Blog — Trinity Grace Church

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

November 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 Texts: John 16:29 - 17:5

Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone.Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal lifeto all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you,the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Themes

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

  • Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing us the way.

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • One of life's biggest questions - If God exists, what is God like?

  • Sometimes is easier to believe God exists than to believe He is kind

  • Dominant narrative of our time: Consumeristic, technologically driven individualism. 

    Creation narrative: God miraculously and lovingly creates and sustains

  • When we immerse ourselves in the dominant narrative, we forget the creation story 

    • Then, a series of things happen: 

      • 1 - We forgo rootedness of the past – we self-invent 

      • 2 - We forgo hope in a faithful God for our future – self-rely 

      • 3 - Our present is filled with FRIGHTENED MEANNESS. 

  • Where in your daily life do you experience this drive towards self invention/defining identity?

    Where do you see the encouragement and temptation towards self relying/self preserving? 

  • Brueggeman: 

    “For it is only when the past is brimming with miracle and the future is inundated with fidelity that the present can be recharacterized as a place of neighborliness in which

    • Scarcity can be displaced by generosity

    • Anxiety can be displaced by confidence

    • Greed can be displaced by sharing

    • Brutality can be displaced by compassion and forgiveness.

    “Recovering the biblical text includes the daring persuasive conviction that God’s fidelity outlasts every circumstance.”

  • The story you live in, is the story you live out

  • How can we better immerse ourselves in the creation narrative? 

  • What God is like is the catalyzing question of this whole conversation. 

    • “May they know you” is Jesus’ prayer at the end. 

  • This text is less about a to-do list and more about how we can know God deeply. 

  • Challenges in the conflicting narratives:

    • The dominant cultural narrative might be more prevalent in our lives than the true creation narrative 

    • We are trying to trust Jesus for that joy, but we reserve the right to define still what makes us happy.

    • We are not able to discern the timing and the perseverance required

  • Which of these challenges do you struggle with most?

  • Where in your life do you struggle with a lack of peace and joy? 

  • Take some time to scan through chapter 14-16 of John 

    • Notice one or two things that Jesus says that reveal something about the Father that He wants the disciples to know. 

    • Share them with the group. 

    • Pray prayers of thanks and praise to God for who He is. 

  • God’s Peace comes from a deep conviction that

    • My future is not in my hands

    • My God is kind and trustworthy and wants my true and lasting joy 

    • No obstacles I face here and now will have the last word

    • Jesus completed the work to restore the kingdom and invited us in

    • He leaves us with His very presence, the Spirit by whom we have access to the Father. 

November 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 Texts: John 15: 18-16:11

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

“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. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, but now I am going to him who sent me.None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with griefbecause I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Themes

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

  • Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing us the way.

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • Jesus has been sitting with His friends on the even of going to the cross, pouring out His heart to them

  • He warns them about the incredible resistance they will face. 

  • There are systems and powers in the world that are bent against the things of God and the Kingdom of God - THE WORLD 

    • “the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me too”

  • There is internal resistance in the disciples’ own lives that will entice them to fall away and will wrangle them in grief - THE FLESH 

    • “I am telling you this so that you will not fall away.”

  • They will meet with outright spiritual resistance, accusation, deception, and temptation from a spiritual entity called here the ‘prince of this world.’ - THE DEVIL

  • Even though these blend and overlap, try to: 

    • Name one system thats resists the kingdom of God in your life/world

    • Name one weakness of your flesh (internal to you) that resists the kingdom

    • Name one moment you thought there was specific spiritual resistance you encountered

  • Whatever else is happening here - Jesus is being honest with His friends about the resistance they are going to face living as disciples.

    • About the pain and difficulty 

    • About the challenges

  • Some important questions and facts to consider in light of this are:

    • Why is it hard to follow Jesus?

    • How we can be helped in the midst of this resistance?

    • Why it is worth it.

      • What do you find hard about following Jesus? 

      • Why do you think these things are so difficult? 

      • What helps you most in the hardships of following Jesus? 

      • What motivates you in the tough times? 

  • FLESH may have good manners and even do nice things but its fundamental motivation and operation is the SELF.

    • The flesh is also craving, lust, violence, lost tempers, greed

    • It is trying to meet the deep needs of life and our soul without God

  • WORLD that is opposed to the KINGDOM OF GOD

  • SIGNS of THE KINGDOM : 

    • Salvation/Deliverance

    • Righteousness and Justice

    • Peace

    • Joy

    • God’s Presence 

    • Healing

    • Return from Exile

  • SIGNS OF THE WORLD:

    • The self-made person - identity through achievement 

    • Accomplishment and wealth 

    • Victory 

    • Pleasure 

    • Self-sufficiency and power

    • Cost of doing business - degradation, disease, pollution  

    • Looking out for yourself and your group only

  • How can we be helped in the midst of this resistance?

  • A share in the Life of God through the Holy Spirit.

  • Listen 

  • “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. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” – John 15 v 26-27

  • No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that love is better than selfishness in bringing life and life to the full

  • No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that violence is not the way to peace 

  • No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change greed and getting more and more doesn't satisfy the soul

  • No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that power doesn’t make you secure 

  • No Matter how loudly it insists otherwise, the world cannot change that indigence, lust or workaholism doesn’t bring joy 

  • The Spirit will show the difference between sin and true life

  • The Spirit will show there are spiritual realities we cannot change

  • WHY IT IS WORTH IT? - to deal with this resistance

    • Our present is lived in friendship with Jesus - His spirit testifies with our spirit 

    • We can endure in the way of Jesus - die to the way of the world 

    • Our future is united with Jesus 

November 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 Texts: John 15: 9-17

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

Themes

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

  • Joy Complete – God wants your joy to be complete and Jesus is showing the way.

Formation 

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

  • Read the text slowly and contemplatively, then share what stood out to you. 

    • What surprises you when you read this text?

    • How does this commandment compare to what you were taught is most important for faith? 

  • There are 7 staggering things Jesus says to them.

    • YOU ARE LOVED - as the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you 

    • REMAIN IN MY LOVE

    • THIS REVELATION IS MEANT FOR JOY

    • YOU ARE MY FRIENDS - I am telling you what I am up to

    • I CHOSE YOU

    • YOU HAVE FRUIT TO BEAR

    • I WILL HELP YOU

  • YOU ARE LOVED - as the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you 

    • “The Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit existing eternally as one divine essence shows us how God can be the love which no greater can be thought: an interpersonal love that comes from God and is directed toward God, fruitfully freed of all selfishness, eternally generative of still more love. The God who is not a “thing”, but an activity. The Father is the loving of the Son, and the Son is the returning of love to the Father, and from this mutuality of love the loving that is the Holy Spirit is breathed out.” – Frederick Bauerschmidt

  • REMAIN IN MY LOVE

    • There are ways to live that make you forget God's love 

      • What ways do you live, that makes you forget God’s love? 

    • There are ways to live that keep you remaining in God's love 

      • In what ways can you live to remember gods love?

  • THIS REVELATION IS MEANT FOR JOY

    • ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” – John 15 v 11-12

    • How dows it feel that God’s intent with His commandments and direction is meant for our joy? 

  • YOU ARE MY FRIENDS - I am telling you what I am up to

    • “You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his Master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”  – John 15 v 14-15

    • We know He isn’t saying if you keep enough of My commands you can be My friends. 

      • He is saying WE ARE FRIENDS and a key way that is expressed in joining this way of LOVE!! - living this JESUS WAY

    • “The gift-like character of God's friendship with us helps us understand why Jesus was so unconcerned about the perils of befriending sinners and outcasts, so unconcerned about the 'contagion' of sin. The love that is God is present so perfectly, so abundantly in the person of Jesus that his goodness cannot be diminished by contact with fallible and failed human beings. Because God's love is not drawn to our goodness but creates our goodness, because it is active and not reactive, the Spirit can transform God's enemies into God's friends.” – Frederick Bauerschmidt

    • How does friendship with God adjust how you can go about your everyday relationships and responsibilities? 

  • I CHOSE YOU

    • “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” – John 15 v 16-17

    • How does being chosen affect your understanding of your identity? 

  • YOU HAVE FRUIT TO BEAR

    • Fruit of the Spirit in your ever-forming character  - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control 

    • Fruit in your relationships - forgiveness and mercy and peace and generosity and creativity and love 

    • Fruit in the gospel - salvation, healing life and light, wholeness, freedom , JOY JOY JOY 

    • Is bearing fruit a burden for you or do you experience it naturally? 

  • I WILL HELP YOU

    • “whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. This is My command: Love each other.”  – John 15 v 16-17

    • JESUS’ WHOLE LIFE IS PRAYER…

    • “[JESUS’] whole life is a prayer because it is the expression in time of the eternal conversation of love that is the life of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the stillness of eternity, God the Father speaks the Son as His Word, and as the Son responds in love, the Spirit is breathed forth. Through friendship with Jesus in the Spirit, we have become part of that eternal dialogue of love.

      – Frederick Bauerschmidt