DBS – Discovery Bible Study Bookmarks

Often in TCBC Lifegroups, we will use DBS (Discovery Bible Study method) to explore what the Bible passage is saying to us. Use these questions to create a space for your Lifegroup to be able to see what the Holy Spirit is wanting to teach you. 

This is also a great resource to use when reading the Bible by yourself too!

Practising The Way – Workshop Resources

PRACTICE WORKSHOPS – Being Intentional
Jesus doesn’t just want people to hear his teaching – he wants them to live it.  In Matthew
7:24 we hear Jesus wrapping up his famous sermon on the mount with these words:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise
man who built his house on the rock.”
These workshops have been opportunities for us to ask and explore how can we be intentional
about wisely practising the way of Jesus? Many of these resources have been adapted from John Mark Comer’s at http://practicingtheway.org

• READING SCRIPTURE – The scriptures were designed to be read for formation, to find life and shape us into the image of Jesus.  Understand more why the practice of reading Scripture is important , how to do it and discover what it can do in your life. Some verses to consider: 2 Tim 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, Psalm 119:89; Genesis 3:1-4 & Matt 4:1-11, Matt 7:26-29
• SILENCE and SOLITUDE – How do we escape the chaos of life? In the chaos of the urban, digital age, it’s easier than ever before to “gain the whole world, and yet lose your soul.” How do we stay emotionally alive and spiritually awake? Among the ancient practices of the way, “Silence and Solitude” is the number one practice for apprenticeship to Jesus. Simply put, it’s a moment of intentional time in the quiet to be alone with God. In the modern era, this just might be the first step to a life well lived.   This practice involves learning how to remove yourself from the chaos of our modern, digital age to refocus and reconnect with God.
• FASTING – Why and how do we fast?  Fasting is a willing abstinence from food for a period of time. It is one of the most abused and least used of all the practices of Jesus. Yet for millennia, it was a core practice of apprenticeship. We live in a culture not only of food, but of excess, luxury, and addiction. For so many of us, the desires of our body have come to hold power over us. In the battle with our “flesh,” we have become its slave, not its master. Consider how that might change!
• SABBATH REST – Why is a day of rest important?  The Sabbath is a day blessed by God and set aside for rest and worship. One of the most important practices of Jesus was finding rest and making time for Sabbath. The human condition is prone to restlessness and our digital age and consumeristic culture only exacerbates the problem. We must model the restfulness of Jesus, which is more than just a day, but is a spirit we live by all week long.
• PRAYER – How do we meet with God?   Prayer is the centre-point of life with God. It should be woven into the fabric of our morning routine, our weekly schedule. We should make time for prayer every single day. Even if we have to stay up all night. It is here where we get to enjoy the Father’s company. Prayer is our opportunity to interact with the Creator God and participate in his work of bringing redemption to earth. This practice will explore areas of prayer like contemplation, intercession, lament, unanswered prayer, imaginative prayer, and listening prayer. 
• DISCOVERING YOUR IDENTITY AND PURPOSE – Who are you and who are you becoming? One of the key tasks of our apprenticeship to Jesus is discovering our identity and calling. Knowing who you are and who God made you to become is a profound realization for every follower of Jesus. This workshop will give you some ideas to work through the practice with your community as you learn to become the person God designed you to be.
• FORGIVING AS WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN – Why do we forgive and how do we do it? One of the most unique features of biblical peacemaking is the pursuit of genuine forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness is integral in our discipleship to Jesus. We live in a world polluted by sin and shame, and relationships in this broken world are often marked by disappointment, loss, and pain. The call of God throughout the Scriptures is to release those who sin against us from our personal right to collect on the moral debt for their offense. We see this embodied best in the person of Jesus himself, who, in the face of sin, chose not to look the other way nor to pay the person back, but to deal with the sins committed against him in the most compelling way: by forgiving them.
• COMMUNITY – Why do we need community? As we practice the way of Jesus, we need partners for the journey, a community to help us along the way. Jesus invites all who follow him to be a part of a new family. This family of God is not a social club or a group of friends who look, think, and talk similarly, but a community of apprentices following Jesus’ way of life through seven rhythms of community – Celebration, Bearing Burdens, Confession of Sin, Hospitality, Eating Together (Communion), Prayer and Worship, and Generosity. And despite the work it takes, the fights we will endure, and the learning we will do along the way, together we’re figuring out how to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what he did.
• SIMPLICITY – How do we find the good life? We are told that the good life is found in accumulation. That more is better. We search for the things that will make us happy, yet happiness never comes. Or at least, it doesn’t last. Searching and coming up empty can bring us to a miserable place. The way of Jesus calls us to create space—in our schedules, in our homes, in our finances—for what really matters. It calls us to life with Jesus, to abide in his goodness, and enjoy life to the full in the Kingdom of God.
• EMBRACE GRIEVING AND LOSS – Life is characterized by loss. The weather changes. Cars break down. We move into a new house. We leave a community and lose friends. Pets die. We lose our youth and our health. Then there is the loss of a marriage, of a parent, of a vocation, a dream, a life. But though life is full of loss, it’s also full of new life. Age brings things that youth can’t. Some weather changes are good. We can enjoy new cars, houses, friends, pets, shows. The losses that threaten to overwhelm can enlarge us, deepen us, offer us something unexpectedly blessed on the other side. But the unexpected blessing follows the loss.  Hope follows grief. Character follows the furnace in which that character was forged. So as followers of Christ who want our emotional health to reflect the character and heart of God, so we look at a biblical perspective on grief and loss and focus on how to practice embracing grief and loss
• EATING AND DRINKING – HOSPITALITY. The history of the church is around the table. For hundreds of years, this is where the people of Jesus met. The gospel spread from one table to the next. From one home to another. All over a meal. The table is a very ordinary place. So routine and everyday it is easily overlooked as a place of life changing community. By setting a table and sharing a meal, we provide the context for which people feel loved, where people feel heard; a place where God’s spirit can move. The practice of eating and drinking is central to the Kingdom of God; Jesus ate with the lost, Jesus ate with community. What does it look like to do the works of Jesus through eating and drinking?
• SHARING THE GOSPEL. What is the gospel…and how to share it? The Gospel (good news) comes to us through Jesus of Nazareth, a Rabbi or teacher. But he was more than just a human teacher. He was God. So what is the gospel and how do we practise sharing the gospel with others outside the walls of our church building? How do we move from simple to deeper faith based conversations?
• TEACHING AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE FROM THE SCRIPTURES. How can we use the Scriptures to encourage and disciple others to maturity in Christ? It is NOT by adding another program! Discover how to bring the word of God into all of life – in your meetings with other believers, moments of doing life together and monuments (traditions and events)
• BEING A REDEMPTIVE INFLUENCE IN THE MARKETPLACE (with Seed) – Living out your faith and holding true to Jesus in a society and secular marketplace that lives by a very different story, is hard. In our current context where society is losing touch with the Christian story and we will not easily get people to ‘come to church’, what might it look like for followers of Jesus to be formed to be effective at engaging right where God has placed us? Seed’s purpose is to grow followers of Jesus who embody a distinctive way of engaging society – what we call Redemptive Influence. This session will give a framework for Redemptive influence, and some tools and support to co-design HOW we can do that, both individually and together at TCBC.
• PEACEMAKING (with PeaceWise) – Biblical peacemaking is the most hope-filled, practical and profound approach to dealing with conflict. These principles are so simple that they can be used to resolve the most basic conflicts of daily life. But they are so powerful that they have been used to address church divisions, breakdowns in school and tertiary college working relationships, ministry team breakups, divorce and child custody actions, embezzlement situations, multi-million dollar business disputes and negligence lawsuits. PeaceWise is a cross-denominational Christian ministry which exists to provide practical help and real hope to a conflict-weary world. They help individuals, organisations and communities learn life-changing biblical peacemaking principles and build cultures of peace. Come for a taster to be equipped how to stay on top of the slippery slope of conflict! Find help and hope for handling conflict God’s way

Practising The Way – Bible Studies

Our vision as a church is to see lives transformed through Christ-centred community.  Transformation is a longing we all have, but the question is how do we actually see that happen? 

That’s the question we explored in the PRACTISING THE WAY series in Term 3 of 2022. We believe that the only way we can see transformation happen in our lives is by deepening our discipleship, our apprenticeship to Jesus.

This series explores HOW we can be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what
Jesus did – individually and as a Christ-centred community. These talks have been enriched by John Mark Comer’s talks and resources from https://practicingtheway.org

• Talk/ Bible Study 1 – Apprenticeship to Jesus – https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-apprenticeship-to-jesus/
• Talk/Bible Study 2 – How can we change? – Part 1 – TEACHING – Being renewed (Romans 12:1-2) – https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/how-do-we-change-practising-the-way-series/
• Talk/Bible Study 3 – Be with Jesus (Matthew 11:25-30) – https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-be-with-jesus/
• Talk/Practice Workshops (see below) – How can we change? Part 2 – PRACTICE – Being intentional (1 Timother 4:1-10) – https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-wise-practice-being-intentional/
  
• Talk/Bible Study 4 – Become like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:12-18, Exodus 32-34) – https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-becoming-like-jesus/
• Talk/Practice Workshops (see below) – How can we change? Part 3 – THE HOLY SPIRIT – Being transformed (2 Corinthians 3-4) https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-transformed-by-the-spirit/
• Talk / Bible Study 5   – Doing the Works of Jesus https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-doing-the-works-of-jesus/
• Talk / Practice Workshops (see below) – How can we change?  Part 4 – COMMUNITY – Being family (Romans 12:3-21) https://www.tcbc.org.au/sermons/practising-the-way-christ-centred-community/
• Talk / Bible Study 6 – Planning your way forwards with a RULE OF LIFE (Philippians 4:8-9)

I Will – Jesus’ Promises to Us

Jesus made many promises to His people. He promised to provide for the needy, to fill the empty, to free the anxious, to uplift the weary, to comfort the discouraged, to inspire the faithful, and to be present with the lonely. For Christians today, they are all at once the greatest source of solace, the strongest reason for trust, and the most powerful weapon against unbelief. As we explore these promises, we will be challenged to believe them, heed our responsibility and walk by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Bible Trek in 80 Days

The aim of this study is to show that God has a plan for our earth and its people, and to follow the unfolding of that plan from Adam to Christ  and His Church, as recorded for us in the Bible. The series contains 78 Bible studies in 4 sections, each study interspersed with questions to stir group discussion or personal contemplation and each requiring about an hour for meaningful absorption.

A. The Grand Escape – 20 studies from Abraham to David showing the birth of Israel and her development into a kingdom, taken from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua,  Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel.

B. Thrones and Stones – 14 studies on the history of the kingdom of Judah and her role in the preparation for the coming of the Messiah, taken from 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Chronicles and 1st and 2nd Kings, with references to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Haggai and Zechariah.

C. Journey with Jesus – 31 studies, broadly chronological, on the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from His birth to His resurrection, in 3 sections – The Pioneer, The Ambassador and The Redeemer.

D. The Explosive Church – 13 studies on the birth, development and spread of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome, taken  from the Acts of the Apostles with some references to the Epistles.

E. The Covenants of God – a special series on the 5 covenants made by God to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David and the New Covenant.

The narrative is colloquial and spiced with the Bible’s own brand of subtle humour, concentrating on action which shows the  continuous development of God’s plan for humankind towards the ultimate reign of His Kingdom, and revealing the message of God’s greatness, wisdom, power and love for all His creatures. Constant Scriptural references  will assure the reader of its verity. Its hope is that, with  whetted appetite, the reader may  continue to enjoy even wider study of the exciting Word of God.

Contributed by Debbie Novak

Generosity

When we grasp the generosity of God, we realise that even our own homes and our tables can become sacred spaces in which the Kingdom of God is made tangible. Jesus also encourages his disciples to consider how we might use our wealth for eternal purposes. Investing our money into people, seeking to see their lives transformed by gospel.

In Search of Meaning – Ecclesiastes

In this series, we begin our journey in seeking to answer to the big question of life. What is life and its meaning?Where is meaning and purpose to be found? The “teacher will explore areas of life such as pleasure, wealth, work… and his ultimate conclusion is the life under the sun without God is meaningless. That we have to look elsewhere to find meaning and that place is Jesus.

Transformed Life – The Book of Romans

Live bold, courageous, passionate lives! Paul’s letter to the Romans is arguably the single most important piece of literature in the history of the world. And Chapter 8 is perhaps its greatest section of the book. Paul begins by reminding us that there is no condemnation is Christ.  Then he speaks of the power of God Spirit to transform us, Our future glory in Christ, the power of his transforming love. That since the beginning of time God saw us, knew us, chose us to be his and loves us with the most powerful love in the universe. Be overwhelmed by God and transformed by Him and for Him.

This is Us

As we start the new year together as a community of faith, we as a leadership team, want to invite you to come on a journey together with us; seeking to know our vision, our strategy and our goals. The idea is that we will be united around Jesus together allowing Him to transform us individually and as a community of faith so that we might see more people, in more places, making more responses to Jesus.

Hebrews Bible Studies

7 Bible Studies on Hebrews

Discipleship Bible Studies

Four Bible Studies on strategies of discipleship:

Up: – love Jesus

In: -Love one another

Out: – Love the world

Greatest Prayers Ever Prayed

Here are six Bible Studies looking at some of the greatest prayers ever prayed.

Hosea – The Love Story

It’s a story about God’s vow and His church, the bride. A bride of value and beauty, who is prone to wander in rebellion, but always in the thoughts and affection of God’s redeeming love.  In Hosea we encounter a love like no other. God’s love never gives up and never gives in. Boundless and ever-present He pursues His people at all costs to capture our hearts and call us home.

Mission – Everyday people on mission!

Over the next few weeks we are seeking to go on a journey together as a community of faith to discover how we can become more effective as God’s people – to be His salt and light – bearers of good news in this world. God has created you in such a way and placed you where you live to reach people that only you can reach. We want to release and empower you for that mission. It will be epic!

Moved by God

TCBC is on the move, it is time for us to engage in some serious cross carrying for the good of our neighbourhood and for the glory of God. The hope of this study series is that more people will catch the excitement that is already building in this place. We are praying that in and through this series we as a community of faith will begin to put flesh on the there that God has in store for us.

Romans: Grace to You

The book of Romans is literally all about the gospel of grace. It is designed to help you understand the gospel, experience the gospel and live in light of the gospel. Like many of Paul’s letters the first half of the book is mostly theology and theological reflection. Paul answers the questions what is the gospel? Who needs the gospel? How does the gospel work? The next half of the book is more practical and is dedicated to exploring what changes happen in peoples lives when they truly understand the gospel of grace.

This is Jesus

This 4 week course is designed to cut through some of the fallacies and misconceptions and introduce you to the ‘real Jesus’. The Jewish Jesus, who grew up in a backwater town called Nazareth. The Jesus whom tax collectors and prostitutes loved, and religious leaders hated. The Jesus who amazed, captivated, puzzled and offended the people who met him. The Jesus who countless people have loved,adored and worshiped throughout the centuries. The Jesus of Martin Luther King Jnr, Desmond Tutu and Bono. The Jesus we meet in the scriptures. My friends – THIS IS JESUS!