of all believers. Jesus is our compassionate High Priest, but the lesson does not stop there. This study shows how every believer is called into prayerful, compassionate ministry on behalf of others. It calls parents, students, workers, and church members alike to prayerful responsibility for the people God places in their lives. 

In this Cross Training lesson, Paul J. Bucknell explains how Jesus Christ serves as the perfect Priest and mediator between God and man. Priest-People shows how Christ’s sacrifice and intercession restore sinners to God, strengthen believers in their weakness, and call Christians to become compassionate intercessors who pray for others and share the Gospel with attentiveness and love.

Teaching Points

• Christ served as priest by bearing sin and interceding for transgressors.
• Believers become secure by relying on Christ’s priestly intercession and care.
• The priesthood of believers is not merely a doctrine; it is a calling to holy, confident, compassionate prayer.
• Christian intercession grows from awareness of God’s mercy and attentiveness to the needs around us.
• Evangelism is connected to priestly compassion because believers help bring others before God through the Gospel.

Study Questions

1. Why does humanity need a priest or mediator before God?
2. What does Jesus accomplish as the perfect Priest that no ordinary priest could do?
3. How does Romans 8:34 strengthen a believer who feels guilty, weak, or afraid?
4. What does 1 Peter 2:5 teach about the calling of every believer?
5. Why must Christian intercession be joined with personal holiness and confession?
6. Who around you needs prayerful attention this week, and how can you record and pray for that need?
7. How does the priesthood of believers encourage both prayer and evangelism?