A six-week small group series, working section by section through the Expanded teaching above.
This six-week study walks your group through the Expanded teaching above, section by section, so that by the end of the series you have effectively worked through the whole teaching together — meditated on, discussed, and learned, not just read. Each week stands alone and holds enough material for a full hour of group study. Print each week separately; each one begins on its own fresh page.
Week 1: The Great I AM
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
When Moses asked God what name to give the Israelites, God did not give a list of attributes. He gave a bare statement of pure existence: I am who I am.
He is not defined by comparison to anything else, because there is nothing else to compare Him to. He simply is, and being is already everything He needs to be.
This is the theological floor the whole "All Is All" phrase stands on — He can't be anything else, not because He is limited, but because there is nothing missing that could be added and nothing extra that could be removed.
Discussion Questions
- What strikes you most about God's answer to Moses — "I am who I am"?
- Why do you think God chose not to give a more detailed description of Himself at that moment?
- How does Revelation 1:8 (Alpha and Omega) expand on the same idea found in Exodus 3:14?
- What does it mean practically that God "can't be anything else" than exactly who He is?
- Spend a few minutes this week simply sitting with the phrase "I AM" and what it means for your own life.
- What is the difference between defining someone by comparison to others and simply saying, as God does, "I am who I am"?
Week 2: From Him, Through Him, To Him
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Paul does not divide creation into the parts that come from God and the parts that don't. All things trace back to Him as their source, move forward through Him as their sustaining power, and are aimed toward Him as their final purpose.
There is no third category of things that exist independently of God, floating outside His authorship, His sustaining, or His intended end.
Every good idea, every law of physics, every act of kindness — all of it traces back through the same three prepositions: from Him, through Him, to Him.
Discussion Questions
- What is something in your life you've never thought to trace back to God as its ultimate source?
- How does Isaiah 44:6 ("apart from me there is no God") reinforce Paul's point in Romans 11:36?
- Why do you think it matters that all things move "through" God, not just "from" Him?
- What would change in your daily thinking if you truly believed nothing exists outside God's authorship?
- Take a moment to name three ordinary things in your life and trace them back through "from Him, through Him, to Him."
Week 3: All Things Hold Together
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Paul is not describing a God who built the universe and then stepped back to watch it run on its own. In him all things hold together — present tense, ongoing, right now.
If God were to stop being all in this sense, even for a fraction of a second, nothing would simply continue on autopilot. It would have nothing left holding it together.
God is not merely the biggest thing in existence. He is the reason existence itself continues to hold its shape, moment by moment, everywhere, all at once.
Discussion Questions
- How does it change your view of the universe to think of God actively holding it together right now, rather than having simply started it long ago?
- Nehemiah 9:6 says God "gives life to everything." What does that mean for how you view creation around you day to day?
- Where in your own life do you need to remember that God is actively sustaining things, not just having set them in motion once?
- How does this truth offer comfort in moments when life feels like it's falling apart?
- Discuss as a group: what is one area of your life you need to trust God to actively hold together this week?
Week 4: All Things Working Together for Good
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
This verse does not promise every single thing that happens is good in itself. It promises something humbler and larger — God is at work in all things, weaving even hard and painful pieces into a good purpose.
Not most things, not the pleasant things, but all things, without a carve-out for the pieces that seem too broken to redeem.
Joseph's words to his brothers in Genesis 50 are one of Scripture's clearest pictures of this — real harm, genuinely intended for evil, and God working through it anyway toward good.
Discussion Questions
- How does Joseph's statement in Genesis 50:20 help you understand Romans 8:28 more concretely?
- Have you ever looked back on a painful season and seen God's hand working good through it, even years later?
- Why do you think this verse specifically says "those who love him," rather than promising this for everyone unconditionally?
- What is a current struggle in your life where you're finding it hard to believe God is working for good?
- How can your group support each other in trusting this promise during hard seasons?
Week 5: All Have Sinned, All Can Be Saved
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The word all cuts both ways. All have sinned — no exceptions, no self-made exemptions, no one who has cleared the bar on their own merit.
But the same word that convicts everyone also opens the door for everyone. Whoever believes — not a narrow, hand-picked list, but a door open to all who will walk through it.
Isaiah 53:6 pictures both halves of this at once — all of us gone astray, and the Lord laying the iniquity of us all on one substitute.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it important that Romans 3:23 says "all" have sinned, with no exceptions?
- How does knowing everyone is in the same condition change the way you relate to people who seem "worse" or "better" than you?
- What does Isaiah 53:6 add to your understanding of what Jesus actually did on the cross?
- John 3:16 says "whoever believes." Why does that word matter so much?
- Is there someone in your life you've written off as "too far gone" for the gospel? How does this week's study challenge that?
- Take time this week to thank God specifically for including you in "whoever."
Week 6: God All In All
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Paul describes the end of the story using the exact language this teaching is built on: God, all in all. Not merely present in all things, but the sum and substance of all things once history reaches its conclusion.
The phrase "all is all" is not simply a description of God now — it is a preview of where everything is heading, a universe where nothing competes with God for ultimate significance.
Zechariah's picture of the Lord as king over the whole earth, with one name, is the Old Testament version of this same final scene.
Discussion Questions
- What do you picture when you imagine a world where God is truly "all in all"?
- How does Zechariah 14:9 add depth to Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15:28?
- Unless you become like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3) — why do you think Jesus points to childlike simplicity as the way in, rather than complexity or achievement?
- Looking back over all six weeks, what has stood out to you most about who God is?
- How would your daily life change if you fully lived as though God really is "all in all" right now, not just someday?
- Close this series in prayer, thanking God simply for being who He is — all is all, and that's all all is.
Want to read these passages in their full setting? Browse every book of the Bible on BibleRef (opens in a new tab), a free site with plain-language commentary.