February 7, 2021 | Ephesians 6.11-24

Paul lives in a world that recognizes the spiritual as well as the physical/material. How do you think about this? How do you see these two aspects of existence interacting?
What is the purpose of the armor of God? Take a moment to list the six. From what schemes of the devil do they protect us? Of the six, does one in particular need your attention?
Think for a moment about prayer. Prayer pervades all of Ephesians. What exhortation or encouragement do you sense as you read Paul’s words here in 6.17-20?

January 24, 2021 | Ephesians 5:21-33

While there is a place for righteous anger, can you think of a time when you used anger or were abused by someone else’s anger as a ploy to gain power?
David makes the point that the way of Jesus was the way of submission. Do you agree with that? If that is true, what implications does that have for the ways that we submit to one another?
Too often Christians have taken this passage as a law of how we are to act and used it against women, in particular. David says that this passage is not to be seen as a law but as a means for us to return to what God intended in Genesis 2. Do you think it helps us to do that? Why or why not?
Have you experienced the truth of the C.S. Lewis illustration of heaven and hell? When have you experienced the reality described by Lewis’ version of hell? Have you had an experience that was a taste of his description of heaven?

January 17, 2021 | Ephesians 5:8-21

How do we "find out what pleases the Lord"? Is there an area of your life in which you'd like to "Find out what pleases the Lord?" (10, 17) Or get some counsel about how to honor the Lord in your particular circumstances?
What do you think it looks like to expose fruitless deeds of darkness" (11) When does that involve words? How else might this occur?
Describe a person or community that embodies Paul's exhortation to "speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything". (19-20)

January 10, 2021 | Ephesians 5:1-7

As a Christian, your identity is “beloved child of God” through Christ and your vocation is love. How does your Christian identity and vocation inform how you think about other aspects of your identity and work?
Describe a person or community who has helped you understand what it means to be holy.
What do you think it means for Blacknall to be faithful to its identity and vocation in the uncertain season ahead?

November 22, 2020 | Ephesians 4:22-32

Take 3 minutes and read Ephesians 4 in its entirety. Can you outline the large theme?
Review the four areas Paul mentions in today’s text. Why do you think he mentioned these? (He will go on to others…). Is there any particular one of these four that caught your attention in particular?
Think for a moment about how we change, and what motivates change. Generally speaking, what are common incentives for change in a person’s life?
Can you name a change that you or others have witnessed in your own sanctification? (These are important to name, even though no one would say he or she is perfect. Celebrate the good growth.) For Christians, what are the motive forces of change?
Is there a particular action you can take to encourage the unity of the body at Blacknall?

November 15, 2020 | Ephesians 4:17-24

The apostle Paul doesn’t have a static view of Christian faith. In other words, once you make a profession of faith, there is so much more! Vistas open up, vistas of meaning, and beauty, and truth. We also begin to see ourselves more truly, for both good and ill. Can you name two or three things that, having begun to see the world through Christ, you now see differently? About the world? About yourself? The past? The future?
Paul speaks of Gentiles as having a hardness of heart. (For me, as a heart patient, it is an apt analogy as I think about the slow building up of plaque in my artery.) What do you think he means?
In verse 22 Paul writes, “You were taught to put off your old self… corrupted by sinful desires.” Paul will get more specific in the next paragraphs. As you think of your own new life in Christ, what “change of clothes” still remains for you? What “attitude of mind” is being asked of you? If you are discussing this question with others, can you invite them to stand with you in asking the Lord to bring about the change you know would bring honor to him?

November 8, 2020 | Ephesians 4:7-16

Why does Paul quote Psalm 68 here in Ephesians 4.8?
This list of gifts is only one of four in the New Testament, each one of them varied. Familiarize yourself with those other lists in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and I Peter 4. Allan mentions that these lists are not meant to be exhaustive, nor are all the gifts “formal”, as in a particular office like pastor. How do you think of the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you? If you were to ask those who know you best, what gifts would they say you have been given?
Allan suggests a different translation for the NIV’s “works of service” in v.12. Can you remember? What is the implication?
“The work of ministry….” What might be included in this phrase? The sermon theme focuses on the fact that the members of the church are in fact its ministers. But ministry is not limited to friendship, or personal evangelism, (as challenging and overlooked or intentionally disregarded as that gift is); how might the Lord be calling you into to see your everyday life as a ministry of the Gospel in the world of your work? Or neighborhood?

November 3, 2020 | Ephesians 4:1-6

Was there a “command” or chore that you struggled to obey when you were growing up?
Can you share a “command” that used to be onerous/burdensome but that is now a joy? How did that change happen?
Is there an aspect of our “calling” that Paul has shared with us in Ephesians 1-3 that has resonated with you the most? Which one and why?
David said, “But let’s be clear. Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another is not just other words for being nice.” Do you agree with that? How would you describe the difference between being nice and these four characteristics of Jesus?
In what way do you need to repent in order to “walk in the manner of the calling to which you have been called”?
What are practical things we can do to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” that goes beyond mere tolerance, denial or avoidance?

October 18, 2020 | Ephesians 3.1-13

This section of Ephesians gives us a vision for the unique place of the Church of Jesus Christ in the world.

The apostle Paul often uses the idea of bond slave or captive or prisoner (as here - v.1) to typify his relationship with Jesus Christ. Why might that be? How do you understand his use of the idea? Contrast that with contemporary notions of freedom as the ultimate goal of human beings.
Once again (v.2ff.) Paul is attempting to speak to the way in which Jesus Christ has overcome the deepest division known to Paul, that between Jew and Gentile. We have our own divisions in our day, to be sure. But what is it about Jesus Christ that heals those divisions?
One of the notable themes in Paul’s frequent autobiographical comments (v.7ff.) in his letters has to do with his journey into humility. What is humility, and how is it different from self-loathing? How does Jesus Christ and his gospel of grace allow us, as his captives, to live into our highest and most fulfilling calling? (v.12)
“God’s intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms….” (V.10). At Blacknall we have often spoken of the Church of Jesus Christ as an outpost of the Kingdom, the embodiment of the virtues of the Kingdom of God in the world. What shape do those “rulers and authorities” (remember here how Allan spoke of these powers in the sermon) take in our world today? And how does the Church embody the Kingdom in light of those pressures?
Would you take a few moments and pray for Blacknall in this particular moment, that we would be faithful to the Lord’s call for us, and faithful to each other in living into this vision of the Kingdom of God?

October 11, 2020 | Ephesians 2.18-22

How would you describe in your own words the gift of the Gospel?
In this section Paul uses three metaphors to try to communicate some of the consequences of the coming of Jesus Christ. What are they? What is their importance?
The last an most unexpected metaphor pictures the gathering of believers in Christ as a temple. What is the significance of that metaphor? Why is it surprising?
In this particular time of isolation and separation, and social stress and conflict, what practical steps might you take to live more fully into this picture of the Church?

October 4, 2020 | Ephesians 2:11-17

What are the main themes that emerge from this passage?
Can you restate in your own words what happened to Israel that led her to fail in keeping the Abrahamic covenant to be a blessing to all the nations?
How does Paul describe the Gentiles before coming to know Jesus Christ?
What happens at the cross that effects reconciliation?
Where do you experience the threat of alienation and division in your own life? What would you like to ask the Lord to work in you by his Holy Spirit?
In thinking about the divisions in our wider culture, what might your part be in bearing faithful witness to the hope of the Gospel?

September 27, 2020 | Ephesians 2:1-10 (Part 2)

Read Isaiah 42:1-9, our Old Testament scripture. This is the first of Isaiah’s “Servant Songs” that were fulfilled in Christ. Which part of this Song most resonates with your experience of Jesus Christ? What part of the Song’s description of the Servant do you long for the most right now?
What is your response to the thought that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms? Do you find that comforting, challenging, convicting? Why?
In the sermon David talks about being set free from several things: Sin and the power of the evil one, guilt, the fear of death. Do you relate to any of these? Is there another freedom that our resurrection and being seated in the heavenlies that is precious to you?
How do you think in our life together as a congregation and as individuals that we can show to the principalities and powers and to the world the “incomparable riches of his grace”?
What work do you believe God has prepared for us to do that is needed at this time? How can we do it? How can we do it together?

September 20, 2020 | Ephesians 2:1-10

Paul says we were dead in our transgressions and sins. Jesus describes two different ways people are spiritually dead in his Parable of the Prodigal Son(s) in Luke 15. Which son were you more like in your spiritual deadness—the younger brother in the far off country wasting his inheritance in wild living or the older brother who stayed at home, did all the right things but whose heart was cold to his father?
In vs. 2-3 Paul describes three ways that we are stuck/imprisoned/dead in our transgressions and sins. The first is that we “followed the ways of this world.” Can you think of a specific way in which you were (or currently are) stuck following the ways of this world? How did you recognize this?
In the sermon David talks about how the “Prince of the kingdom of the air” influences our world through systemic evil. Do you agree with that? If not, why not? If so, where have you seen or experienced the systemic nature of sin in the world?
The big ‘But’ in the passage comes in v. 4. David says in the sermon that this ‘but’ of God’s grace sets us free from comparison and sets us free to radical humility. How would our lives individually and corporately look different if we lived more deeply in these freedoms?

September 13, 2020 | Ephesians 1:15-23

When someone says, “I am praying for you” what is your internal response?
Paul opens this section with the statement, “For this reason… I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” And then he names what he is praying. How is his prayer related to his opening paragraphs (1.3-14)?
The game changer for Paul is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? What kind of difference can it make for you?
Allan mentioned that for some Christians, we stop at the beginning point of receiving forgiveness. Paul has a very different understanding, one that assumes that we continue to grow throughout our lives. How would you describe Paul’s hope for growth in the Ephesians? If you reflect on your own life, having just read this letter from Paul addressed to you, what effect might it have? Would it lead you to a life of deepening praise? Confidence? Hope? Trust?

September 6, 2020 | Ephesians 1:1-14 (Part 2)

The sermon questions this week attempt to help you unpack some of the dense theological concepts that so shape Paul’s understanding of the Christian gospel, especially the pervasive use of the idea of glory.

Re-read vv. 1.1-14. Name the gifts for which Paul is grateful?
Gratitude seems to be so motivating to Paul, his awareness of what he has been offered against his deserving, in the gospel. Can you identify barriers to gratitude in your own life? In a culture rife with assumptions about rights and freedom, how can gratitude flourish?
As you think about glory, is it a positive or a negative “value”? Can glory and humility coexist?
What does it look like to make decisions that are made “to the glory of God”?
What have been important hallmarks in your understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit?

August 30, 2020 | Ephesians 1:1-14

What is your gut response to Paul's praise in Ephesians 1:1-14?
In Ephesians 1, election is not an end in itself. Rather, Paul emphasizes what we are saved for, as well as the love and pleasure of God that results in our election. How does this challenge or nuance your understanding of election?
Share about a time when you heard the message of the gospel and responded.
The mystery of God's will is that in Christ Jews (God's covenant people) and Gentiles (outsiders) come to God on equal footing. What kinds of divisions make us think we are "insiders" or "outsiders" in God's kingdom? How does the grace of Christ humble the "insider" and include the "outsider" in our life together at Blacknall?