GBC | Big Three

Is it noteworthy that love is the first on the list? Why does Paul only mention love for others and not love for God in Galatians 5:14 like Jesus does in the parable? God’s love in sending Jesus is easy to recognise. In the Old Testament it’s much harder. How is God’s love expressed before Jesus?

Could Paul’s letter to the church be a passive aggressive response to the sins the church could have done? For example, they might have acted with hatred. We’ve looked at the same text for two weeks and haven’t addressed Paul’s interest in the law. What does the law have to do (or not)with the fruit of the Spirit? The vices are obvious, except in us. No one thinks they're in a faction, idolatrous...

How do the gifts of the Spirit contribute to our fruitfulness? How is the Trinity involved in our fruitfulness? Was fruit part of the Holy Spirit’s role in the Old Testament?

Does the fruit of our lives have to be public? Can’t we do these things in private or is ‘public’ about how it eventually affects others & therefore relational? Can you say more about how and why our fruitfulness is connected to God’s purposes and glory? Matthew 7:20 fits with people seeing God through our fruit, but what does it mean when we see what looks like good fruit from non-believers or ba...

Does God always follow judgment with grace throughout the entire Bible? If there is a time without grace, why might that be? Why did Abram feel he had to lie to protect himself. Why couldn't he just trust God to look after him? Historically many churches have chosen to either a focus on the effects of sin or prosperity doctrine. Why does this either/or behaviour happen?

Who were the people supposed to be representing God to if their role was to be image-bearers of God? Why did Noah curse Canaan? He was the son of Ham and wasn’t even directly mentioned as being involved, so why? And how do we see the curse working out? What has influenced your re-thinking of the Sunday School version of the stories in Genesis 1-11 to focus on God’s purposes rather than where Cain...

If the flood didn't fix mankind's sinning, what did it achieve? Was God just grumpy but now he's got it out of his system and has promised not to do it again? God promises not to destroy the earth again but isn’t Isaiah 65:17 creating a new earth a different way to say destroy the earth again? Why is Noah first told to take two of every type of animal into the ark but later to take seven of every...

Who are the Nephilim in Genesis 6:4, and who are the Sons of God in Genesis 6:2? How can Jubal be the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes, Genesis 4:21, if his descendants were wiped out in the flood? Doesn't Lamech's lineage end? When Adam & Eve sinned, why didn't God just start over?

Does the phrase ‘Cain brought some fruits of the soil' but Abel brought from the 'firstborn', indicate anything regarding the quality of or heart inclination of the offerings? You mentioned a commentary that said we are too hard on Cain but should be harder on God-how can we do this appropriately?  Why would the Bible at such an early stage of knowing God, contain both Eve and Cain’s ways of misre...

If the snake does not represent the devil, then why is it important that Jesus is the one to crush his head? Does the snake represent evil more generally? Or… If God made Adam and Eve equally in their vocation, why does God only curse Adam’s work on the ground? Why has this excerpt from the bible been used by so many preachers to emphasise the hopelessness of the human condition and the burden of...

If the Genesis record of God's instructions to Adam and Eve is literal, why should we regard their dialogue with the serpent as a parable? Was the interaction with the snake ordained/allowed by god as a way to give us a choice to follow him or not?  If Eve and Adam didn’t have the knowledge of good and evil, how could they know that the serpent was lying, or that what they were doing was wrong? 

To what degree did the original audience interpret Genesis as scientifically factual about creation vs a message about the creator? If Adam was not actually giving the creatures names, what was the significance of Adam's naming? Couldn't God have just given the names to Adam? If Genesis does not mention evangelism, how did it evolve from Genesis to how beautiful are the feet that share the good ne...

Can you re-explain more about the connection between sexuality and creation. Are you talking about the days of creation? Why would God invite the gods to share their images in creating humankind? Isn't it more likely that "us" is a preview of the Trinity? How should being made in the image of God affect how we live and our faith?

Amos’ famine of the Word was a judgment, sometimes we find the Word dry. Is that a judgment or is something else going on? The two sermons went in quite different directions. As someone who teaches preaching can you comment on the different approaches? What are your recommended rules for hermeneutics, e.g. top 5.

What is the lectionary and why are we only following it now?  Did the Israelites believe that the other “gods” were real?  Psalm 82 call us to defend the vulnerable and Luke 10 shows embodied mercy. Are we too comfortable in giving money than offering ourselves in the work of love? 

The New Testament presents Jesus’ death and resurrection as separate but connected events. Both play a part in our salvation. What does each achieve? Was His death sufficient? We don’t seem to talk about sin as much today? Why not? Is this a compromise of the gospel? In John 10, Jesus says “My sheep know my voice” Do moments like Mary and disciples after the resurrection, hearing Jesus is somethin...

What other costs are there to following Jesus? In the book of Mark, James and John ask Jesus but in the book of Matthew their mother asks Jesus. Is there a difference? Does it change what we take from it? Rox mentioned what happened to Peter, James and John. Do we know what happened to the other disciples?

Should we encourage people to ask for a demonstration of Jesus’ power? If so, how do we do that to foster faith? What is the relationship between Jesus’ miracles and faith in the gospels? The sermon wove the four stories together. Are there other lessons in these stories that weren’t picked up?

Rox mentioned that this command is not for everyone. How do we know if he is calling us to “sell everything” and follow him? What are the signs of heart that is being choked by wealth? How do we treasure Jesus?

This week's questions:- The exclusion of the leper seems to be primarily religious (I.e., uncleanliness) rather than medical. Why wasn’t health the focus? This healing is also recorded in Mark and Luke. Why is each account a little different? Why would Jesus tell the man not to tell anyone what had happened to him? Would that even be possible?

Jesus was travelling to gentiles. Is Luke 8:22-25 foreshadowing/preparing for when they reach the other side? Including comparing verses 25 and 39, saying Jesus is God.  There are unexpected situations where we find Jesus - in the calmed storm - and Jesus does unexpected things. What are those unexpected things he does? Unexpected suffering can wash our faith overboard or strengthen it. How do we...

John 3:5 If we do not need to be baptised to enter heaven (eg Criminal on cross) what does Jesus mean by “born of water” to enter kingdom of God? Jesus teaches the Spirit is “like the wind”, doing what it likes in regards to people being born again. How do we reconcile this with fallen man and his will? Nicodemus was a religious seeker. Does Jesus encounter non-religious seekers? 

Karl talked about the miraculous and how we often respond with cynicism. How can we foster a greater openness to the supernatural?  What do you think has contributed to the changed attitudes towards religion and spirituality?  How can we help those who have had a negative past with god/the church to encounter Jesus, especially those who may be triggered by worship? 

Making disciples is business as usual for the church. But what are we not doing? Or perhaps more interestingly, what should we stop doing that we are doing? We can encounter Jesus in different ways from reading the Bible to miraculous events. How can we navigate the mess of disciple making when it's so vast. To what extent would you say Christ is present in communion?

We often read to be prepared to give an answer, but can you say more to do with gentleness and respect. How is this how Jesus wants us to speak to others about him? Verse 9 says don’t repay evil but verse 12 says the Lord is against evildoers. So, we can’t turn our back on God’s will or we will receive punishment, but can God do it to us? When is it reasonable not to call out someone’s sin?