In this final sermon on the Names of God, Fabs shares from Genesis 16, Hagar's encounter with God, and The God Who Sees Me. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Read Genesis 16. What are the elements of this story that are disturbing and challenging? 2. What aspects of Genesis 16 are healing and redemptive. 3. Out of the potential names Hagar could have given God, why do you think she declared this name? 4. Where in your life do you feel unseen, overlooked or neglected? 5. Go this day and consider the power of seeing others. Ask God to identify people who might need to be seen.

In this week’s sermon from the Names of God series, church member Rachelle Shuttlesworth shares about the name Immanuel. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTION: 1. As you consider the larger story from Scripture, what are the different ways you see God’s presence with humanity? 2. Rachelle shared how love is proximate. What does God’s loving presence mean to you today? 3. Read Matthew 1:18-23. How does this expression of Immanuel differ from the previous forms? 4. How does God’s faithful presence with us train us to be faithfully present with this world?

Today we are looking at the “Good Shepherd” name of God that Jesus gives himself in John 10:11. Vine member Katie Fike shares four ways that Jesus is a good shepherd as well as what our response is to this Good Shepherd: listening to and knowing Jesus’ voice and following where he leads. 1. Read John 10:11-15. What do you think of when you hear the phrase “the good shepherd”? 2. Which of the four ways that Jesus is a good shepherd stuck out to you, resonated with you, or surprised you? 3. What do you think gets in the way of you listening to and knowing Jesus’ voice? What are some ways you can overcome those obstacles? 4. What does “life to the full” (John 10:10) mean to you? Where do you feel you are experiencing the abundant life that Jesus offers in your life today - and where are you not experiencing it? 5. Read Psalm 23. Reflect on how much your Good Shepherd knows you and cares for you.

In this sermon, Mark shares from Judges 6. In this story, we explore the experience of a man name Gideon and the name he gave God- The Lord is Peace. www.thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Review Judges 6 and 7. What do you notice? 2. What the different ways we see the thematic act of sifting in this story? 3. Why is this "God's signature move"? 4. Where are you feeling sifted today? 5. Why is it in the spiritual life that vulnerability is the gateway to true power?

NAMES OF GOD - Father This week Mary shares what it means that God is our good father. 1. How can thinking about God’s love for us as parental love affect our understanding of his relationship to us (and ours to him)? 2. If you’re a parent, how does that experience affect your view of God as a parent? 3. Have you ever felt as though you’ve experienced God’s discipline? 4. Matthew 6 talks about relying on the provision of our Heavenly Father and his unlimited resources for his children. What might that mean for you right now? 5. What would it look like to see God as the provider and healer of your soul? 6. How has your relationship with your own father affected your view of God the Father?

Welcome to week 3 in our Names of God series. This week, Mark shares from Exodus 17 where we find the character of God on trial, a unique battle scene, and a new name for God- God my Banner. Reflection Questions: 1. What is your favorite flag or banner? 2. Mark talked about a trauma-informed view of the Hebrew nation. How does that understanding shape your view of this community, their struggles and their journey? 3. Read Exodus 17:1-7. What is happening beneath the surface? What do you notice about God? 4. Read Exodus 17:8-16. God seems to be absent from this scene, but Moses ends up giving God the glory for this victory. Where is God during this battle? 5. Mark shared that idolatry exists when we lift any banner to the same height as Christ's banner. How do we know when we have done this? 6. Where are you in this battle scene today? On the field, the hillside, lifting someone’s arms or in worship at the altar?

As we continue our series on the different names of God, Christy Rome shares on the name El Shaddai. thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. If you had to choose a new name, what would yours be? 2. How did Christy define the name El Shaddai? And what do you make of the dual nature of this name? 3. Read Genesis 17:1-8. What do you notice happening in this story? What would this name mean to Abram? 4. What do you make of this truth- as we see God's true name, we often receive a new name. 5. Where in your life do you need to call upon El Shaddai?

The Vine is beginning a new series exploring the meaning and power in the different names of God. Today, Mark begins by discussing the name YHWH. thevineaustin.org REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1. Consider the quote from AW Tozer- "We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God." How do you see this pull in your life? 2. Read the conversation between Moses and God in Exodus 3:1-14. What stands out to you today? 3. Consider the different possible translations of the name YHWH. What is the meaning and power in all the different tenses of this name? 4. Read the end to Jesus' prayer in John 17:25-26. What do we see of YHWH in Jesus' words? 5. As some in the Hebrew tradition believe YHWH is also the sound of a breath, what meaning would it be to enact breath prayers in your life?

In our last sermon on the book of Hebrews, we explore the truths that help us continue to follow Jesus together. REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What is something from the sermon that is staying with you- either as encouraging, confusing, or curious-making? 2. Discuss Hebrews 13:8-16. What do you notice? How does this inform what it might look like to follow Jesus? 3. What stands out to you from Hebrews 12:18-24 about the differences in these two experiences of God? Which parts of each description resonates with you? 5. What are some things that you experience or invest in that you think are a part of the eternal and unshakeable kingdom of God? 6. We talked about the "pressure of the ordinary" that keeps us from following Jesus. In what ways do you experience this in your own life? 7. What does it look like in your life to follow Jesus and run the path set out for you?

This week, Fabs unpacks Hebrews 11, digging into the concept of faith, and how it enables us to keep going on the path God has set for us. REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. What is something from the sermon that is staying with you- either as encouraging, confusing, or curious-making? 2. Discuss Hebrews 11:8-16. What do you notice? In v. 9-10, what do you notice about how Abraham's faith played out? 3. In this sermon, we talked about faith as banking, instead of simply a sensation. How did this sit with you? 5. In Hebrews, the writer highlights two things about faith: by faith we see God do unimaginable things, and by faith, we are able to endure and keep going through unimaginable things. Which one of these things speaks to you where you are currently? 6. What comes up for you when you imagine God is still at work among us in the way God worked in the Old Testament? 7. Fabs shared this perspective: faith isn't to keep us out of the dark. It is FOR the dark. What different views have you had of faith, and how have they helped or hindered your connection with God?