Tsawwassen Alliance Church

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of March 8, 2020       Read Matthew 17:1-9 Pray that the Spirit would open your heart and mind to what He wants you all to see in this passage.     Discussion Questions: 1. Who does Jesus bring with him up to the mountain? Is there any significance in this?  2. In verse 2 Jesus is ‘transfigured’. How does the text describe this?  3. Who appears in the midst of them in verse 3?  4. Why do you think Peter wanted to build tents?  5. What does the voice from the cloud say to those gathered and what do you think the significance is of this?  6. What would have been like to be on the mountain with Jesus, Peter, James and John that day?  7. How does the meaning of the transfiguration help us on our journey through lent? 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of March 1, 2020       Read Matthew 4:1-11 Pray for insight and wisdom as you talk and study together    Discussion Questions: 1. What is Lent? How have you experienced it, or not experienced it, in your Christian journey? 2. In 4:1-2 Jesus is taken into the desert and tempted for forty days. Where else in the scriptures do we see these themes of ‘forty days’ and the ‘desert’? What might this mean for the way we interpret this passage?  3. Jesus is tempted with three things, what are they and what do you think they represent?  4. How are these temptations applicable to your Christian journey?  5. As we begin the journey toward the death and resurrection of Jesus, and walk with him along this path, do you think there is something you could fast that will help you focus your heart and mind on Christ?  6. How might God be trying to shape you more into his image over this lenten season? More humility? More generosity? More patience? Begin today by asking him how he wants you to journey over the next number of weeks.

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of February 23, 2020       Read James 5:7-20 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions: 1. On a first reading of the passage, what are you curious about? What strikes you as important?  2. In what ways does James draw together some of the themes of the Epistle in these last few paragraphs?  3. James tells us to be patient in suffering and to not destroy each other in the midst of such suffering. But he does not leave us alone. How do verses 13-20 help us in the midst of suffering?  4. What is your experience of praying for the sick? Have you ever received healing?  5. What do you think the connection is between praying for the sick and the forgiveness of sins? Where else in the scripture is this connection alluded to?  6. What is you biggest take-away from our time in the book of James? How did God change you through this series?  7. What do you think the book of James means for the way the church deals with:  The poor Partiality  Suffering?  The use of our tongues 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of February 16, 2020     Read James 4:13-5:6 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions: 1. What confuses or puzzles you about this text? What would you like to understand more? 2. Why is it 'arrogance' to assume you know what tomorrow might bring? (verses 13-15) 3. In this passage (5:1-5), is the problem that it is wrong to be rich? Or, is it something else? 4. Why are the actions of the rich so problematic in this situation? 5. Consider this text in relation to the Old testament prophets, are there connections you can make? Does James sound 'prophetic' in this passage?

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of February 9, 2020       Read James 3:13-4:12 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions:   1.      In verses 13-18 James speaks about two kinds of wisdom; describe the differences between these two kinds of wisdom.  2.      How do you think verses 13-18 are connected to the previous passage 3:1-12 on taming the tongue? How do these verses (13-18) help us with the challenges of verses 1-12? 3.      Where does James root ‘quarrels and fights’ in the church? 4.      How would you summarise 4:1-10? What is the main message James is trying to communicate? 5.      There is a theme of submission in the text: submitting to passions and/or submitting to God. Try to articulate the difference between these two and the outcomes of each. 6.      What are you personally hearing for your own life from this text? How might God be calling you to grow, change, adjust the way you live? 7.      What might God be saying to us as a church through this text? 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of February 2, 2020       Read James 3:1-12 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions:     1. Read verse 1-2. Why is it important for those who teach to control their tongues? Why are they judged more seriously?  2. What are the metaphors used for the power of the tongue in verses 3-6?  3. What are the characteristics used to describe the tongue in verses 7-8?  4. What is the contradiction between the blessing and cursing in verses 9-10. (Hint: Image of God.)  5. What do verses 11-12 tell us about the root causes of negative speech?  6. What are the implications for us in verses 11-12 about how we might be able to clean up our speech? What is the root problem? How do we deal with it?  7. What does this passage mean for you? Where has the Spirit convicted you as you have read and taken in these words? 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of January 26, 2020       Read James 2:14-26 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions:   1. In verse 14, what does James mean by the question, “Can that faith save him?”    2. How does our passage today connect with the previous passages?    3. What is the relationship between faith and works in this passage? Can you have one without the other?    4. What is James trying to say by referring to the ‘shema’ (Lord our God is one) and shuddering demons?    5. What illustrations does James give from the Old Testament as examples of what true faith looks like? What words stick out to you in the passage that help to clarify the meaning for us?    6. What challenges does this text give you personally? 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of January 19, 2020       Read James 2:1-13 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James        Discussion Questions:     1. Sum up the different sections of the passage in your own words: 2:1; 2:2-4; 2:5-7; 2:8-13    2. In verse 1, it seems that showing partiality toward one person/group over another goes against the gospel of Jesus. Why is this? What is the contradiction between partiality and the gospel?    3. In verses 2-4 James highlights a distinction that is being made between the rich and the poor. While this will always be a problem (“The poor shall be with us always!”), what are some distinctions that are made in our church of which we may need to repent?    4. What do you think it means that the poor are ‘heirs of the kingdom’?    5. Why is what the rich are doing (vrs 6& 7) called ‘blasphemy’?    6. What is the connection between loving your neighbour as yourself and partiality (vrs 8-9)?    7. In this context what does it mean for ‘mercy to triumph over judgement’? 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of January 12, 2020       Read James 1:19-27 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions:     1. What aspects of the passage confuse you or do you find interesting?    2. James is speaking about the ‘word’ being implanted in us (vs 21). What does this mean?    3. What illustration does James use to help us understand the relationship between ‘hearing’ and ‘doing’?    4. If the underlying encouragement James is offering is about the relationship between hearing and doing, how does that help us understand, or inform, verses 26 and 27?    5. After reading, thinking, and praying about this passage, how would you describe what ‘true religion’ is?   

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of January 5, 2020       Read James 1:2-15 Say a prayer that God would open your heart to hear His voice from the Epistle of James      Discussion Questions:   1. In your own words, try to sum up verses 2-4. Do the same with verses 5-8 and 9-11, respectively.    2. What is the connection between these verses?    3. If the background of the Epistle of James is that there are poor members of churches in Syria and Palestine, who are severely suffering their poverty, how does this help us understand our texts today?    4. What does James teach us about how to understand our trials?   5. How do our trials help us to mature?    6. What do verses 13-15 teach us about the way that sin works?    7. Allow every person in the group to share how this text has helped them (or not!). 

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of December 15, 2019       Read Matthew 11:2-12 and Isaiah 35     Discussion Questions:   1. What sticks out to you about this passage? What strikes you as odd or seemingly out of place?    2. What is the question which John sends his disciples to ask about Jesus (v 3)? Why is he asking this question?    3. What was John expecting of a messiah?    4. In verses 4-6, why does Jesus answer in this way? (Read Isaiah 35 and use this text to reflect.)    5. How does this passage help us to prepare for Advent?

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of December 8, 2019       Read Matthew 3:1-12; Isaiah 40:1-5     Discussion Questions:     1.    How do these scriptures relate to each other? How does Isaiah 40 help us understand the role of John the Baptist?    2.    What is John calling his hearers to repent of in Matthew 3:2?    3.    What does John mean when he says (Matt 3:3) the Kingdom of Heaven is near?   4.    Why does Matthew include notes on John’s appearance? How does this help us understand him and his role?    5.    Why does John call the pharisees ‘brood of vipers’?    6.    In 3:9 John says that they should not rely on their status as Abraham’s children. What does this mean and how might this be applied to us as Jesus-followers?    7.    What does 3:11 tell us about how John understands himself in relationship to Jesus?    8.    What is the difference between the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus (Matt 3:11-12)    9.    How does reflection on this passage help us as we prepare our hearts, this advent, for the coming of Jesus? 

COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Read the text together In the Christian calendar what is ‘Advent’ about? What is the context of Matthew 24? Who is the text addressed to? What does the temple represent for the Jews of Jesus day? What is the setting for the text (Matthew 24:1-2)? How does Matthew 24:1-2 help us interpret our passage? How do the passages directly before and after connect with our text? What do you think the text means when it tells its readers to ‘stay awake’ in verse 42? How might this text speak to its original context but also to our context? What might it mean to ‘stay awake’ in our times? How might this text help us prepare our hearts for the ‘advent’ of Christ celebrated on Christmas Day? NOTES TO THE LEADER The Temple: “The life of Jesus is closely tied to the Temple. Forty days after his birth he was dedicated to God in the Temple (Luke 2:22–38), and his family made routine trips to the Temple for the main Jewish feasts (Luke 2:41–51). Jesus continued these pilgrimages as an adult and presumably took part in the liturgies of Temple worship (John 2:13; 5:1; 7:14; 10:22–23; etc.). Like every Jewish man, he also paid the annual Temple tax (Matt 17:24–27). His reverence for the sanctuary stood out clearest when he saw others profaning the sacredness of the Temple. On one occasion, Jesus burned with righteous zeal at the sight of merchants doing their business in the Temple courtyard (John 2:13–22). He reacted by driving them out and toppling their tables because they had made his “Father’s house” into a “house of trade” (John 2:16). In the Synoptic Gospels, we see Jesus angered that such activities amounted to robbery, and beyond that, they made it all but impossible for pilgrims to pray (Matt 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–19; Luke 19:45–46).   Interestingly, Jesus also prophesied the destruction of the Temple. The Temple had its place in the economy of the Old Covenant, but with the inauguration of the New Covenant through the dying and rising of Christ, the institutions of the old would have to be swept away. Jesus envisioned the fall of the Temple and the termination of its worship in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:1–51; Mark 13:1–27; Luke 21:1–38). There would be a siege and conquest of Jerusalem (Luke 21:20) within the first Christian generation (Matt 24:34), he predicted. The fulfillment of his words came in a.d. 70, when Roman legions laid siege to Jerusalem and eventually burned and leveled the Temple. In prophesying this event, Jesus was not saying that Christianity was to be a religion without a temple. On the contrary, Jesus himself was a new and greater Temple (Matt 12:6), destined to be destroyed in death and then rebuilt in the Resurrection (John 2:19–21). This notion was picked up and developed by the apostles Peter and Paul. In Pauline theology, incorporation into the body of Christ means incorporation into a holy temple in which the Spirit dwells (1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:19–22). And what is true of the Church is also true of the individual Christian, whose body is a temple of God’s presence (1 Cor 6:19). Peter likewise envisions believers as “living stones” who are built into a spiritual temple that gives pleasing worship to God (1 Pet 2:5) (CCC 583–86, 593, 756, 797–98).”

Community Group Discussion Questions For the week of November 10, 2019     Discussion Questions:     1.   Read 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 together as a small group. What stood out to you from this passage and/or from Sunday’s sermon?   2.   Do you find prayer to be more of a chore or a delight? Why? a.   What are some things standing in the way of you praying more? b.    What are some truths that, if you more fully believed, would lead you to pray more fervently?   3.   Examine in your own life. a.   In what areas of your life have you been trying to lean on your own strength instead of coming to God for help? b.   What do you normally find yourself praying for? Are there ways your prayers might change to better align with God’s purposes?   4.   PRAY! Pray for each other. Pray for your leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-4), pray for your elders (Hebrews 13:7-8 + 17-18), pray through the Lord’ prayer (Matthew 6:7-13), pray for the Word of God to reach every tongue, tribe, people and nation (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2), and pray for God to be glorified (Psalm 115:1)!

Community Group Discussion Questions For the Week of November 3, 2019     Discussion Questions: 1.    What stood out from Sunday’s message? In what ways did the Spirit speak to you? 2.    Why is it important for God’s people to be a people of truth? 3.    Is it possible to be an entirely dishonest person and not say anything at all? If so, how? How does that bear out on our witness of Jesus? 4.    In what ways does the truth of the gospel cast away the fear of being fully known by others? 5.    When Jesus declares that He (and the Word), is “truth” and not merely “true” what does He mean? 6.    What are the implications of being a church body that values truth? What may it mean to you individually and corporately?

Community Group Questions     Opening What stood out for you from Sundays message?     Read the scripture: Mark 10:17 to 22     Questions 1.      How does our graciousness by use of our money, especially to those who are in need, evidence our understanding of the gospel? To put it another way, how does our giving reflect our understanding of the gospel?   2.      In what ways did Jesus become poor for us? In what ways have we become rich for him?   3.      What are the possible ways you are masking your love of money that are keeping you from giving sacrificially and caring for the poor?   4.      What’s next? What is God calling you to do in light of his word of teaching?

Community Group Questions   1. Read John 13:1-17 together as a small group. How did the Holy Spirit convict, challenge or encourage you through this passage? Do you have any remaining questions regarding this text? 2. Read v. 1-2. In your mind, what are some ways we can evaluate how much someone loves others?      a. See verses 4-5. What are some aspects of Jesus’ love you feel most appreciative of? 3. Read v. 6-11.      a. To which of Peter’s responses do you tend to lean towards? i.e. Do you normally find yourself minimizing and rejecting your need for help, or do you tend to minimize the effect and permanence of Jesus’ help?      b. See Romans 3:21-26, 5:1 + John 1:19, If our sins (past, present and future) have been forgiven on the cross, why ought we still confess our sins?      c. If you more fully believed that Jesus’ loved you to the uttermost, how would it change your life? 4. Read v. 12-17.      a. What are some ways you find it difficult to love like Jesus?      b. How and who do you feel God has put on your heart to love as a result of this passage?      c. Spend time as a group praying for one another and specifically that God would empower you to shine the light of His glory as you love others like He loved you.

Community Group Questions 1. Read Isaiah 56:1-8 together as a group. How did the Holy Spirit convict you and what did He cause to stand out from Sunday’s sermon?   2. Read v. 1-2. a. If we are saved by grace alone, why is obedience (“justice and righteousness”) so important in the life of a Christian? See Psalm 119:1-8, Isaiah 48:17-19, Matthew 5:13-16, 1 Timothy 4:16, Romans 12:1-2. b. What are some areas of your life God is currently trying to sanctify through the Holy Spirit? c. When do you find it most difficult to obey God and when are you able to better obey God?   3. Read v. 3-5 a. Are there any ways you feel like a “eunuch” – unprepared, unqualified and/or inadequate – to serve God in a specific area that He has placed you right now? b. Why does God call us to serve Him in ways that don’t come easily? See 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. c. On a scale of 1-10 how well are you doing at prioritizing your relationship with God? What is preventing you from going deeper in your relationship?   4. Read v.6-8. a. What are some hindrances, challenges or beliefs that keep you from sharing the good news of Jesus with others? What promises of God can you hold onto to help you overcome these hurdles? b. In the past, how have you thought about missions and the task of evangelizing individuals who have never heard the gospel before? c. Currently, how do you feel God is calling you to be a part of His plan to gather in the foreigner?   5. Who are specific people or people groups God has put on your heart to share the gospel with? Spend some time as a small group praying for these individuals.

It is finally the day the drought will end. But before the rains come, the people must repent and be forgiven. Elijah sets up this contest on Mt. Carmel to prove decisively that Yahweh alone is God and there is no other. Through this contest, God will win back the hearts of his people and release their grip on their pathetic idols. He will forgive and restore; then the rains will fall.  

Years into the drought and finally the time has come for it to end. God will bring forgiveness and rain. But how? First, Elijah initiates and seeks out Ahab. In his encounters with Obadiah and Ahab we learn about worship and loyalty and the God who is determined to show himself to his people in order to forgive them.