Blog — Trinity Grace Church

Due to the forecasted rain, we are moving the Easter Egg Hunt to Saturday, April 19th.

May 26: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text:  John 14: 15-21

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT | Meditations on the Ministry of the Holy Spirit

  • Helper | Comforter

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • What is the Holy Spirit’s purpose? 

  • The New Testament’s Greek word to describe the Holy Spirit is Parakletos - one summoned or called alongside.

    • “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

      – John 14 v 15-17

    • This one being given is helper, advocate - PARAKLETOS.

    • You will know the Spirit, the Spirit will be in you..

  • Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 

    25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 

    – John14 v 23-27

  • This Holy Spirit will point to Jesus.

  • The Holy Spirit is eternal, is our teacher, our reminder, and peace.

  • The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity, sent from the Father., given by the Son. The Spirit is God.

  • Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  

  • “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. 

    – John 15 v 26-27

  • So The Spirit Comforts us by Making Jesus Known

  • Jesus SAYS…The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, He has anointed Me ...

    • To proclaim the gospel to those who need it

    • Freedom for those who are trapped

    • Sight for those who cannot see

    • Release for those who are oppressed

    • And favor from God

  • When the Holy Spirit is lifting up Jesus in our midst:

    • We know and remember we are can be forgiven and united to God - What Jesus has done has accomplished that so we can come in Jesus’ name, not our own deserving or performance

    • We can be set free from those things that ensnare us 

    • We can see where have not been able to - vision for our life

    • We can experience freedom even in a world with broken systems that attempt to crush us 

    • We can know God doesn’t just love us, God like us

  • God is with us in our pain

    • God has put a time limit on it, and God will be present when it is gone.

  • The Lord is near

    • God comforts us with His Presence - 

      • Many times the Holy Spirit will let us know God is near

      • It may not resolve every circumstance in the moment

      • But You are loved and God is with you is a powerful sense from the Holy Spirit 

    • God comforts us with His Promises - we have times where we hold these promises without the benefit of feeling better right away

      • His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 

        – 2 Peter 1 v 3-4

  • Here’s just a few …

    • I will never leave you or forsake 

    • You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you 

    • Nothing will snatch you out of My hand 

    • My peace I give you 

    • And on and on…

  • All the promises of God are yes for us in Christ. The Spirit is our guide to live these promises.

    • God comforts us with Intervention - sometimes the Spirit will comfort us with direct change 

    • God comforts us with Sustaining and Endurance 

  • Here’s the thing…

    • Your anxiety, your depression, your illness, you loneliness, your addiction, your sin has a limited time.

    • God is before and God is after. You are untied to God in Christ.

    • So God will remove your suffering or carry you through it 

    • and in both experiences … And the Holy Spirit is your Comforter and Helper

  • Do you need comfort today?

  • Do you need help?

    • This is what the Holy Spirit does.

  • Where in your life do you need the Holy Spirit to bring comfort?

May 19: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Acts 2: 1-41

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:

“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
    Because he is at my right hand,
    I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence.’

“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”’

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT | Meditations on the Ministry of the Holy Spirit

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • The Promise

    The Outpouring

    The Counterfeits and Questions

    The Invitation

    • How have you experienced the Holy Spirit in your life? 

    • Do you live with an expectation of the Spirit’s nearness and awareness? 



  • The Promise

    • “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 

      – Acts 1 v 4-5

    • Pentecost is a reminder that God keeps His promises.

    • Don’t be so sure that all you’ve tasted is all there is. God may have a day of revelation on the way.

  • The Outpouring

    • The story opens…

      “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” 

      – Acts 2 v 1-4

    • The Holy Spirit makes the presence of God known and people are filled.

    • Two challenges.

      1. If it doesn’t happen like this its not the Holy Spirit 

      2. Or we go the other way and ignore what’s possible - these were a one time thing

    • The Spirit can speak as a gentle whisper 

    • The Spirit may move as an inner conviction or an insight when reading the Bible

    • But The Spirit may also break through your categories.

      • A sound like a violent wind

      • Visuals of tongues of fire 

      • Physical sensation and empowerment.

    • The outpouring is God making His love alive and knowable.

    • The Holy Spirit is not simply to give us a memorable experience but to make the goodness and love and victory of Jesus known.

    • This account ends with people being cut to the heart and trust in Christ as their Savior and Lord

      • Have you seen people experiencing the Spirit, and it leads to them relating to Jesus more? 


  • The Counterfeits and Questions

    • Some of us long to be filled with the Spirit, but there is also a place in us that we will not surrender. Our experience of God is shallow because we know we are keeping certain things in our control.

    • In the text:

      • People think they are drunk and grasp for a reasonable explanation 

      • People are afraid and wonder what is happening 

      • There is confusion and distraction - how is this happening and theories shared

      • There are commitments to the world’s power structures

    • Our problem is not a new problem. 

    • Alcohol is the one example here but there are many. Some in the crowd think they are drunk. And it’s not just a random possibility or comparison.

      • Booze can help you escape stress for a time, it can make you feel connection, it can give you temporary courage, it can turn the volume down on your pain.

      • Jesus turned water into wine. The traditional cup of communion is wine, but many of us have appetites that we satiate that are substitutes for the Holy Spirit.

      • “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

        – Ephesians 5 v 18-20

    • Pentecost is a challenge to our appetites that lead us away from God

      • What appetites can you recognize in your life that are substitutes for experiencing the Holy Spirit? 

    • Some of us are just afraid. Or when spiritual longing comes up in us it is always mixed with fear. Fear of losing control. Fear of it not working for us. Fear of failing later. Anxiety

    • There is confusion and bewilderment in this story. People don’t have categories for what they are seeing.

    • “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

      – 2 Timothy 1 v 7

    • Pentecost is a call out of our fear and into the experience of God’s love.

      • Some of us know the confusion and distraction - we go down the rabbit holes of our own questions and never take what God is offering us.

    • Pentecost is a call to be present to what God is doing - now, today

      • Some on Pentecost had deep commitments to the world’s power structures. They wanted to keep things as they were.

      • God has no problem shaking up our allegiances if they are misplaced.

        • Many of us are finding to stay in charge of our lives but let God consult. 

          • Peter has to confront those who wanted Jesus out of the way so their way could go on..

    • Pentecost is a challenge to surrender to God. To let go of having to be the one in control. 

  • The Invitation

    • “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” 

      When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 

      Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” 

      – ACTS 2 v 36-39

    • When the Spirit moved through the message of Jesus, people were cut to the heart.

    • Cut to the Heart

      • And the call to trust Christ and be filled with the Spirit is open to…

        All who are near. All who are far.

      • “This work of God is wonderfully inclusive, because there is no category of people which is left out: both genders, all ages, all social classes. But it is wonderfully focused, because it happens to all ‘who call on the name of the Lord.”

        – NT Wright



  • What is your ask of God regarding the Holy Spirit? 

  • Where in your life do you want the Holy Spirit to reach in to?

May 12: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Numbers 6: 22-27

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

“‘“The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace.”’

“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Blessing prayer

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • How would the world be different if God answered all your prayers?

  • If everyone prayed the way I pray, what would the prayer life of our church life be like? 

  • Prayer is our participation with God in making the word right.

  • God can do whatever God wants

    • But God shows us over and over that God wants relationship 

    • God invites us to participation and cooperation 

    • God insists on involving us through love 

  • But it’s even more than that. God is committed to distributing the resources of Heaven in the world through His sons and daughters in Christ.

  • God has said you are My sons and daughters. Here is My Ring.

  • It’s all by grace. Distribute the resources of My Kingdom in the world through your prayers and love.

  • God’s entire plan has always been participation - Joining/Sharing - Friendship - Love

  • A blessing is more than a well wish. It is to use our spiritual authority to confer something to another. It is to partner with God in declaring a present identity or a future good into someone's life.

  • To really bless someone is to conspire with God for their good

  • To ignore or belittle a blessing is a profound mistake.

  • When we pray for one another - we practice blessing one another.

  • A blessing confirms our identity - one loved by God

  • A blessing invites us into good - may a light shine on how to live out who we are

  • A blessing announces the security of our future - reminds us that we cannot be taken out of God’s love 

  • When we bless - we are not only offering the Good News of Christ to others. 

    • We are offering our lives as well. 

    • We say I will join in in giving you what God intends in your life.

  • “Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.“

    – 1 Thessalonians 2 v 7-8

  • Who needs you to pray and enact blessings in their life? 

  • What moments in the lives of those around you require you to represent and disperse the blessing and resources of God?

May 5: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: John 10: 1-10 and 27-30

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Hearing God

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • When God began to set the world right after the fall, God initiated a conversation ...

    • Abraham heard a calling - an invitation 

    • Moses drew near to something he has seen everyday for years before

    • Samuel was sleeping as a child when he began to sense God's voice

    • Mary, Paul, Augustine, Martin Luther, Thersea of Avila, Brother Lawrence, and Jackie Pullinger

  • Redemptive History is shaped by God's children hearing His voice and responding in faith and love.

  • In a relational world and a relational Kingdom of God, there is little that rivals the importance of communication. It is at the heart of every deep relationship.

  • God speaks. God is active in revelation. We can learn to discern the voice of God in our lives. 

  • Jesus gives us this incredible promise that His sheep will hear His voice. 

  • It comes at a moment where His very identity is being questioned. Jesus locates who He is in the reality that His sheep, His disciples, those He has saved, who apprentice under Him WILL HEAR HIS VOICE.

  • HEARING FROM GOD IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR LIFE AS FOLLOWERS OF JESUS

  • Hearing from God is your spiritual birthright in the Gospel 

  • But as in so many things, what is important is not without challenges.

    • It can take time to discern how God speaks to us

    • It can take some wisdom and consideration as to why that is so very rarely in human history in an audible voice

    • It can be humbling to know we may get it wrong sometimes when discerning God's voice

    • I have four children and communicating with them over the years has taught me that different ways of communicating are needed based on the situation and on who they are. There are shared principles, but ways and settings of talking and listening that are unique to each of them.

    • God has children beyond number, but we can be confident that we can learn to hear God's voice, especially if we ask to and commit to seek God's voice.


  • Experiencing God study in college

    • 4 of the primary ways - SCRIPTURE, GOD'S WHISPER IN THE SPIRIT, COMMUNITY, CIRCUMSTANCES

  • Which of the 4 ways of hearing God have you found most prevalent in your life?

  • Which of hearing God do you want to grow in? 

  • How can you learn/practice that?

April 28: Groups Guide

About This Guide

The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.

pdf download

Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.

Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.

more Resources

Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.

Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.

Love

Teaching Text: Song of Songs 2: 14-15

My dove in the clefts of the rock,
    in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.
Catch for us the foxes,
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
    our vineyards that are in bloom.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

  • Little foxes that ruin your prayer life

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • On the scale of discipline to delight where would you plot your prayer life right now? 

Discipline –----------------------------------------------------– Delight 

Song of Solomon 2: 14-15 – My dove in the clefts of the rock,
    in the hiding places on the mountainside,
show me your face,
    let me hear your voice;
for your voice is sweet,
    and your face is lovely.

Catch for us the foxes,
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
    our vineyards that are in bloom.

  • Prayer is about relationship with God. 

    • When Jesus teaches we should pray for His kingdom to come, He is not just trying to keep us busy, and out of trouble. 

    • He invites us to cultivate and share His heart for putting the world right. 

  • It is intended to cultivate a communion between us and God. 

    • There are ways we can approach prayer that harm the relationship it was intended to cultivate

  • In our text, we see that the lover acknowleges the threat of disruptors of intimacy. 

    • They are called little foxes. 

  • Disruptors of intimacy can take on many shapes … little things that you don't think have meaning, or big, looming, glaring, violent things. 

  • Foxes chew at the vines and break off the ability for the life-giving nutrients to make their way to the branches. 

  • There are little foxes, intimacy disruptors, that are right now at work in breaking down your vital connection to the Jesus. 

  • Before prayer changes our circumstances, its intent is to change us. 

    • “Whether prayer changes our situation or not, one thing is certain: Prayer will change us!”

      – Billy graham 

    • It changes us because it has us encountering the living God. 

  • Then it does change our world…

    • “It would be of course a low voltage spiritual life in which prayer was chiefly undertaken as a discipline, rather than as a way of co-labouring with God to accomplish good things and advancing his Kingdom purposes.”

      – Willard

  • The goal is to restore relational connection and, through that, affect all of life. 

    • “The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God's constant presence with 'the real me. ' Jesus lived his everyday life in conscious awareness of his Father.”

      – Ortberg

1. Exchanging a relational offering for a bowl of soup

2. A Misrepresentation of the character and nature of God 

3. Superficial Formality

4. Lack of Honesty

5. Paralyzing Guilt and Shame

6. Spiritual Laziness

7. Neglecting Prompts from the Holy Spirit

8. Sensationalism

9. Unrepented sin

  • Which of these affect you prayer life? 

  • Who can you partner with to work on this? 

  • What action can you take to combat each of them?

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