Atonement | 2 Corinthians 5:21

Starting in March 2025 Coastline began an eight-week sermon series called: Solid Ground. The series is based on Matthew 7 where Jesus encouraged the listeners to build their home on a firm foundation. For this series we're looking at some of the most important Christian Doctrines. It seemed like a great idea to share the small group questions here incase you'd like to study one of these topics more. 

Small Group Questions | Atonement | 2 Corinthians 5:21

For the final week of our Solid Ground sermon series we looked at: Atonement. We can define Atonement as: The work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation. For eight weeks we’ve been talking about building our lives on Jesus as the foundation of our lives. In Matthew 7, Jesus taught what it looks like to build our homes on solid ground and not on sinking sand. Jesus used the illustration of a home as a metaphor for our spiritual lives. Today we’ll see how Jesus took our sins upon Him so we could be the righteousness of God. We’ll see that Jesus conquered death and that because He is alive we can have life in Him.

1) Pastor Neal started our sermon by talking about what Easter was like for him as a child. Think backing to your childhood, what are some of your favorite memories or special things you really enjoyed as a child on Easter? 

2) Read 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Ephesians 2:16. Paul taught the church about how Jesus became sin so we could become the righteousness of God. Discuss the power of Jesus reconciling us back to God. 

3) Jesus didn’t just remove what’s broken, He gave us something brand new and that is life in Him. Share with your group something that Jesus has made new in your life and how that makes life with Him so special. 

4) In Luke 24:1-12 we read about the Tomb being empty. The disciples came to examine the tomb and they find no evidence of Jesus being there. What evidence of Jesus has helped encourage your faith the most? 

5) Read John 3:16-16. The Scriptures teach us that Jesus came to bring us back into right relationship with God. Share about a time in your life when you vividly remember Jesus restoring your relationship with God. 

6) In Luke 24:13-35 we see two of the disciples are completely hopeless. They are so dejected they leave Jerusalem. Share about a time in your life when things didn’t go your way and it hurt your faith in God. 

7) On the road to Emmaus Jesus uses the Old Testament Scriptures to encourage the disciples in their faith. Read Psalm 119:11, 105, Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:16. Share about how reading God’s word has changed your life. 

Close your time in prayer asking for God to help you understand glorification. 

Luke 24 | Small Group Questions

Most of our life we are concerned and consumed with the three dimensional world we can see. We wake up, drink coffee, eat food, go to work, eat more food, connect with people we love, and sleep. We think that paying the bills, mowing the lawn, and grocery shopping are requirements of the week. What if the world is more than three dimensional? For those who believe in God that means we believe the world is at least four dimensions. The Bible teaches us about spiritual things but we don’t always focus on our spiritual growth; that is what “The Battle” is all about In this series we’ll lean in to God’s word and examine what is taking place in the spiritual realm. For this series I volunteered to write the small group questions that go along with each sermon. It seemed like a waste to leave them in a file on my computer and not share them with everyone. 

Small Group Questions | The Road to Discovery | Luke 24

For eight weeks we’ve talked about the unseen spiritual battle taking place behind the scenes. On Easter Sunday we wrapped up The Battle by looking at Luke’s account of The Road to Emmaus. The gospel of Luke was written by Luke. It’s the only gospel that wasn’t written or dictated by a disciple. The good news for us is that Jesus won the battle. On Good Friday, the cross that was meant to kill means Salvation for those who trust Jesus. Luke wrote about the arrest, conviction, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. Just two days earlier Jesus was crucified and Luke zooms in on the life of two disciples who are about to have a personal encounter with the risen Lord.

1) In 1985 Vance Havner wrote a book titled “Playing Marbles with Diamonds.” He shared a story about walking into a poor African village and seeing the children playing marbles with diamonds. Where are you playing marbles with diamonds? 

2) Read Luke 24:17-19. Cleopas describes Jesus as a prophet who was powerful in word and deed before God and all people. Read Luke 2:52, Matthew 16:16, & John 1:1-5. How would you describe Jesus to someone in one sentence? 

3) Read Luke 24:19-24. Cleopas explained what he knew about Jesus. Read Matthew 4:18-20, Mark 1:1, Luke 2:11, and John John 10:10. After reading the previous verses, how would you explain Jesus as the Messiah to someone? 

4) Read Luke 24:25-27. On the road, Jesus taught the disciples about Himself from Scripture. Take some time, as a group, and find different passages that you think Jesus might have mentioned to help the disciples understand the truth. 

5) Jesus knew these disciples lost hope too. He didn’t read their minds, He could hear it in the tone in their voice. Share a time in your life when you felt hopeless and Scripture encouraged you? What passages encouraged you? 

6) Read Luke 24:33-35. Anytime we have good news we find ways to share it with others (Read John 1:41-42). Who, in your life, do you need the boldness to share the Gospel with? What is holding you back from sharing it with that person? 

7) After the disciples rejoin the eleven back in Jerusalem, Jesus appears in their midst (see Luke 24:36-49). Looking at these passages, what are some key elements that Jesus shares with the disciples before ascending back into heaven? 

Close your time in prayer. Pray for strength to invite a friend to meet Jesus. 

Flawed but Faithful | Week 5 | Small Group Questions

Coastline Bible Church is doing a five-week sermon series called: "Flawed but Faithful." This is going to be a unique sermon series because typically when we read the Bible we are looking for the text to be God-centric; meaning we put God at the center of our focus. But for five weeks we’re going to focus on the life of Peter. We’re going to see that Peter is a human just like us. We’re going to learn that Peter followed Jesus, stepped out in faith, tried to justify himself, and had wild ideas. We’re going to see that Peter is a flawed man who was faithful to God. Peter played a key role in building the local church and because of his faithfulness to Jesus we have the local church. For this series I volunteered to write the small group questions that go along with each sermon. It seemed like a waste to leave them in a file on my computer and not share them with everyone.

Small Group Questions ::: A  New Job Title ::: John 21

We started this series looking at Peter leaving his occupation as a fisherman to follow Jesus. For three years Peter followed Jesus, sat under His teaching, walked on water with Him, and knew the power that He had. Near the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter denied knowing Jesus in an attempt to protect himself. As Jesus hung on the cross Peter was no where to be found. In the throws of discouragement, Peter goes back to fishing. Things didn’t turn out how he had planned. In John 21 we read about Peter’s restoration as a disciple. Take note that this story takes place on the same shoreline that Jesus called Peter to leave everything and follow Him. 

1) In 2016 a group of university students put up a chalkboard on the sidewalk of a busy New York intersection. At the top of the board was written: “Write your biggest regret.” Share your biggest regret in life. 

2) Read John 21:1-3. Things didn’t turn out the way Peter and the other disciples planned so they returned to fishing. Their hope was for Jesus to be a conquering king not a humble servant (Mark 10:44-45). What do you do when your plans fail? 

3) Read John 21:4-9. A potential reason the disciples returned to fishing was to meet their physical needs. Share about a time when the Lord provided what your needed despite of your fears. (see Psalm 22:26, Matthew 6:31-32, & Philippians 4:19) 

4) For some reason the disciples seemed to not recognize Jesus (read John 21:4, Luke 24:13-32, and John 20:11-18. Share about a time that Jesus was working in your life but for some reason you didn’t recognize it was Him at work. 

5) The night that Jesus was betrayed Peter denied knowing Him three times. Read Matthew 26:69-75, Mark 14:66-72, and John 18:25-27. What do you think Peter was experiencing in the days after denying Jesus? How did he fell?   

6) Read John 21:15-19. Jesus takes Peter for a short walk and invites him back into the original plan of ministry. Where is Jesus inviting you to care for others? (see Romans 12:17, Philippians 2:3, Colossians 3:23, & 1 Peter 5:2). 

7) Although Peter had failures in his life, he didn’t allow the failures to define him. This account in John 21 would have been helpful for the early church. Share about a time you made a mistake and how the Lord used that mistake to encourage others.  

8) Close your time in prayer. Talk about who you will invite to Coastline Online? 

Pilot Version

On Easter Sunday our church launched a seven week pilot version of two worship services. The church has a history of having multiple services to reach more people in the community but prior to my arrival the church had been on a slow decline.

The launch of a second service took place on Easter but it was birthed in dream well before that. Staring in October I had been praying bold prayers for God to help us to reach more people. Our staff had been praying for God to give us a God sized goal to help more people find and follow Jesus.

On January 21, 2018 we called a special church meeting. Our staff took different parts of the vision and talked about the great opportunity we have to reach more people in Ventura County. Then on Easter Sunday we launched the pilot version.

The idea of a pilot version came from my new friend Mike Hickerson. Mike leads a fantastic church in Ventura. I told him I wanted to go to two services and he suggested doing it from Easter to Mother’s Day to give it a try (Thanks Mike for pushing me to live by faith). We gave it a shot and here are seven lessons we learned:

1. We have an invite culture

When you read the Gospel of Matthew and John, you will see early on that the one of the first thing the disciples did was find someone and tell that person about Jesus. Our church was a pillar in the community and had an invite culture. For a number of years this wasn’t the case, but God is refereeing that in us! Great job Coastline! Keep up the invite culture.

2. Our people love to serve

During our meeting in January we asked our church to serve and they blew our mind! We had over 70 people fill out a card to serve. Now that sounds cool, but guess what? They served! We connected those people into service opportunities. One of the best ways to feel alive is to serve others.

3. We have some kinks to work out to make this last 

My deep hope was to keep two services going. The truth is, we have some kinks to work out. We need to figure out how to make this more sustainable and that is what our summer break is for. Sometimes we need to slow down to speed back up again.

4. We have gaps in our system

We realized that our volunteers systems are far from perfect. They are good, but good is the enemy of great. These gaps means that things get dropped or that crevices are created and are hard to cross. We are detailing out these gaps and working on improving them to help more people find and follow Jesus.

5. Guests love Coastline 

We meet so many great guests here at Coastline. We don’t call people a visitor because a visitor isn’t really welcomed at your home (think about the person who was trying to sell something and stopped by right as you sat down for dinner). We have guests, invited guests!

6. We need to engage more people outside of the weekend service 

Sunday morning is cool, but it’s not 1960. People don’t just come to church. We want to engage people in our community so that they will long to be in a Biblical community.

7. This was a success 

One of the things we have to know (I’m talking to our church) is that this was a success. It was a huge success! God moved in great ways in these seven-weeks and He will continue to move in our church. Part of it being a success means we are going back to two services in the fall.

Going to two services was always an experiment. In my heart, I longed for us to stay at two services. In my head, it makes sense to move to our summer worship service time to prepare our church for two services in the fall.

The next time you want to try something new at your church just call it a pilot version. This pilot version was always an experiment. We tried something new and learned at least seven things. In reality we learned a lot more, we just didn’t think you wanted to read the list of 23 things.

Here are some final thoughts: 
We went in with the expectation to learn
We are willing to make small and large changes to reach people for Jesus
In our second service we came close to hitting the 80% rule (this means we are close to needing two services)

Starting August 26 we are going to two identical worship services and we hope that you will be our guest!

A God-sized goal

At the end of last year I began asking God for a vision for our church. I wanted a God-sized goal, something that if God didn't show up it would never happen.

I began writing notes in my journal. I stayed up late in bed asking God to speak. I didn't want to just say some goal and it not be from God.

At the beginning of the year I began to get a sense of what the goal would be. I started talking with some of our staff and Elders about reaching more people at Easter. See, we've been working on relaunching Coastline Bible Church. We haven't done an "official" relaunch date but are working on restoring the church to what God wants it to be.

I'll shorten the details of the entire process but share the God-sized goal we came up with:
To be a church of 400 people worshipping Jesus in two identical services on Easter Sunday 2018

In early January we called a special meeting to share the God-sized goal with our church. It would take all of us pitching in. It wasn't something I could accomplish on my own. See when I got to Coastline we were a church of about 160 people on an average Sunday. Within a handful of months we broke 200 for the first time. Then on Christmas Eve we hit 280; God was working in the hearts of His people as we cast a new mission and direction for the church.

The afternoon we cast the goal someone in our church asked if we would have a class to help people share their faith. Her question was great! A previous elder said he would teach the class. After two classes on Sunday morning and being invited to three small groups we had trained almost 80 people on how to share their faith (that is almost half of our regular attendance!)

Now what you're waiting to read. Easter Sunday came. We had trained dozens of leaders for the increase. We doubled our volunteer base so we could launch a second service. We slotted a huge breakfast to keep people around and talking. God showed up on Easter. We had a number of people accept Christ as their Savior. When the count came in, we reached 383 people on Easter Sunday.

Our church swung for the fences and we hit the wall! It was a huge win. People were and still are rejoicing in all God is doing at Coastline. I'm sharing this not to brag on me, but to brag on God and all the amazing people here at Coastline. Keep seeking Jesus.

Our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus. Our prayer is similar to that in Acts 9:31

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (Acts 9:31)

Pray for the 100,000 people in our city that aren't in a relationship with God.
Pray for the over 700,000 people in our county that need to hear the truth of Jesus.

We are going to keep swinging for the fences to help more people find and follow Jesus.