REMINDERS

• Drinks available
• Pray for those who were baptized last Sunday, that they will share their reason with anyone who asks
• Pray for those children considering taking the baptism classes
• Launch of Connection groups church-wide will be received with excitement and gratitude as we become more of a family as a result.
• AIM of lesson: Jesus initiated the church and its important to Him.

MY STORY

1.  Community Groups are one of the best ways to get to know people here at STF.  Here’s a creative way to get you started sharing your stories.  Be ready to share 3 unique things about yourself or your experiences, 2 of them true, 1 false, and let the group guess which one isn’t true. (Try to make the false answer something that you would like to do, have or become.)

2.  Circle the words that best fit or describe your preferences.

Pizza or Sushi                   Dawn or Dusk                        TV or Book

Dogs or Cats                    Big Party or Time Alone         Plan it or Wing it

Early or Late                    Messy or Organized               Thinker or Feeler

 Football or Baseball        Action or Drama                     Netflix or Hulu

3.  Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything that particularly caught your attention, challenged, or confused you?

DIGGING DEEPER

1. This weekend the sermon mentioned that there are over 30 “one another” commands in the New Testament that are hard or nearly impossible to fulfill in a large group setting or by yourself. Here are a few of them. After reading each verse below, identify the “one another” command in each one.

Recommend breaking the group into smaller groups to be able to look up all verses.  Give them about 5-7 minutes to complete and then report back to group which each said.

2. This weekend we saw that one of the key ingredients for spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit. A potential hindrance to His power and motivation working in our lives is the sinful and self-centered nature we are all born with. Galatians 5:16-26 describes the conflict between the two.

Galatians 5:16-26 New International Version (NIV)

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[a] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

What contrasting behaviors characterize the Spirit and the sinful nature? How do these behaviors correspond to the “one anothers” listed above?

You cant do both well.

What does this passage say about what the believer’s responsibility is for living in the Spirit?

We must keep in step with the spirit, that means living soberly and thinking before acting, spending time with others who can hold you accountable to living in the Spirit.

TAKING IT HOME

1.  Probably the biggest area in which we’re called to be good representatives of Jesus is in our relationships. How can being in a Community Group help to follow Jesus’ example in Philippians 2:1-11?

Being in a group opens us up to being vulnerable in our weaknesses and helping others where they may need help too.  No one is above anyone else and we can learn from one another. 

Philippians 2:1-11 New International Version (NIV)

Imitating Christ’s Humility 1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Which of the above do you find easiest to do?

Which of the above do you need prayer to do better?

Prayer Requests: