Mercy and Grace1 Timothy 1:12-17

“What is a good definition of

grace?”

DISCUSSION GUIDE

1. Complete the following outline of (1 Timothy 1:12-17)

a. (Vs. 12-13) God loves you in spite of your past.

What had Paul participated in, in his past life? (Blasphemy, persecutor and murderer of Christians’)

Have you done anything in your life as bad as Paul? (Killing Christians’)

DISCUSSION GUIDE

b. (Vs. 14-15) God saved you in spite of your past.

Who is the basis of grace for our lives? (Christ Jesus alone)

DISCUSSION GUIDE

c. (Vs. 16-17) God can use you in spite of your past.

How has God used Paul’s testimony to impact millions? Can he use your testimony? How? When?

DISCUSSION GUIDE

2. In what ways have you experienced God’s grace personally?

DISCUSSION GUIDE

3. Besides forgiveness, in what other ways does God show His grace?

DISCUSSION GUIDE

4. Complete the following chart to identify Paul’s life before Christ.

Scripture Paul’s non-Christian actions

(Acts 7:58-8:3) Participated in the stoning of Stephen and arresting believers

(Acts 9:1-2) Sought permission to continue to persecute Christian’s

(Acts 9:13-14) Had a bad reputation among Christian’s

(Malachi 1:13-14)

He was a religious zealot against Christian’s

DISCUSSION GUIDE

5. Had Paul done anything to earn salvation?

Absolutely not! He deserved the harshest punishment.

DISCUSSION GUIDE

6. How would you explain grace to a person who believes a person must earn salvation?

All have sinned and no one is worthy of salvation. Salvation is a gift

of God’s grace.

DISCUSSION GUIDE

7. How would you answer the person who believes that a believer can lose their

salvation?

If you cannot earn salvation and it is a gift of God’s mercy and grace, then you

cannot lose it based off your merits and actions.

DISCUSSION GUIDE

8. Paul expressed praise to God for his salvation in (v. 17). How did he describe God and what do these descriptions mean to you?

a. (The King)b. (Eternal)c. (Immortal)d. (Invisible)e. (The Only God)

When a man is getting better, he understands more and more

clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting

worse, he understands his own badness less and less.

C. S. Lewis, Leadership, Vol. 7, no. 4.

The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before

God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called "pastor" and given a designated responsibility ... to keep the community

attentive to God.

Eugene H. Peterson, Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 4.

My Grace Story

What my life was like before I accepted God’s grace.

How/when did God’s grace became evident to me?

How is my life different since I experienced the grace of God?

Luis Palau