Luke 1:39-56 – The Long-Promised Victor

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. Rejoice because God fulfils his promises (vv. 39-45)

2. Rejoice in God my Saviour (vv. 46-49)

3. Rejoice because of God’s mercy to the humble (vv. 50-56)

Questions for us? How are we tempted to think of the Christian life as one of climbing up to God? Are we tempted to look down on others “beneath” us? How does Elizabeth respond to Mary’s arrival? Have we ever experienced a ‘What! This! For me?’ moment when thinking about our salvation? How might we grow more joyful when considering our salvation? How might we grow more joyful as we consider Christmas coming round? What does Mary rejoice about in verses 46-49? How might we rejoice about God’s work in our lives? When we speak to others about Jesus, do we speak joyfully? How do we communicate the wonder of the Lord having been mindful of us? What attribute of God does Mary praise in verses 50-56? What attitude do we have that cuts us off from God? How does God treat people in these verses? How will we see that in the future? How should that cause us to rejoice?

Luke 1:26-28 – The Long-Promised Son

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. God’s gracious action for a surprising recipient (vv. 26-30)

2. God’s announcement of the birth of His Son – the Eternal King (vv. 31-33)

3. God’s announcement of the birth of His Son – through His Spirit (vv. 34-38)

Questions for us? How important do you think the events of Christmas are? Do they make any difference in the way you live your life? Do they make any difference in what you hope for? How were Mary and Joseph surprising people to receive the angel’s news? How do they compare with Elizabeth and Zechariah? What Old Testament character does the angel’s message compare with and what’s the significance of that? How does God view human rank? What do the descriptions of the child signify? How does it make a difference to know that there is a king reigning on the throne? What’s the difference between Mary’s question and Zechariah’s? How’s Jesus’ conception to come about? What does this mean for who he is? How do you respond to God’s greatness and God’s humility in this passage?

Luke 1:1-25 – The Long-Promised Prophet

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. Have confidence in the Christmas story (vv. 1-4)

2. Rejoice because of the long-promised prophet (vv. 5-25)

3. Prepare for the coming of the Lord (vv. 16-17)

Questions for us? How are you feeling in the run up to Christmas? Are you excited? Are you frantically preparing? Is Christmas a time of the year you don’t look forward to? What reasons do we have for confidence in the Christmas story? Why does it matter if it really happened? What was John’s birth to cause the people to do? What did John’s birth show about God? What connection does Zechariah’ and Elizabeth’s prayers have to God’s promises? How does this story cause us to be joyful too? What role was John to do? What connection did he have to the coming of the Messiah? What role have we been given by Jesus? Are we prepared for his coming?

Colossians 4:7-18 – Encouragement from Gospel Partnership

Preacher - Adam Johnston

1. Be encouraged by gospel partnership (vv. 7-9)

2. Be spurred on towards gospel maturity (vv. 10-14)

3. Be engaged in regional partnership (vv. 15-18)

Questions for us? How connected are we to other Christians around the world personally? What do we pray for them? Do you think they pray for us? What was Tychicus and Onesimus sent to do? What effect does it have on us when we hear of God’s work in people around the world? How should that affect our expectation for God’s work here? What prayers do you commonly pray for other Christians? How does that match up to what Epaphras was praying for the Colossians? In what ways might we pray for each other to multiply maturity? In what two senses does Paul use the word ‘church’ in verses 15 and 16? What do they have in common? How might we see both senses of the word ‘church’ in our context? What does partnership in the gospel with others look like for us? How importantly do we value it?

Colossians 4:2-6 – Gospel Clothing and the World Outside

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. Speak to God about others (vv. 2-4)

2. Speak to others about God (vv. 5-6)

Questions for us? What’s our posture towards the world as individuals? What’s our posture towards the world as a church? What does Paul instruct the Colossians to do in verse 2? What might that look like for us? What posture are they to have in prayer? Why is that important? What are they to pray for? How might we be devoted to praying to God for others? How can we devote ourselves to praying for others in the run up to the Christmas events? Who are you praying might attend and receive Christ Jesus as Lord? What does Paul instruct the Colossians to be in verse 4? How might we make the most of every opportunity? What should our manner be as we speak to others of God? How can we spur each other on in Life Group to live wisely and make the most of every opportunity we have?

Colossians 3:18 – 4:1 – Gospel Clothing in Every Relationship

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. Submission and Love in Marriage (vv. 18-19)

2. Obedience and Encouragement in Parenting (vv. 20-21)

3. Sincerity and Justice in Work (3:22 – 4:1)

Questions for us? How do these verses relate to what we’ve seen before in Colossians? Are we trying to live good lives to impress God? What ought our Christian virtues to look like from vs. 12-14? What does submission mean in marriage? What does it not mean? How does this reflect the way God made us? What is a wife not required to submit in? What might it look like in a marriage? What are husbands called to do? What would that look like in practise? ‘God has formed men with the particular ability to shape the environment around us’ – how does this work out in marriage? In what ways should men be thermostats and security guards in marriage? What is the danger Paul warns about for parents (especially fathers)? What would be effect of children becoming discouraged be? How can we avoid this? What principles does Paul outline for how we should go about our work? How ought it shape our attitude to work to remember that a. God is our master b. we are looking for an inheritance from him? How might we get this wrong? How should employers treat their employees and how might we get that wrong?

Colossians 3 :12-16 - Gospel Clothing

Preacher: Abraham Overvoorde

Intro: Who do you think you are?

1) We ARE God’s chosen people

 -  Child of God

 - Holy Saints

 - Beloved by the Father

2) We MUST put on Gospel Clothes

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue

- Compassion

-  Kindness

 - Humility

- Gentleness

 - Patience

 - Forgiveness

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16

3. We CAN let the peace of Christ rule

Let the:

- Peace of Christ rule in your hearts

- Message of Christ dwell among you richly

Let God work in you by his Spirit, transforming through

Colossians 3:1-11 - Where are you?

Preacher: Tom Hallett

Colossians 2:8-15 – Beware of the Trap

Preacher: Adam Johnston

1. Don’t be taken captive by a system of rules (v. 8)

2. You already have everything in Jesus (vv. 9-10)

3. You are already set free from sin in Jesus (vv. 11-12)

4. You have been delivered to debt-free life in Jesus (vv. 13-15)

Questions for us? In what ways might we fall into the trap of believing that following religious rules makes us a better Christian? What rules might we add to judge people by? What might be some of the unspoken rules or manner at CCH we expect people to conform to? In verse 8 how was this also a problem for the Colossians? In verses 9-10, how does Paul counter the trap of believing you can be a better Christian by following religious rules? In light of these verses how should we think about Jesus? How should we think about ourselves? What way should we look to avoid the trap? How do verses 11-12 counter the trap of religious rules? Why is Paul talking about circumcision and how does it apply to a Christian? What is the link between circumcision and baptism? Where do these verses tell us to look to avoid the trap? Do we know the feeling of guilt we our past sins come to mind? How does vv. 13-15 help with that? What has Jesus’ death on the cross achieved for us? What way should we look to avoid the trap?

Colossians 1:15-23 – The Supremacy of the Son

1. Jesus is supreme over creation (vv. 15-17)

We all acknowledge powers higher than us, but Jesus is supreme over everything in creation. He has the ultimate claim on our lives.

2. Jesus is supreme over the new creation (vv. 18-20)

Jesus’ supremacy isn’t only over this creation – he is supreme over the church, God’s new creation. He is reconciling all creation to God in himself.

3. Jesus is supreme in reconciling sinners to God (vv. 20-23)

Jesus supremacy extends even to being the one who saved God’s enemies and reconciles them to being God’s friends.

Questions for us? How might you answer the question, ‘Why live to please God?’ Where do we find it difficult in our lives to please God? Do we hear people acknowledge the existence of higher powers in conversation? What relationship does the Son have to God? What relationship does the Son have to creation? What relationship does Jesus have to any power higher than us? Who has the ultimate claim on our lives? What reason does this mean about why we should please God? What is the Son’s relationship to God’s new creation? What is he reconciling to himself in verse 20? Why does this mean we should please God? What did Jesus do for his people? What is reconciliation and what does this say about our relationship with God? How should we respond to the gospel in verse 23? What does this say about why to please God?