Life’s Questions – Week 11 Study Guide

PART 1. WHAT IS THE BIBLE ABOUT AND WHY I SHOULD TRUST IT?
10. Letters

Opener/Question: Have your group members think about the current cultural environment we live in today. How is our contemporary culture turning away further from Biblical values?

Answers: Anything with sex and sexuality: LGBTQ, transgenderism, hooking up, etc. Abortion, addiction, marriage, and entertainment.

Question: When people have left God out of the equation, how have things historically worked out in the long run?

Answer: It’s always bad. You can use Terry’s example of the “Summer of Love.” Remember the movement didn’t even make it through the summer. Their search for a new humanity spiraled downward, this is what happens with man’s attempt to find purpose without God.

Read Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

Questions: What are the two sins? Who is the Living Water referring to?

Answer: 1. Forsaking God and digging their own wells (explain that cisterns are containers for holding water.) 2. Jesus referred to himself as Living Water in John 4:10, John 7:37-39

Transition: The next section of the Bible contains what is called the “letters.” The letters are not random letters, but letters written to address certain things and certain people. The letters are also called “epistles.” You can think of them as instructions for “digging the right kind of well.”

Summary Statement: The letters were written to churches to provide instruction on how to live as God’s people, the new humanity. The letters tell us “how to close the gap on loving God and loving others,” this is what the law was about and what Jesus did perfectly and what Jesus’ life in us through the Spirit allows us to do more and more as we walk with Him in faith and obedience.

Start with asking your members if they know what books in the Bible are considered to be letters?

Answer: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2 & 3^rd John, and Jude.

Key point: There are three “Big Themes” for the Letters: New Power, New Purpose, New People

NEW POWER

Question: Terry talked about plugging into the “power source.” Can you think or name an electronic device that works without being plugged in?

Answer: Some devices have batteries that can work for a while without being plugged in, but eventually the batteries will need to be recharged.

A key point to remember: We as Christians need to be plugged into the power source to work or to recharge our batteries.

Question: What are ways that we plug in and get renewed power?

Answer: Prayer, Reading God’s Word, Reflection on Scripture, Music that points us to God and his ways, Memorization of Scripture, etc.

Read Romans 1:16. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

Question: What is the power that this verse talks about?

Answer: The Gospel. It has the ability to transform. This salvation is not just something that is unseen and eternal, and it’s not just when we die.

Now have your group members read each verse below and answer what God’s power is capable of doing to/in us. (Make sure to have them look the verses up in the Bibles they bring.)

• 1 Corinthians 6:14 “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”
  • We will experience resurrection just as Jesus did.
  • Final and full transformation is a settled future fact.
• 2 Corinthians 4:7“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
  • His power is demonstrated in our weakness.
  • Our “weakness” doesn’t mean we intentionally should continue to fail or remain weak-willed…it means that we can change in substantial ways…and when this happens, it can only have been because of God.
• 2 Corinthians 10:4 “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
  • We can actually fight battles on the spiritual plane because of our relationship with Christ.
• Philippians 3:10 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”
  • The power of God that raised Christ’s body from the dead is available to us now, even in our sufferings–especially in our suffering.
• 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
  • The power of God is operational in us to live life like Christ did and would have to us to live.

NEW PURPOSE

Read each of the verses below and answer what they say about our purpose!

• Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
  • I have not lost hope, even when I have lost hope…God’s purposes will stand.
• 2 Corinthians 5:5 “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
  • This purpose refers to our resurrection, life beyond death.
• Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
  • God works in me for His purposes (I cooperate with Him…but I do not have to make life happen on my own.)
  • I need only obey faithfully…trusting His purposes.
• Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
  • My purpose is His glory. I don’t look for or live for meaning apart from Him.
  • I must look for meaning only in Him.
• Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
  • But He does not treat us as things…but as sons and daughters.

NEW PEOPLE

Have someone in the group read Romans 12: 3-21 and have the other members follow along in their own Bibles. As they follow along, have them list out what the passage says about how Christ-followers are to treat one another.

^“3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. ⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Answer: We are to live with other Christians in unity – not in comparison and competition, we are to love one another sincerely, be devoted to one another in brotherly love, show mercy, share with others, and practice hospitality, etc.

Application / Personalize it:

You have access to all the power you need to live a thriving life.

You have all the purpose you need to go through anything that happens in this life.

And you have been made a part of a new people…they need you, and you need them to live fully in this power and purpose.