CONNECT UP with God

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LIFE GROUP GUIDE: TNC#3 – “STOMACH” CONNECT IN with one another Can anyone tell us about a memorable meal you had? What was special or different about it? Did your ‘British Bake Off’ Yorkshire Puddings go flat? Or was it the best night of your life? Or somewhere in between?

CONNECT UP with God  Read

Galatians 1:15-22

PRIMING THE PUMP: Can you tell us one thing that you remember from Sunday’s sermon? GETTING TO KNOW ME: Can anyone tell us about a time when “God spoke” to you through the Bible? How often does this happen to you? When? Where? Through Every Day with Jesus Bible notes? Through Phil’s books? Through listening to the David Suchet NIV audio bible? [Help for leaders: Sundays’ talk was arguing that based upon Paul’s use of the Old Testament in his sermons and letters, it’s reasonable to assume that Paul must have felt that “God spoke” to him while he was reading the Old Testament during the first 10 years of his Christian life. These 10 years, sometimes called Paul’s “hidden” years, are a period when we know almost nothing about what Paul was doing, apart from the odd incident e.g. Galatians 1:15-22, when he spent 15 days in Jerusalem with Peter, and also met James, Jesus’ brother.]

INTO THE BIBLE: To what extent would you agree with the following statement . . . “we can tell from Romans 15:20-22 that God gave Paul a clear understanding of his calling while reading Isaiah 52:15. We can tell from Acts 13:47 and Romans 16:25-26 that Paul only understood what being a Christian really means by reading the Old Testament prophets.”? APPLICATION: What could you do to fill your spiritual ‘stomach’ with more of God’s words? [Help for leaders: You might like to put this question more positively by reminding the group of how Jesus viewed the Bible as his own food, in Matthew 4:4 where Jesus quotes Duet 8:3.]

OPTIONAL/DETECTIVE EXTRA QUESTIONS FOR VERY KEEN BIBLE STUDENTS:

1. How can Paul’s own account of this part of his life (in Galatians 1:15-22) be fitted into Luke’s version of what happened in Acts 9:8-30? [Help for leaders: There wasn’t enough time to get into this in Sunday’s sermon, but your group might like to try and solve the puzzle. One option is that the “many days” in vs23 were actually the “3 years” Paul talks about in Gal 1. An alternative is that the “3 years” fit between Acts 9:25 and Acts 9:26]

2. What other events in Paul’s life might we put into the 3 hidden years in Galatians 1:1718 and the 6 hidden years between Acts 9:30 and Acts 11:25-26 when Barnabas found Saul in Tarsus? [Help for leaders: This bit also got deleted from the final version of Sunday’s talk, but if this is the sort of detective work your group enjoys . . . two leading candidates are: 2 Cor 11:23-27 and 2 Cor 12:2-4.]

CONNECT OUT with the non-church people around you  Who

can I pray for who needs spiritual food from God this week?