Sunday, June 3, 2018

TBC June 2018 Connection Group Questions

CONNECTION Discussion Notes
Acts 15:36-16:40; Philippians 1:1-8
June 3, 2018
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Acts 15:36-16:40-- “Absolutely nothing can hinder God’s Messiah and the progress of His good news – good news for me and through me.”
1. What were some of the “unwelcome incidents” that Paul and Silas encountered in Philippi? (Acts 15:36-16:40)
2. How did the Gospel progress in spite of the obstacles?  Can you think of other examples (contemporary ones) when the Gospel has progressed in the face of difficulty and obstacles?
Philippians 1:1-2-- “It is in those pressured and difficult times of life when the question, “Who am I?” haunts and hounds us.  This question is a formative way of thinking.  The way we think about this forms and fashions us.”
3. How did Paul identify himself, Timothy, and the Philippians? (Phil. 1:1-2)  What is our identity in Christ?
4. How do voices from our childhood, from our teen years, and the voices of the world work against what the Scriptures (and Jesus Christ) say about who we are?
Philippians 1:3-6-- Joy always gives, shares, and thanks.”
5. What about the Philippians caused Paul to rejoice in? (v. 3-5)
6. What gave Paul the confidence to rejoice in the Philippians? (v. 6)  How can that confidence cause us to rejoice?
Philippians 1:6-8-- Joy is rooted outside of ourselves.  “God has put His love into every believer’s heart.  And He bids us let that love have free expression and spend itself in service to others for Jesus’ sake!” –James Hastings
7. What were some ways that Paul and the Philippians were connected together?  Do we have connections like that today?
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Desperate for Change: 40 Days of Prayer for America
Day 31: Sunday – SELF-SEEKING
James 3:16
For where envy and self-seeking exist, 
confusion and every evil thing are there.
Ask the Lord to reveal any envy or selfish ambition you may have and repent of it.
Pray that God will remove the envy and ambition from the leaders in our government.
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Take some time for prayer.  Divide your time up praying in these four ways.
·       Adoration – Hebrews 13:12-15
·       Confession – 1 John 1:9
·       Thanksgiving – Psalm 100
·       Supplication – 1 Timothy 2:1-4
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Philippians 1:1-8 (NASB)
1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

7.
“If we truly wrap our life around the life of Christ, if Jesus truly lives within us, then the Christ who is in us will do what Christ did in his earthly life: he loved others and gave himself for others.  So, too, this life in us will cause us to do the same.  Cruciformity is, then, conformity to the self-giving action of the Son of God. What shape did Jesus’ own loving and giving take?  It took on the shape of the cross.  That’s where he demonstrated his love for us and gave himself for us.”  --Todd Wilson in Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living.

“It is not Paul who lives within Paul, but Jesus Christ, which is why Paul is not moved by the bowels of Paul but by the bowels of Jesus Christ.”  --Johann Albrecht Bengel 

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