Sermons by Tom Wright (Page 17)

STUDY GUIDE In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 8 October 4, 2015 1. Read Galatians 2:20. How many times in this one verse does Paul use the first person singular pronoun – either “I” or “me”? Consider the importance of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ to your effectiveness as a member of the body of Christ? What happens to your relationships with other Christians and with the church as a whole if your own relationship with…

STUDY GUIDE In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 7 September 27, 2015 1. Read Galatians 2:11-21, then re-read verses 15-21. Verses 15-21 continue Paul’s rebuke of Peter that started in verse 14. Paul exposed Peter’s hypocrisy in very practical terms in verse 14. Peter had contradicted his own beliefs and message with his actions – and that had the effect of CHANGING his message to the eyes and ears of the people who were paying attention to…

STUDY GUIDE In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 6 September 20, 2015 1. Read Galatians 2:11-21, then re-read verses 11-14 (we’ll be camping out in those 4 verses this Sunday). Verse 11 begins with the word “But,” which introduces a major shift in Paul’s narrative of events. What had been the very encouraging outcome of Paul’s meeting with the leaders of the mostly-Jewish church in Jerusalem recorded in the first half of this same chapter (Galatians 2:1-10)?…

STUDY GUIDE In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 5 September 13, 2015 1. Read Galatians 2:1-10. How long after Paul’s conversion (described in 1:11-24) did this second visit to Jerusalem occur? BEFORE this second visit, how much time had Paul spent in Jerusalem? [See 1:15-24.] How are these facts significant to Paul’s assertion that both his apostleship and his gospel were not from men, but from Jesus Christ (1:1, 11)? 2. According to Galatians 2:2, what prompted…

STUDY GUIDE In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 4 August 30, 2015 [Note: The first two questions are repeated from last week’s study guide.] 1. What approach toward the gospel of Christ and toward the followers of Christ had Paul actually learned from MEN (from his “countrymen”)? [See 1:13-14.] How does Paul explain the dramatic “about-face” that he experienced in his attitude toward the gospel of Christ and toward the followers of Christ? [See 1:15-16.] WHEN did…

STUDY GUIDE Called by the Grace of Christ: Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 3 August 23, 2015 1. Read Galatians 1:11-24. In verse 1, what did Paul say was “not from men, nor through the agency of man”? In verse 11, Paul says that the gospel he preached is “not according to man.” How are those two assertions (verse 1 and verse 11) connected? Consider all the ways in which the gospel of Jesus Christ is “not according to…

STUDY GUIDE Called by the Grace of Christ: Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS Message 2 August 16, 2015 1. Read Galatians 1:6-10. Look carefully at Paul’s wording in verse 6. What or whom are the Galatians “deserting” (or in some translations, “turning away from”)? And with what are they replacing it? Notice that what they’re deserting and that with which they’re replacing it are two very different kinds of things. If you don’t understand what’s being pointed out here, look…

STUDY GUIDE Galatians Message 1 August 9, 2015 1. Read Galatians 1:1-5. What does Paul emphasize right up front about his ministry and apostleship in verse 1? What does he mean by “not sent from men, nor through the agency of man”? What’s the difference between those two? There’s a major clue here regarding one of the key issues Paul will address in the first two chapters of this letter. How did Paul become an apostle in the first place?…