Discussion Questions

In the opening story, David Bercot describes “total trust” as matching the tanker truck’s speed and saying, “If he goes off the mountain, we’ll go off as well”; what does that picture suggest about the nature of trust, and what might it expose about the ways we try to keep “escape routes” open when we say we trust God? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the tanker-truck story show about what real trust looks like? When we say we trust God, what “backup plans” do we still keep in case things go wrong?

Bercot says it’s “odd” that we often trust “another fallible human” more readily than we trust “our infallible God”; where do you see that dynamic in your own instincts under pressure—especially when obedience to Jesus feels risky, slow, or unsafe? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where do you find it easier to trust people than to trust God, especially when you feel stressed? When following Jesus feels risky or unsafe, what do you usually do?

He lists examples of trust: David facing Goliath, Gideon’s 300, Naaman washing in the Jordan, the centurion’s confidence in Jesus’ word, and the early church “defeating” Rome “with faith alone”; what do these examples have in common about how God works, and what do they imply about God’s priorities compared to ours? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What do these Bible stories have in common about how God gets things done? What do they suggest God cares about most, compared to what we care about?

Bercot asserts, “Trust means obedience,” and uses Hebrews 11:8 (“By faith Abraham obeyed”) to argue that Hebrews defines faith by what it produces; how does that way of defining faith challenge popular Christian ways of talking about “faith” as mainly mental agreement or religious sentiment? JumpstartAnother way to ask: If faith is shown by obedience, how does that change the way people often talk about faith as just believing something is true? What does that say about “faith” that stays only in your head?

He says, “When we deliberately refuse to obey God, it shows we don’t have faith in the first place,” tying it to James 2:26 (“faith without works is dead”); what parts of that claim feel threatening or clarifying to you, and how would you distinguish between imperfect obedience, struggling faith, and deliberate refusal? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How do you react to the idea that refusing to obey God shows a lack of real faith? How would you tell the difference between struggling to obey, obeying imperfectly, and choosing not to obey at all?

Bercot proposes diagnostic questions for hard situations: “Do we really believe Jesus knows what’s best… had our best interests… that if we do things God’s way, everything will ultimately work out for the best?”; which of those questions most exposes your actual beliefs, and what life choices tend to reveal your answer? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Which question hits you hardest: Does Jesus know what’s best, does he want what’s best for you, or will doing things God’s way turn out best in the end? What choices in your life show what you really believe?

He describes early Christians as “defenseless” yet confronting the “mightiest empire” and winning “with faith alone”; what assumptions about power, security, citizenship, and violence seem built into that early-Christian posture, and how does it collide with common modern Christian assumptions? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does it say about the early Christians that they faced Rome without weapons and still “won” by faith? How does that challenge common ideas today about safety, power, and using violence?

When Bercot turns to America, he contrasts viewing colonists “from a purely human standpoint” (brave, noble) with viewing them “in the light of the kingdom teachings of Jesus”; what does it mean to evaluate historical heroes by Jesus’ teachings rather than by political success, and what kinds of actions would be re-labeled as “untrusting” by that standard? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What changes when you judge famous leaders by Jesus’ teachings instead of by winning politically? By that measure, what actions might look like a lack of trust in God?

He asks whether the founders were “strangers and pilgrims… seeking an eternal homeland” (Hebrews 11:13–14) or whether their “real homeland” was earthly; how do you see that same tension playing out in today’s church through patriotism, national identity, and the stories we tell about God’s purposes for a country? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Do we act like our true home is with God or mainly in our nation? Where do you see that struggle in today’s church through patriotism and the way we talk about God and a country?

Bercot warns that if we “cover over and glorify the sins of our forefathers,” we won’t learn to trust God, and he critiques the idea that “as long as we put ‘in God we trust’ on our coins, we’re on the right track”; what concrete practices would help a church tell the truth about national history without becoming cynical, and how might that honesty change how we teach our children to respond to conflict—especially the “reach for our guns” impulse he names? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What can a church do to be honest about a nation’s past sins without becoming bitter or hopeless? How could that honesty change what we teach kids about handling conflict, especially the urge to use guns?