DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why is the doctrine of election meant to be such a deep comfort to Christians struggling to find assurance in God?
How does the gruesome historicity of the crucifixion actual comfort Christians questioning God’s love?
How does the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit encourage and assure Christians wrestling with doubt and fear?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What new things about Paul’s activities or spiritual/theological mind-set have you learned in the sermon?
What significance does the Ephesian church hold for the early church development?
How does “grace and peace” communicate a unique New Testament Christian greetings to the church?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
When/where in your life are you tempted to make your boast in things of the flesh?
What does it look like for you to make Christ your only boast in life?
How can we encourage and spur one another on to make our boast in Christ, and not things of the flesh?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
According to the sermon, why do we struggle, compete and often experience burden
and bitterness?
Why is sense of purpose and calling so important in life?
According to the passage, what kind of sowing and what kind of reaping make
everything, even struggles and trials, worth all the while?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How are you going in your daily battle against the flesh? What are some particular areas of weakness?
How does the gospel empower you and encourage you to walk in the Spirit and put to the death the flesh?
What does it actually look like to ‘put to death’ the misdeeds of the flesh? Why is it so important?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
What is at stake if the resurrection is not true and Jesus is still dead?
How does the resurrection of Jesus radically shape and direct the way you live your Christian life?
How does the resurrection of Jesus give you comfort and hope when you experience death in your life?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the big deal about circumcision in Judaism?
What sort of things bind us or weigh us down against spiritual freedom?
What does true freedom in Christ look and feel like, and what can we do with our freedom?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is indicated by the “fleshly effort” vs. free, inheritance, and promise?
Why is the gospel of grace better than merit-based rewards?
How does the “flesh” persecute your spiritual pursuit?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Where do you see the slavery of legalism in your own life? What impact does it make?
How does the sometimes hard truth of the gospel actually set you free from slavery to sin?
Why is it so important to constantly be on guard against legalism and keep returning to the gospel?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the difference between the sonship of Christ and our sonship?
What meaning does the adoption of God hold for us?
What does it mean to be “heirs” of God?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why is the promise of God unbreakable?
How does the text [Gal.3:16] connect the “offspring” to Jesus Christ?
What is the function of the law as a “guardian”?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does it mean to be “justified” in a biblical sense, and why is it so important?
Why are we prone to lean on the law for our justification? Also, what is the actual “heretical element” of legalism; and what is NOT legalism?
Antinomian, moral relativism, libertarian permissiveness, irreligious... How do these practices stand against the gospel, and betray the grace of God?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the meaning of the two words “sovereignty” and “providence”? How are they related to each other, and what is their relevance to us the people?
Have you, or do you, “own” anything so hard that you’ve managed to push God out of sight? What might that be? (Personal will, body, family, possession, future plans, other people, church, etc.)
Do you now understand your place as a “steward” of God in Christ? What features or functions of a steward will you strive to take on more intentionally?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
How does the interaction between Peter and Paul highlight the importance to following the truth of the Word, not the positions of people?
What does it look like for you to walk in step with the truth of the gospel today?
When have you been tempted to place too much trust in people or structures as opposed to the truth of Scripture?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
According to the sermon, when is the approval of men as “the right hand of fellowship” good and necessary in gospel ministry?
How do we “separate” the politics from the ministry of the gospel?
Where does the subject of “the poor” fit in the discussion of power and influence?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Do you tend to be a “people-pleaser”? If so, to what degree (1-10)? Describe the pros and cons of people-pleasing attempts in your own experience.
Describe your first-person experience with God’s presence and/or truth that increased your spiritual conviction or resolve.
When you feel convicted inside to pursue God in a certain way or service, how does the church and community affirm that conviction? In other words, is your “internal calling” matched or affirmed by the “external calling”?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the main theme of the Book of Galatians according to the sermon?
What can we do about the “shocking tendency” for sinners to degenerate the gospel?
How does the idea of “anathema” draw a sharp line of distinction between orthodoxy and heresy?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does the sting of death look like in this world?
How does the Gospel remove the sting of death?
What difference does this make in your life individually and in the life of your church?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why is it so important to have a sound, biblical understanding of the nature of the Lord’s Supper?
How does the Lord’s Supper function as one of the ordinary means of grace available to us in Christ?
How does the physicality of the Lord’s Supper enrich your life of hope in the future coming of Christ?
What was the most helpful/challenging/encouraging part of the sermon for you?