When I turned 21 my uncles gave me my first car. It was a 1963 Humber Vogue, a big old English vehicle with beautiful lines yet as solid as a Tiger tank. It was a lovely gift from two men who’d always been there in my childhood, guiding and preparing me for the life ahead by giving gifts of Lego, good books and then, on the cusp of adulthood, a car. They helped me believe in a promising future. They gave gifts that encouraged me to look forward to growing up, in hope. They loved me.

The gift of Jesus Christ is the culmination of many good gifts God gives to the people He loves. Gifts that help us believe in a promising eternity. Gifts that encourage us to grow up into spiritual and relational maturity, together. Gifts that give us great hope for the glory that lies ahead in the world to come. Jesus is the greatest gift: He shows us God, takes our place, and saves us from hell. His sacrifice turns God’s anger away so that now God treats us just as if we’d never sinned! He doesn’t just take away our sin but gives us his righteousness, freeing us to be raised from death to life. God not only buys us back, through Jesus, but he even makes us his sons!

God gives us many other gifts in Jesus, too: His Bible, His Spirit and His Church - each other! In fact, God gives us many good gifts we can’t really discover without one another. This term we’ll discover some surprising gifts we might not have noticed before: ‘Big Words for the Church God Loves’. Big words that may sound intimidating at first, but soon we’ll find them promising, hopeful, encouraging and even liberating:

• Revelation: God shows himself to us,

• Substitution: Jesus takes our place,

• Salvation: Sinners saved from hell,

• Propitiation: God’s anger turned away,

• Justification: Just like we never sinned,

• Imputation: Jesus’ righteousness is mine,

• Resurrection: Raised from death to life,

• Redemption: Sinners bought by God,

• And Adoption: Sinners made God’s sons.

We’re learning these big words together with sister churches across Queensland. Eight pastors have developed this series, working as brothers in Christ. We come from churches as far away as Gordonvale in North Queensland to Stanthorpe in the south, from Roma out west to Graceville in the suburbs of Brisbane. We love that God loves us so much, that he gave us these Big Words to share in, together, as part of the great big family of God.

Our big idea for this series is this: God gives us nine big words, to show us just how big is Jesus’ love for his church.

Our theme song for the term is by the famous 21st century Australian scholar, theologian and poet, Colin Buchanan: ‘Big Words that End in Shun’. Amazingly, his nine big words line up perfectly with ours! (Thanks Colin)

We’ll also have some hand signs to help us remember each big word, and to help our kids in church to learn them too.

To help our teenagers and adults learn these Big Words for the Church God Loves, we’ve developed this growth group booklet for all our churches. Use a notepad to take notes as you listen to the sermon. Write in your reflections as you study. And pray for God to use you in growing up your brothers and sisters.