Don't take that away!

Here's the link to the Sermon: What is the thing you can't live without?

Reading: Amos 8

1. What did the Lord show to Amos in Amos 8:1-2, what did it mean and how does those verses apply to us today?
2. In Amos 8: 3-6 there is a description of the Israelites attitude to the Sabbath and other holy days.
   1. Discuss the difference between the Lord’s Day and the Sabbath. How should we keep the Lord’s Day?
   2. What was the thrust of God’s words through Amos in these verses?
3. What does the Lord say in Amos 8:7?
   1. How does that fit in with other verses offering forgiveness?
   2. Which verses can you find where God promises to forgive?
4. What is the Lord going to do in Amos 8:11-12? Has this happened already or is it a prophecy, yet to be fulfilled? Discuss and explain.
5. Amos and some of the other Minor Prophets can be a bit challenging in places. What would we miss if we didn’t tackle the less well known parts of the bible?
6. As a group consider whether there are areas of teaching which people would like to (or feel they ought to hear), [Group leaders – please feedback any comments]

This is That

Here's the link to the Sermon: God Pours Out His Spirit 

 

Reading: Joel 2:28-32

1. What has Joel been talking about up to this point (i.e. in chapters 1&2:1-27)? How does that relate to this passage?
2. In the sermon there was some discussion about how we should read the bible in a ‘Jewish way’. How will that help us?
3. When you hear the title, ‘Holy Spirit’ what thoughts and ideas come to mind? Spend some time discussing this as a group.
4. Discuss:
   1. What are verses 28 and 29 referring to?
   2. What are verses 30 and 31 referring to?
   3. Where does verse 32 fit in?
5. What role would you say the Holy Spirit plays in the life of our church (consider points raised in the sermon), from day to day? Where do you see the evidence of His work? Can you think of any situations where we need to rely more on the leading of the Holy Spirit?
    

For personal study:

What role would you say the Holy Spirit plays in your life, from day to day? Where do you see the evidence of His work? Can you think of any situations where you need to rely more on the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Do You Know Your King?

If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: Do You Know Your King?

Reading: Matthew 21: 1-17

1. What do the OT prophets tell us about this passage? Zechariah 9:9, Daniel 9 and Isaiah 62:11;
2. Why did Jesus do what He did, specifically at that time?
3. Who's King is Jesus? Does what we believe make any difference to His kingship? Why?
4. Discus as a group how Jesus first coming as king was different to what we should expect at His second coming. (Rev 19f);
5. People misunderstood Jesus intentions on that first Palm Sunday, how might people still miss the point?

Dying to Live?

If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: Dying to Live?

Reading: John 12:20-36

1. Why did the Greeks need to ask to see Jesus?
2. Does Jesus see them? Explain.
3. Discuss the powerful pictures of the grain "dying" and the walking in the light. How can we apply these things to our own lives?
4. Verses 27-34: what are the important things about what Jesus is saying here? Is any of this confusing? If so talk it through as a group (refer back to the sermon).
5. Spend some time praying for each other as a group and the wider church, that we would take this teaching seriously.

Some sheep think they can cope without a shepherd: do you?

Reading: John 10:1-21
 
If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: Have You Got A Good Shepherd?  

There are too many questions here for one study, so please do select those you want to study more as a group.

1)   Who is Jesus speaking to? (see chapter 9) Who acted as a good shepherd to  the man born blind and who didn’t? Why?

2)   What does the shepherd know about his sheep, and what is the significance of this? (Ps. 139:2&3).

a)      How does he care for them? (Ps. 23).

b)      What does it mean that he goes ahead of them?

c)      What is the lesson here for us today?

3)   What do the sheep know about the shepherd? Why is this important? (Ps. 100:3).

a)      How can we know the voice of our Shepherd, God? (Rom. 1:18-21; Ps.53:1).

b)      Did Jesus' listeners understand him? Why?

4)  What claim does Jesus make in verse 7, and what did he mean?

5)  What does he promise to those who enter through him? (7, 9, 10b).

6)  Is there any other way to God? What does he say about all others?

7)  What does Jesus claim about himself? (11, 14a) and what backs up his claim? (11, 14-18; 1 Sam. 17:34-36, 45-47).

8)  How does the hired hand act when it comes to the crunch? Why? (12, 13) How is he like the shepherd? How and why is he fundamentally different to the shepherd?

9)   What does Jesus say about his "other sheep"? (16) Who is he talking about?

10) Why do all people need a shepherd?

11) Why did Jesus lay down his life for the sheep? (17, 18; Isa. 11:6) and what does  this teach us about God? (Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 56:6)?

12) How can there be one flock and one shepherd?

13) How can we be good sheep?

14) What does this passage say, if anything about the shepherds of his flock?

15) How did the people listening respond to Jesus' words? How will you respond?

 

Thirsty For More?

Reading: John 7:25-44

 

If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: Designed to be thirsty...   

Here are a selection of questions, pick as many or as few as you need during the time you have, but do look at the first three.

1. What are some of the consequences of letting "experts" make your decisions for you?
2. What is the Feast of Tabernacles, what happened at it, and why was it important?
3. Discuss how Jesus has fulfilled the feast at His birth, then again in this passage and will for a final time as he comes again.
4. Why did the religious rulers want to kill Jesus? Why did the people from Jerusalem recognise this plot verse 25 while those from outside Jerusalem didn’t?
5. How many arrest attempts were there and why did they all fail?
6. Look and talk about at what the passage says about where Jesus came from. Why is it important?
7. What is Jesus talking about in verses 33-34?

Where would we go?

Reading: John 6:60-71

If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: Anything but Jesus  

1. Verse 60 – what are the types of things that cause people today to say this?
2. Verse 61 – The Gospel is offensive – discuss
3. Are all disciples true believers?
4. When Jesus spoke about eating His body and drinking His blood, what was He talking about?
5. What is a true disciple?
6. Verse 68 - Peter said we in his response, was that true? (cf. verses 70-71)
7. Verse 63 & 68 Even if you wanted to turn away because of difficult teaching, where would you go?

Study Questions: The Resurrection huh, that’s crazy!

Reading: Luke 24:1-12

If you missed it, here's a link to the Sermon: The Only Hope  

1. Why Does the resurrection matter? (c.f. Romans 4: 24&25; 1 Corinthians 15: 53-57) Spend some time discussing this.
2. Why do you think the women had to go to the tomb - why didn't the angels save them the journey and meet them at home?
3. Discuss verse 5. In particular consider a) how the women might have responded to this and b) how we might, "seek the living from among the dead" in our lives? 
4. Discuss verses 6-8. What are the things we can learn from these verses for our lives?
5. How did the women respond to what they saw, heard and experienced? How does this compare to the apostles response and what can we learn from this?
6. There are countless people who need to hear the truth about the resurrection, what are you going to do about it?
7. Spend some time in prayer for each other and for our church as a whole, that we may come more and more to live in obedience to Jesus Christ, and fulfil, in our time, Matthew 28: 19-20.

“If there is a loving creator why does He send people to hell?”

Many outside of, and sadly inside, the church ask, “If there is a loving creator why does He send people to hell?”

I believe that this is a question that says more about the failure of the Christian Church in getting the Gospel message out than many others. Why? Simply because the question assumes that God sends people to hell. The truth however is very much the opposite, God does everything He can to keep us, close to Him, within His presence and safe from hell.

The failure of the Church to teach and live out sound doctrine has left us with a mission field of people who think they know all about God, because they’ve heard about Him from churchgoers and they’ve seen a poor image of Him in the lives actions and attitudes of those with a ‘Christian label’.

So what about hell?

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that Hell is an eternity that people chose for themselves. It’s not that God has sent them to hell, but rather a free choice, freely chosen.

Those in hell will recognise that they condemned themselves to it by loving darkness rather than light, choosing not to have their Creator as their Lord, favouring easy-going sin to self-disciplined blamelessness, and rejecting Jesus instead of accepting Him (check out: John 3:18-21; Romans 1: 18,24,26,28,32; Romans 2:8; 2 Thessalonians.2: 9-11 for some clarification).

God doesn’t hide the fact of what is right and what is wrong, there is a doctrine called General Revelation, which simply means that God shows all of creation what’s what, and from this angle hell can be seen as God showing respect for human choice.

It’s not complicated, we all receive what we truly chose, from the two choices before us: either to be with God forever in perfect love, worshiping Him, or without God forever, excluded from any love, worshiping ourselves.

Individuals who are in hell will be aware that as well as deserving it for their actions and attitude, they will have wholeheartedly chosen it.

The Bible has lot’s to say about hell, but it’s not to frighten us, it is to make us acknowledge, gratefully grab hold of, and logically choose the amazing grace of Christ that saves us from an eternity of hell.

The Bible speaks plainly about hell, but not just to show God’s anger, it speaks explicitly about hell to show us His mercy and the length He went to, make it possible that we can escape a hellish eternity.

Christians: we can’t now say that we’ve not been warned, and we can’t say that we don’t have a duty to speak the truth of hell to others, but we must frame that truth accurately, and that is in the frame of God’s Grace and Mercy.