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Jun 15
Love0

Study Three: The Choice we all Face Application Questions

By Deuteronomy, Studies

For those meeting in Community Groups this week, here are the application questions for Study Three: The Choice we all Face.

God chooses to rescue his people not because they’re powerful, smart, talented, or good. But because he loves them.

1. Knowing that God already loves us despite our failures and successes, what sort of freedom does this give us? How does it change our expectations as Christians?

This kind of love that God has shamelessly lavished upon us is a non-returnable, undeserved, unearned love. It is blisteringly unconditional love.

2. How does this love make you feel? What does this kind of love make you want to do?

The problem with the Israelites is the same problem we ourselves have: hearts that don’t want to obey God. Which is why God tells them to ‘circumcise your hearts’. In other words, they, and we, are to opt for painful, permanent change. We are to do whatever it takes to make sure that we obey from this point on. And when we get to the New Testament, we see that this is in fact what Jesus does for us, because we cannot do it ourselves.

3. Read Colossians 2:9-12. Knowing we have everything we need in Christ, what do you think it would look like, for you personally, to live whole-heartedly for God? What’s one thing you could change in your lifestyle, routine, conduct, or speech that would be a step toward this goal?

Jun 09
Love0

Study Two: In God We Trust? Application Questions

By Deuteronomy, Studies

For those meeting in Community Groups this week, here are the application questions for Study Two: In God We Trust?

Hearing God’s words has got to be a way of life for God’s people. That’s the key to making good choices: to allow every impulse, every idea, every decision to be shaped, corrected, and directed by God himself as he speaks to us.

1. Generally speaking, why do we find it so hard to listen? What makes it even harder when it comes to hearing God’s voice?

2. In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul says to‘Remember Jesus Christ’. Why do you think he says that? What does it mean to ‘remember Jesus’?

Moses says that listening to God’s words leads to an attractive obedience – a way of life that will draw others in.

3. Thinking honestly about your life, how attractive do you think it is to outsiders? If someone would look in on your life from the outside, would what they see attract them?

The only way to ‘happily’ keep on sinning is if we first silence God. Repentance is essentially removing your fingers from your ears so that you can hear God again and start acting on what he says.

4. How can we make sure that we, as a community group, help on another stay saturated by God’s words – especially when we’re attempting to silence God?

It’s worth remembering that when we do pull our fingers out of our ears we’re not met with words of judgement from God, but rather words of mercy: “The Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you.” – Deut. 4:31

Jun 02
Love0

Study One: Looking Back, Looking Forward – Application Questions

By Deuteronomy, Studies

For those meeting in Community Groups this week, here are the application questions for Study One: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Moses opens his speech by making Israel look back on their past in order to highlight the fact that they must learn to mistrust themselves.

1. Are you more likely to be blasé about your past (“let’s just forget that ever happened”) or be crippled by your past (unable to move on from your mistakes)? How can we learn to mistrust ourselves in ways that are healthy and lead to growth?

The other side of the coin for Moses is that mistrusting ourselves should lead us to trusting God – particularly trusting him to deliver on specific promises he gives to his people.

2. In what ways do we expect God to deliver on promises he never gave us? What has God promised us, and how can we have a realistic trust in God?

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. How do these words change how we view our successes and failures? What comfort (if any) do you find in these words?

Apr 21
Love0

Ephesians 1:15-23 – Community Group Study Notes

By Ephesians, Studies

Big Idea:

The same power that raised Jesus now works in us. A truth & power worth understanding.

Key Verses:

1:17-18 – I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people
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Apr 19
Love0

Ephesians 1:1-14 – Community Group Study Notes

By Ephesians, Studies

Big Idea:

Our new identity begins with Jesus.

Key Verses:

v.3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
vv. 13-14 – And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Discussion questions for group (If you want them):

– Where would you say problems stem from in the world? Can you see any connection to identity / how people see themselves?
– What does Paul mean when he says that we have “every spiritual blessing” in Jesus? Does this mean we don’t need anything else?
– What are the characteristics of this blessing that Paul describes in verses 3-14?
– How are these blessing similar and different to the blessings / things we might find in the world?

Application questions:

– Where do you draw your identity from now?
– What would it look like to allow Jesus to be the beginning of how you see yourself?
– Which of the truths identified by Paul in this passage (holy/blameless, adopted, redeemed/forgiven, eternal security, chosen) do you struggle to believe? Why?
– How does our identity in Jesus reshape other aspects of who we are?

Notes / Observations:

[ut_togglegroup] [ut_toggle title=”Ephesians 1:1-2 – Paul’s Introduction”] One of Paul’s prison letters – Philippians, Philemon, Colossians & Ephesians. You can read about Paul in Ephesus in Acts 19.

v.1

See also Col 1:1; 2 Cor 1:1. “To speak of himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus not only signifies that he belongs to Christ, but also that he is a messenger who is fully authorised and sent by him. As an apostle he has the authority to proclaim the gospel in both oral and written form, as well as to establish and build up churches (see on 2:20 and 4:11). He has been called to this ministry ‘through the will of God’, an expression that appears four times in the space of a few verses (vv. 1,5,9,11…) and has particularly to do with God’s saving plan, or some aspect of it. Paul’s calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles fits within that gracious divine plan (cf. 3:1-13). He had not appointed himself to this position; God chose him. Hence the words by the will of God have overtones of God’s unmerited grace, and emphasise that there was no personal merit on Paul’s part either in becoming an apostle or in continuing as one.” O’Brian.

[/ut_toggle] [ut_toggle title=”Ephesians 1:3-14 – Everything in Christ”] This part is one long sentence of thanksgiving for what God has done in Jesus. Notice the change in personal pronouns between vv.3-11 & vv.13-14. We’ll explore this more in further weeks, but one of Paul’s arguments in Ephesians is that the Gospel brings unity to diverse people. In this case Jews (“us”) and Gentiles (“you”). He’ll pick this up again in 2:11ff.

v.3

– God is here pronounced blessed because he is the source of all blessing. As this verse makes clear, it is because of the blessing which he has bestowed upon us that we pronounce him to be blessed.
– The phrase “heavenly realms” occurs also in 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12, the first two of which help us understand this one. Christ is now in the heavenly places and all of our blessings are to be found in him. As the Spirit conveys these blessings to us we are united with Christ and through that union enjoy the blessings which he has for us.

v.4

– It doesn’t come out very strongly here, but there’s a connecting word “In as much…” that starts this bit. The sense here is that the blessings given us in Christ are precisely those which, in eternity past, God planned for those whom he would have to be his own.
– The pervasive use of the phrase “In Christ” in this letter (and elsewhere in Paul) indicates that all that God does for the salvation of his people he does in Christ. This applies not only to what has been done for us through Christ’s earthly life, death and resurrection, but also to the eternal plans and purposes of God. These also were plans towards us in Christ in that Christ is the heart and focus of these plans and the one to whom they were and are entrusted. We are chosen in him.
– “The two adjectives holy and blameless were used to describe the unblemished animals set apart for God as Old Testament sacrifices (Exod 29:37-38; cf. Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19).” – O’Brian.

v.5

– Adoption “was understood in Graeco-Roman law, as referring to the adoption as sons of those who were not so by birth. It signified entry into a privileged position. Paul applies this term from the Graeco-Roman world to the special relationship which believers have with God. This reference to adoption must also be understood against the background of Israel’s relationship with the Lord as his ‘firstborn son’ (Exod 4:22; Isa 1:2), a relationship which was established at the Exodus” – O’Brian

v.7

– This word has both a Greek and Jewish background. Greek prisoners or slaves were redeemed by means of a payment. In the OT ‘redemption ‘ has three elements:
i) Deliverance, particularly from the bondage of Egypt (Deut 7:8; 9:26; 13:5);
ii) The initiative of a Redeemer (goel);
iii) The payment of a price (particularly for redemption from bond service).

v.8

“God’s lavish grace has bestowed on us not only redemption, but along with this all the necessary wisdom and insight by which we should live wisely (cf. 5:15), particularly in the light of his saving plan in Christ (which is developed in what follows).” – O’Brian

v.10

The word translated “to be put into effect” is a word used in the Greek of God’s ordering and administration of the universe. It refers here to the manner in which God’s purpose is being worked out in human history.

v.14

The Holy Spirit is a pledge or down payment (cf. 2 Cor 1:22). His presence marks the Christian out as belonging to God. He is also an eschatalogical (last days) gift imparting something of the blessings of the age to come (cf. 4:30).

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Mar 23
Love0

Acts 10 – Community Group Study Notes

By Acts, Studies

Big Idea:

The passage we’ll look at next week stretches from 9:32-11:18. It finishes off the first section of Acts, and begins to turn it’s focus towards Paul’s mission to the Gentiles.

It’s God, through his Spirit that decides who are clean.

Key Verses:

10:26 – Peter is only a man. Even he doesn’t get it sometimes.
10:47-49 – The HS is given even to the Gentiles.
11:17 – If God does it, how can we oppose it?
11:18 – The expansion of God’s family.

Structure / Observations:

[ut_togglegroup] [ut_toggle title=”9:32-43 – Peter doing the miraculous so that many believe in the Lord.”] 9:32 – Could have been those who had fled Jerusalem, of converts of Philip (8:40)
9:37 – Part of the Jewish custom of purification of the dead.
9:38 – Joppa & Lydda are about 10 miles apart.
9:42 – Peter’s an influential guy. People believe because of what he does here and in 9:35.
[/ut_toggle] [ut_toggle title=”10:1-8 – Cornelius (a Gentile) receives an Angel.”] 10:1 – “It is remarkable that the first Gentile with whom Jesus came into touch (so far as we know) was a centurion, with reference to whose faith He said, ‘Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 8:11).” FF Bruce
10:4 – The idea of “prayer & gifts to the poor” coming up to God as a memorial offering is an Old Testament picture of the smell of the sacrifices rising up to meet God, a pleasing aroma.
[/ut_toggle] [ut_toggle title=”10:9-23a – The question: What (or who) is clean / pure?”] 10:9 – If those sent by Cornelius had set out first thing in the morning they would have arrived about noon.
10:12 – Gen 6:20 has a similar division.
10:15 – The implication of what the voice says to Peter here is that he was clearly making distinctions about what was impure and what was pure, probably in a similar way to those who confront him in 11:1-3. You can see clean / unclean laws in Leviticus 20:24-26, and Jesus declaring all foods clean in Mark 714-23.
[/ut_toggle] [ut_toggle title=”10:23b-47 – The answer: Those whom God chooses to pour his Spirit out on.”] 10:28 – Entry into a Gentile house would render a Jew unclean (cf. Jn 18:28).
10:35 – “The early church fathers struggled with the question of faith and works in Cornelius, and perhaps Augustine’s view offers as good an answer as any. Cornelius, like Abraham, had shown himself to be a man of faith and trust in God. God was already working his grace in him, and it manifested itself in good deeds. Now God would show him his greatest grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Spirit. The stress on both Cornelius’s devoutness and his works is perhaps, then, a good corrective to an abused doctrine of grace with no implications for behaviour and a reminder of James’s dictum that at base, faith and works are inseparable.” Polhill
10:41 – “The eating and drinking were very important, being among the most convincing of many proofs of His bodily resurrection. Cf. Lk 24:41,43.” FF Bruce
10:44 – So Peter might have been hesitant about coming into the house of a Gentile, but God declares unequivocally that clean / unclean is no longer about food laws or heritage. It’s about the Spirit of God. This is the Pentecost for the Gentiles.
[/ut_toggle] [ut_toggle title=”11:1-18 – Part 1 climax: Even the Gentiles can have eternal life.”] 11:3 – We see here already, the Gospel & God’s Spirit having just been given, that false views & doctrines are already at hand. There’s nothing new under the sun.
11:3 – Peter is the leader of the early church. He not only entered a Gentile house, he ate with them. Once the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem who were sympathetic to the believers got wind of this, it was probably going to dry up any sympathy other Jews might have had to the believers.
11:18 – “They accepted Peter’s report and made no attempt to avoid the conclusion that the Gentiles were not outside the scope of the Gospel. The resulting questions on the terms on which Jewish and Gentile believers were to associate and the obligation on Gentile believers to observe the Jewish law were not pressed at the moment, but they were by no means solved. Even Peter on a later occasion wavered in faithfulness to the lesson that he had learned on the housetop at Joppa (Gal. 2:11 ff.). The question became more acute than ever after the return of Paul and Barnabas from their first missionary journey (cf. 15:1ff.).” FF Bruce
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Application:

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