Student Bible Study

Romans 1 - 7 - “The Gift of God”

Live meeting. For Christians from all over the world.

Christianity Explored

Live meeting in Church. For students wanting to explore the faith.

Find out more about some of our recent Bible studies… 

What is Christianity Explored?

Christianity Explored is a seven week DVD-based discussion group that takes us to the heart of the Christian faith: who Jesus is, why he came and what claim he has upon our lives. In a relaxed setting the course uses one book of the bible, the Gospel of Mark, to unveil the identity, mission and call of Jesus. As well as discussing Mark’s Gospel the format is ideal for examining some of the issues raised against Christianity.

To aid discussion a high quality DVD has been produced which deals with many of the topics which will arise throughout the course. One life. Your life. What’s it all about? One life. Jesus’ life. What’s is all about?

To find out more about the course, check out the Christianity Explored website. This excellent website is an easy way for anyone who wants to find out more about the claims and beliefs of Christianity. It has lots of short videos from people who have been on the course that tell you how Jesus has changed their lives and how they ended up on a CE course. It also has videos answering some of the difficult but widely asked questions that people ask about Christianity. Questions such as ‘If there is a God, why does He allow suffering?’ and ‘Aren’t all religions basically the same?’ If you have found yourself asking these questions, or others like them, then why not find out the answers for yourself.

What’s the big idea of Christianity Explored?

Christianity Explored gives people time and space to discover the best news they’ve ever heard. Over seven interactive sessions, as they explore Mark’s Gospel, people find out who Jesus is, what he achieved, and what it means for us today.

Who’s it intended for?

At Sandyford Church, we welcome discussion on any questions related to Christianity and the Bible.

We run ‘Christianity Explored’ course to all students in September each year. You may have no previous experience of Christianity. You may hardly ever have set foot inside a church, or you might just want to brush up on the basics. Whatever your situation, the Christianity Explored course is an opportunity to engage personally with the claims of Jesus Christ, the person at the very heart of Christianity.

Read more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more. You can also find a short trailer at the Christianity Explored website.

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What is Life Explored?

Life Explored is a seven session series featuring a combination of short films – shot around the world – and Bible interaction.

What’s the big idea of Life Explored?

We all want to be happy. Why is lasting happiness so hard to find? Life Explored is an exposé of the little gods that promise us so much happiness, yet deliver so little. As it explores the Bible story (creation, fall, redemption, new creation), Life Explored shows how our deepest desires for happiness can only be satisfied in one person, Jesus Christ. The best gift God can give us is himself.

Who’s it intended for?

Life Explored has been designed to speak powerfully to those who don’t consider themselves to be religious and have never read the Bible. But it will also provoke good discussions among followers of Christ, too.

What’s distinctive about Life Explored?

  • In the West, particularly among the millennial generation, we can no longer take any level of biblical literacy for granted. Therefore, Life Explored gives people the context they need to be able to understand who Jesus is and why he came. A panoramic view of the Bible is given – creation, fall, redemption and new creation – rather than just a narrow slice of the picture.
  • We can no longer assume that the God many have rejected is actually the triune God revealed in Scripture. Therefore, each session emphasises a different aspect of God’s wondrous character and work: the Good God, the Trustworthy God, the Generous God, the Liberating God, the Fulfilling God, the Life-Changing God and the Joyful God.

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more. You can also find an intro to the first episode at the Life Explored website.

Whether your are a sceptic, a doubter or an atheist you are very welcome!

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What is Discipleship Explored?

Discipleship Explored helps believers to know how to live as disciples of Christ Jesus today.

What’s the best love you’ve ever known?

Discipleship Explored helps followers of Jesus turn up the gospel soundtrack to their lives.

It goes beyond simply teaching the right moves – go to church, pray, read the Bible, share the gospel – and focuses on the music which drives discipleship: the love of Christ. The greatest love anyone can ever know.

This eight-session journey through Paul’s letter to the Philippians is ideal for believers at any stage of the Christian life. It features brand-new documentary-style films and inspiring real-life stories from around the world, Bible studies and weekly reading plans, and a beautifully redesigned Handbook.

Who’s it intended for?

Perhaps you have just begun to follow Christ. What does life as a Christian look like?

At Sandyford Church, we are keen to encourage Christians and Christian students and help them grow in their faith. Over the years, we have run courses such as Christianity Explored, Discipleship Explored, Life Explored, and Gospel In Life, which are a great way to explore the Bible, ask questions and discover more about what it means to be a follower of Christ.

During such courses, a group of students meet for a series of Bible study held in the Church. The student group is informal and anyone as well as Christian students are welcome.

Find out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more. You can also find a short trailer at the Discipleship Explored website.

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What is Gospel Shaped Church?

This five-module course from The Gospel Coalition. It is designed to take the whole church family on a journey to discover how the gospel should shape every part of their life and witness. Five immersive modules look at the impact of the gospel on worship, outreach, daily living, work and caring for those in need.

Each presenter has been hand-picked by The Gospel Coalition for their faithfulness to the gospel as well as their clear and engaging teaching style. Each module is made up of video teaching sessions, group discussions, Bible studies and personal devotional readings. They can be run in whole-church seminars, or in small groups.

Who’s it intended for?

At Sandyford Church, we’re praying for a movement of churches that longs to know more than the content of the gospel. We want Christians and Christian students to know the joy of living at peace with God, with their neighbours, and with one another as they live in light of Christ’s work.

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more. You can also find the Gospel Shaped Church Official Trailer here.

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What is the Study on the Book of Romans – chapters 1 – 7 – “The gift of God”

Timothy Keller takes us to the heart of the gospel in one of the most-read parts of Scripture. With clarity and insight, he helps our Christian students to be excited by the gift of God in sending his Son to make sinners right with him.

We want to be right in the eyes of the law of our land, of those we respect, of our loved ones, of those we work with. We strive to gain and then keep this right standing.

But there is another, far better and more important righteousness. A righteousness which changes and liberates every aspect of our lives, and yet which none of us can earn or maintain ourselves.

It’s a righteousness from God.

Romans 1:7 is all about that righteousness. It shows us why we don’t have it, why we need it, and how we can receive it. It thrills us that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6 v 23).

This seven-study guide will help groups and individuals to see how wonderful the gift of righteousness is, and inspire them to enjoy it in every part of their lives.

Contents:
Introduction
Why study Romans 1-7?

Timeline
Introducing righteousness (1:1-17)
Why everyone needs the gospel (1:18 – 2: 29)
How to be right with God (3:1-31)
What Abraham and David discovered (4:1-25)
Enjoying justification (5:1-21)
Why Christians obey God (6:1 – 7:6)
Warfare within (7:7-25)

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/romans-1-4/

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/romans-5-16/

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What is the Study on the Book of Romans – chapters 8 – 16 – “In view of God’s mercy”

Timothy Keller shows us how to live life in response to God’s mercy, by the power of his Spirit. Timothy Keller says that Romans 8 contains the secret to real life change. In this seven-study guide, he takes groups through that chapter and the rest of the second half of the book of Romans. Christians will learn together how to live life in response to God’s mercy, by the power of his Spirit.

Keller’s trademark gifts of making the complex clear and the difficult joyful will mean Christians will love studying the Bible alongside this resource, and be inspired to apply it to their hearts and lives.

Contents:

  • Introduction
  • Why study Romans 8–16?

Timeline

  1. The life of the Spirit (8:1-13)
  2. Glorious adoption (8:14-39)
  3. Sovereign mercy (9:1 – 10:4)
  4. The gospel and Israel (10:5 – 11:36)
  5. New relationships (12 – 13)
  6. The weak and the strong (14:1 – 15:1)
  7. Ministry and mission (15 – 16)

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/romans-5-16/

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DANIEL – STAYING STRONG IN A HOSTILE WORLD

How can we remain faithful to our God in a world that rejects him?

Is it even worth standing firm, when his kingdom often seems so very far away?

And is it possible to be a blessing to our nations, and show the power and goodness of God, in our day?

Those are pressing questions for us in a time when living as a Christian increasingly means being misunderstood, maligned and even mistreated. And since this is the context in which Daniel found himself, the book that bears his name will reassure, challenge and thrill us as we read it today.

In these seven studies you will see Daniel and his friends seek to remain faithful in a foreign land; and then you will watch and listen in on a series of visions Daniel received, outlining how God would bring his people home, to live in his kingdom and under his king.

Let the book of Daniel show you what you can expect from this life, and how you can and must stay strong in a hostile world.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Why study Daniel?
  • Timeline
  • 1. Daniel and the King’s Dream (chapters 1 – 2)
  • 2. Faithful in the Fire (3)
  • 3. Visions of Trees and Writing on a Wall (4 – 5)
  • 4. Surviving the Lions’ Den (6)
  • 5. One Like a Son of Man (7)
  • 6. A Vision, a Prayer and an Angel (8 – 9)
  • 7. Till the End (10 – 12)

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more. 

https://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/daniel-staying-strong-in-a-hostile-world

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/daniel/

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Ruth: Poverty and plenty

  • Looking for a study that opens up Ruth for faith today?
  • This part of the Good Book study series, this contains 4 studies for individuals or groups
  • Perfect for understanding better how God works in human lives

This woman from ancient times was no powerful princess – just a young, vulnerable widow, an impoverished outcast. The story records no famous events or places – just a struggling family facing hard times in a small, agricultural community occupied with their livelihoods and customs.

But the hidden hand of God is at work in the lives of these ordinary people, and wonderfully at work in history. God transforms hardship from bitterness to joy; God’s word liberates people to become a community filled with loving kindness towards outsiders; God’s people reach out to their enemies. And most significantly, God’s great plan, to send a promised saviour King to redeem people of all nations, is being worked out.

Like those in the story, we may be just ordinary people, unable to see how the events of our lives will turn out. But by encountering the God who works through the circumstances of life, we too can discover the God who can turn our ‘poverty’ to ‘plenty’ through Jesus Christ.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • 1. A hidden hand (Ruth 1-2)
  • 2. A liberating word (Ruth 2)
  • 3. A welcoming community (Ruth 2-3)
  • 4. A faithful Redeemer (Ruth 4)

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

https://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/bible-study/old-testament/ruth-poverty-and-plenty

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/ruth/

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The Reason For God

This six-session small group Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately) captures live and unscripted conversations between Tim Keller and a group of people to address their doubts and objections to Christianity. Using literature, philosophy, and Scripture, Keller and the group explore the truth of Christianity.

In his New York Times bestselling book The Reason for God, Timothy Keller established himself as a modern-day C. S. Lewis who brings together faith and intellect, theology and popular culture, modern-day objections and historic Christian beliefs.

The Reason for God small group Bible study is currently running for our students on zoom on Monday. Christians students will be challenged to wrestle with their friends’ hardest questions, and to engage those questions in ways that will spark an honest, enriching, and humbling dialogue. Capture a live and unscripted conversation between Timothy Keller and the six panelists discussing their objections to Christianity. This study will help students and individuals dig deeper into the objections of the Christian faith and to learn about both sides of the issues.

Contents:

  • 1. Isn’t the Bible a Myth?
  • Hasn’t science disproved Christianity?
  • 2. How can you say there is only one way to God?
  • What about other religions?
  • 3. What gives you the right to tell me how to live my life?
  • Why are there so many rules?
  • 4. Why does God allow suffering?
  • Why is there so much evil in the world?
  • 5. Why is the Church responsible for so much injustice?
  • Why are Christians such hypocrites?
  • 6. How can God be full of love and wrath at the same time?
  • How can God send good people to hell?

Read out more about the course here or get in touch with us if you would like to find out more.

https://gospelinlife.com/downloads/the-reason-for-god-dvd-group-study/

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