Galatians Discussion Questions
Part 1: Make It Count
Pastor Rick Henderson February 15-16, 2025
The study guide is designed for your individual use throughout the week to get you thinking about the Bible passage and offers ideas for spiritual practices you might consider trying. These discussion questions are designed to help you further process aspects of the passage, as presented in the sermon, with your group.
As a refresher, begin by reading Galatians 1 (pg. 5 of the guide).
- The sermon opened with the question, “What are you counting on to make sure you count?” All of us have natural tendencies to look to something other than who we are in Christ for our self-worth. What are some understandable, regrettable, or silly ways you’ve tried to seek approval or acceptance over the years?
- Our theme verse for this series is Galatians 5:6b: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” We’ll develop what this means over the next several weeks, but what initial thoughts do you have about living in such a way that everything you do is marked by love because of the faith you have in what Christ has done for you?
- We remain as vulnerable today as the Galatians were to being deceived by false gospels (i.e. justifying ourselves and seeking approval in ways other than through Christ). Pastor Rick pointed out that within contemporary Christianity, we risk being pulled towards a false progressive gospel (aligning with the values of culture) or a false regressive gospel (rejecting and withdrawing from culture). Discuss what it looks like to avoid either “ditch” and instead to stay focused on Jesus and his way.
- If we have trusted in what Jesus did for us which gives us abundant life with God, both here now and in the life to come, we do not need approval through anything or anyone else to be 100% loved and accepted by Him. Talk about the implications of this. Give an example of how embracing this true gospel message frees you to love others this week. Give an example of how it could build your resilience against feelings of failure or rejection.
- Was there anything else about this weekend’s sermon or study guide content that you wanted to discuss?
- Look over the list of spiritual practices on pages 8-9 in your study guide. Share with your group which one of these practices you might like to try this week to help you apply the truths we’ve discussed.
- How would you like this group to encourage or pray for you over the coming week?