The Believers Life Style Bible Study
Presents
Freedom in Christ
Scripture References:
Galatians 5:1-15
November 14, 2014
Presented by Michael Webb

Open It

1. *If you took up running, would you jog for enjoyment or train to compete in races? Why?
2. Do you prefer group or individual sports? Why?
3. Do you like games with challenging instructions and rules, or games with simple instructions and few rules? Why?

Explore It

1. *What challenge did Paul set before the Galatians? (5:1)
2. Why did Paul challenge the Christians to be resolute? (5:1)
3. What warning did Paul issue to the Galatians? (5:2)
4. How would turning to the Law obligate the Galatian Christians? (5:3)
5. What consequence would seeking justification by Law bring? (5:4)
6. How did Paul contrast legalists and true believers? (5:5)
7. How did Paul sum up the significance of circumcision? (5:6)
8. What really matters? (5:6)
9. *How did Paul describe the Galatians’ Christian experience? (5:7)
10. How had false teaching affected the Galatian church? (5:8-9)
11. Why was Paul optimistic about the Galatians? (5:10)
12. How did the Cross mark the end of the Law? (5:11)
13. What strong words did Paul have for the Judaizers? (5:12)
14. *How were the Galatian Christians to use their freedom? (5:14)
15. What were the Galatians called on to guard against? (5:15)

Get It

1. *What challenge does this passage set before your church?
2. What are the side effects of trying to be saved by keeping the Law?
3. What unnecessary rules and regulations do Christians tend to impose on one another?
4. What difference will it make if you run the Christian race with your attention on Christ?
5. *How do some Christians abuse their freedom in Christ?
6. In what ways are you hindered from loving others?
7. When have you been guilty of backbiting and gossip?
8. Why should you serve the family of God in love?

Apply It

1. Who is one neighbor to whom you can show a gesture of love this week?
2. *As you run your race for Christ today, how can you free yourself of unnecessary rules and regulations that hinder your progress?
3. Whom can you invite to join you in running a good race?

 

Chapter 5

He encourages them to stand fast in their freedom

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

but rather love, which sums up the law

13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

 

The Believers Life Style Bible Study
Presents
The Death of Jesus
Scripture References: Matthew 27:45-56
 October 4, 2014
Presented by Michael Webb

Open It

1. What is it like to be separated from someone you love?
2. When in your life did you ever feel abandoned?

Explore It

3. What happened from the sixth to the ninth hour (from 12 noon until 3 p.m.)? (27:45)
4. What did Jesus cry out at the ninth hour? Why? (27:46)
5. What did Jesus’ last words mean? (27:46)
6. What did some of the bystanders think Christ had yelled? (27:47)
7. What did one man in particular try to do for Jesus? (27:48)
8. How did the rest in the crowd respond to the gesture of kindness toward Jesus? (27:49)
9. What happened the next time Jesus cried out in a loud voice? (27:50)
10. What supernatural event took place inside the temple when Jesus died? (27:51)
11. How were things in Jerusalem at that time? (27:51)
12. How did the death of Jesus affect activity in some of the area’s cemeteries? (27:52-53)
13. How did a Roman centurion react to the way Jesus died? (27:54)
14. Who else was in the crowd watching the crucifixion? (27:55)
15. Who in the crowd was most prominent at Jesus’ death? (27:56)

Get It

16. What did it mean that the sky turned black as Jesus hung on the cross?
17. How would you explain to an inquiring friend the significance of the veil in the temple tearing in two as Jesus died?
18. Why does it often take drastic measures or life-threatening upheavals to bring people to their senses and persuade them to follow Christ?
19. What situations or events did God use to convince you that Jesus is the Son of God?
20. Why are the women followers of Jesus mentioned, and not the male disciples?
21. What did Jesus accomplish for you with His death?

Apply It

22. In the near future, with whom can you share the good news of Christ’s payment for sin on the cross?

 

 

Jesus Dies on the Cross

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

⁴⁷ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

⁴⁹ The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

⁵¹ Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, ⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

⁵⁴ So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵ And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, ⁵⁶ among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and ^[a]Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

 

Believers Life Style Bible Study
Warning Against Anti-Christs
1 John 2:18-27
Presented by Mike Webb

Open It

1. Who are the enemies of the Church today?
2. What do you think is the best defense against cults and other false spiritual teaching?
3. *What effect do you think warning labels on cigarettes and alcohol have?

Explore It

1. What time did John say it is? (2:18)
2. *Who was coming and who had come at the time John wrote this? (2:18)
3. What did John say about those who had left? (2:19)
4. What did the readers of 1 John have? (2:20)
5. What did the readers of 1 John know? (2:21)
6. How is the antichrist identified? (2:22)
7. *In what way is denying (or acknowledging) the Son related to having the Father? (2:23)
8. *What did John encourage his readers to do? (2:24)
9. What did the Father promise? (2:25)
10. Why did the author write these things? (2:26)
11. What was the relationship between the anointing these believers received and their need to be taught? (2:27)

Get It

1. What makes you think that we are living in the last hour today?
2. What antichrists are among us today?
3. What truths do we know about Christ?
4. What have we been taught by the anointing of the Holy Spirit?
5. How can we remain in or have fellowship with Jesus Christ?
6. *What groups of people are trying to lead believers astray today?
7. *How can we protect ourselves against false teachers and antichrists?

Apply It

1. What will you do this week to deepen your fellowship with Jesus Christ?
2. *What steps do you need to take to better prepare yourself against antichrists and their false doctrines?
3. Who is someone you can encourage in their relationship with Christ this week?

 

Deceptions of the Last Hour

¹⁸ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the^[a] Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you^[b] know all things. ²¹ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²² Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ²³ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Let Truth Abide in You

²⁴ Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to ^[c]deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you ^[d]will abide in Him.

Believers Life Style Bible Study
May 3, 2014
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet
Matthew 22:1-14
Delivered by Michael Webb

 Open It

1. What do you like or dislike about weddings?
2. What tips might you give to someone planning a big wedding?
3. What is your funniest wedding story?
4. How do you tend to react when long-awaited plans fail to materialize?

Explore It

5. What preparations were being made in this parable? (22:2)
6. What did the king send his servants to do? (22:3)
7. How did people respond to the king’s invitation? (22:3)
8. Upon hearing that no one would come to the wedding, what did the king do? (22:4)
9. How did the invited guests react to the king’s second appeal? (22:5)
10. To what shocking acts did some of the people who were invited resort? (22:6)
11. How did the king deal with the lawbreakers? (22:7)
12. The king went to a “Plan B” that included what changes? (22:8-9)
13. How did the king’s alternative plan work out? (22:10)
14. What did the king say when he spotted an improperly dressed wedding guest? (22:11)
15. What did the king order his servants to do with the man who was improperly dressed? (22:11-13)
16. Why did the king throw out the unwelcome wedding guest? (22:13-14)

Get It

17. What keeps people from accepting Jesus’ offer of eternal life?
18. The wedding clothes in the parable that were needed for admittance to the banquet are meant to symbolize what quality that is necessary for entry into the kingdom of heaven?
19. What events led to your acceptance of Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and heaven?
20. For what reason are there impostors in the church?
21. Why would a non-Christian want to be around Christians?
22. How does God demonstrate His patience to unbelievers?
23. What will happen to those who either reject Christ or try to enter His kingdom on their own terms?
24. In what area(s) of your life have you been putting off a response to what God has asked you to do?

Apply It

25. What response should you give to God this week?
26. To what individuals this week can you extend Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and eternal life?

 

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

22 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, ³ and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. ⁴ Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” ’ ⁵ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. ⁶ And the rest seized his servants, treated them ^[a]spitefully, and killed them. ⁷ But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. ⁸ Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. ¹² So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, ^[b]take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”