The Cross of Christ Study guide
The Cross of Christ
Study guide
It’s all too easy just to read through a book like this without letting its message take root in our lives. That’s where this study guide is designed to help. It sets out questions which will help you get to the heart of what the author has written and challenge you to apply what you learn to your own life. Though suitable for individual use, the guide is intended primarily for small groups of Christians meeting, perhaps for an hour or two each week, to study, discuss and pray together.
The guide provides material for each of the fourteen sections of the book. When used by a group with limited time, the leader should decide beforehand which questions are most appropriate for the group to discuss during the meeting and which should perhaps be left for group members to work through by themselves or in smaller groups during the week. In order to be able to contribute fully and learn from the group meetings, each member of the group should read through the relevant chapter of the book before each session.
It is important not to let these studies become merely academic exercises. Guard against this by making time to discuss how what you learn works out in practice for you. Make sure you begin and end each study with a period of worship and prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truths of the cross to you and inspire you to renewed love and obedience. Bear in mind these words from the author’s preface: ‘We can stand before [the cross] only with a bowed head and a broken spirit. And there we remain until the Lord Jesus speaks to our hearts his word of pardon and acceptance, and we, gripped by his love and brimful of thanksgiving, go out into the world to live our lives in his service’ (p.18).