The Holy Bible: What the Bible is All About (week 2)

Speaker: Tony Nzanza

Worship: Play “The Same God” as part of your worship during group or in your quiet time. Reflect on the lyrics and how we serve the same God yesterday, today, and forever. What He has done for Mary and Moses, He can do for us. Declare these promises over your life, standing on His faithfulness that He will come through for you too.

Check-In: Share your week with “Making Room” for God’s Word. Highlight the improvements or missed opportunities with regards to making TIME, choosing a PLACE, and PLAN. Also, share what scripture stood out for you during your time with God.

Bible Readings: Colossians 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; John 5:39-40; 1 John 3:16

Preparation and Discussion for Group Time:
As we continue this journey of learning more about The Holy Bible; We’ve heard that we cannot truly love the word if we don’t truly understand it. This means we need to spend more time with it and be intentional with our bible time. Although there are many different versions of the bible with various writers, we are to remember there is only one author, i.e., God, the word points us back to Him, see John 5:39.

1. Tony shared with us the various translations and their origin; Viz the Formal Equivalency
   (KJV/NKJV/NASB/ESV), The Functional Equivalency which are thoughts captured from the Formal versions (NIV/NLT/), and the Paraphrase version which is a creative form (Living Bible/ The Message).
   Have you decided on which version of the BIBLE you’ll be using? Share this with the group and discuss how this will benefit you. Also chat about any additional resources you’re considering using to help make reading the word more meaningful (refer to the list of resources handed out last Sunday/online, follow the link below).
2. What stood out for you from Sunday’s message? What did you learn about the bible in this message?
3. If we reflect on Colossians 3:16, how can we ensure that the word dwells in us richly and how will it benefit us?
4. In 1 John 3:16 we see that there’s something we need to do – we are called to action. How can you through learning God’s word, give to others? Discuss how you can implement this in your everyday life.

Check out and Prayer:
During check-out

1. Share what your goals are for this coming week.
2. Commit to memorizing the scripture below which you will share at check-in next week.

During prayer, commit each other to the Lord that He will help you remain steadfast and faithful in studying the word, learning it, and making it part of your daily life.

Love God:

• The memory verse for this week is Colossians 3:16 (ESV) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
• For personal study check out these resources on the website to grow deeper. You can download the PDF.

Love People:
There are a couple of next steps you can take on your discipleship journey over the coming weeks, like Baptism or serving. Sign up online via Church Center or the website.

*Discussion Guide Questions used with permission from Church of The Highlands, Pastor Chris Hodges, The Holy Bible Series.