Ephesians 2:1-10; 3:14-21; Philippians 2:1-18; 2 Timothy 2:1-13; 3:10-17

The following questions were designed for a study in a series on the story-line of the Bible.  This particular study was entitled: ‘With God for ever – church expansion and growth: Growing in our relationship with God.’

There is a lot of Scripture here!  I’ve suggested one question from each of these five passages.  You might want to focus on one or two of the passages, or possibly get people to work in twos and threes.

(a) Eph 2:1-10 – Suppose someone asked you, “What has God ever done for you?”  What does this passage suggest your answer might be?

(b) Eph 3:14-21 – Suppose that someone were to pray for you like this, and that God were to begin to answer that prayer: what differences in your own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes would you expect to see?

(c) Phil 2:1-18 – What, according to this passage, is ‘the attitude of Christ Jesus’?  What difference would it make to our relationships with other Christians if we were to adopt the same attitude?

(d) 2 Tim 2:1-13 – What does each of the three pictures in this passage – the soldier, the athlete, and the farmer – tell us about what it means to be a faithful and effective follower of Jesus?

(e) 2 Tim 3:10-17 – When Paul referred to ‘the holy Scriptures’, he was thinking of the Old Testament (the New Testament hadn’t been completed yet!).  Can you think of some particular bits of the Old Testament that are especially helpful in making us ‘wise for salvation’?