Video 2 Questions:

1. How did Jesus fulfill God’s promise to crush the serpent’s head and destroy evil at its source?

2. Why is Jesus’ resurrection crucial to fulfilling God’s promise? Describe how this truth enhances your relationship with God.

Video 3 Questions:

1. The Hebrew word khata, translated “sin,” means failure to fulfill the goal. According to what was taught in this video, what is the goal?

2. Sin is a failure to love God and others by not treating them with the honor they deserve. Why is failure to honor God deeply connected to failure to honor people?

3. The video described three characteristics of sin:

a.    A failure to love God and others.

b.    Our inability to judge whether we’re succeeding or failing.

c.    A deep selfish impulse that drives much of our behavior.

Which characteristic(s) of sin was a new concept to you or challenged your beliefs about sin? Explain.

4. How did Jesus take responsibility for humanity’s history of failure?

5. Why is the story of Jesus such good news?

Video 1 Questions:

1. Why is God’s Kingdom referred to as an “upside-down” kingdom?

2. How did Jesus become King? What did He conquer?

3. How does knowing Jesus is the conquering King impact your confidence as a Christ- follower?

Video 2 Questions:

1. Explain how Jesus is like the hot coal in Isaiah’s vision?

2. Why does Jesus describe His followers as having streams of living water flowing out of them?

3. As believers, we are God’s temple because His holy presence is in us. In what ways would you like to bring life, healing and hope into the world?

Video 3 Questions:

1. What is the purpose of human existence?

2. How does experiencing God’s love compel you to share His love with others?

Video 1 Questions:

1. Atonement means to cover someone’s debt. Purification was accomplished by sprinkling blood, the life source, to cleanse from evil. How did Jesus accomplish both atonement and purification while breaking the power of death and evil?

2. How does sin both create injustice as well as ruin the environment of our relationships?

3. What are the two rituals Jesus asks His followers to perform? Describe how each ritual points us towards a growing relationship with Jesus.

4. Explain how water baptism symbolizes joining your life to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

5. Have you been water baptized? If so, please share highlights of your baptism experience.

Video 2 Questions:

1. Just as God shows His love (ahavah) through action, we are to show love through action. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 tells us to fear the Lord our God, walk in His ways, serve Him, and keep His commandments. Explain why and how these actions are centered in love?

2. According to the video, if we are not doing the things God asks us to do, then we don’t actually love Him--we just say that we do. What are your thoughts about this statement?

3. We love (ahavah) people to imitate God’s love because He first loved us. Share a time when someone showed love in action to you. This week, focus on imitating God’s love in action to a family member, friend, neighbor, or co-worker.

Video 1 Questions:

1.The Hebrew word for God’s Spirit is ruakh. It describes God’s personal presence and is compared to the power and energy of wind and breath. The first mention of the Spirit is found in Genesis 1:2. What was God’s Spirit doing?

2. What significant event empowered Jesus to begin the new creation? What did Jesus do to show that He was creating life where there was once death?

3. How was Jesus raised from the dead? What happened when He breathed on His disciples?

4. When believers in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit and become part of the new creation, what happens in the life of the believer and in the world?

Video 2 Questions:

1. After God’s fiery presence comes to dwell in His new temple (community of Jesus followers), what happens?

2. How have these videos helped you better understand your relationship with God through the Holy Spirit?

3. Please share how the Holy Spirit has influenced and guided your life?

Video 2 Questions:

1. After watching the video, what did you learn about the Old Testament?

2. How did the overview help you better understand Jesus’ role and presence in the Old Testament?

Video 2 Questions:

1. What connections were you able to identify between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

2. After watching the video, what did you learn new about the New Testament?

3. Now that you’ve watched an overview of both the Old and New Testaments, are you inspired to read a specific book or books of the Bible? If so, which book(s) and why?

Video 1 Questions:

1. Babylon is symbolic of any human institution that demands allegiance to its idolatrous definitions of good and evil. According to the video, why are believers in Jesus considered exiles?

2. The three choices of an exile are

- to resist Babylon by revolting or withdrawing

- to give in by adopting the Babylonian way of life and accepting new gods as their own

- to settle in, build houses, plant gardens, grow families and to seek the well-being of Babylon and pray to the Lord on its behalf

Discuss the three choices of an exile by giving examples of what each looks like in our current cultural environment.

3. The Book of Daniel describes how the way of the exile is to serve Babylon, to seek its well-being, but to always stay loyal to God. Can you think of another person in the Bible who adhered to this example?

4. The tension between loyalty and subversion (to undermine power or authority) exists today for believers in Jesus. As a group, share specific examples of this tension and how it is possible to stay loyal to God.

Video 2 Questions:

1. Heart is the Hebrew word lev and is the generator of our physical life, the center of our intellectual and emotional being, and where we make choices motivated by our desires. According to Proverbs 4:23, we are to guard our heart because from it flows our whole life. How do we guard our heart?

2. How is evil and stubbornness removed from the human heart?

3. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Jesus then added a second commandment which He said was like the first: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

4. Describe what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself.

5. Jesus’ final words to His disciples, found in Matthew 28:19 and 20, are a clear indication of God’s will for discipleship and leadership: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

6. In this last lesson of Biblical Foundations I, how does a discussion of our heart relate to the topic of discipleship and leadership?