June 18: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Texts: 1 Peter 2: 4-6
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by Godand precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Spirit-empowered
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Think of a conversation that you had that changed your life.
Share this with your group.
John 3: 1-8
This is a pivotal conversation for how we understand salvation
Being united to God through Jesus
Being forgiven for our sins - anything that would separate us
Being filled with the life of God
“We are not begotten by God, we are only made by Him: in our natural state we are not sons of God, only (so to speak) statues. We have not got Zoe or spiritual life: only Bios or biological life which is presently going to run down and die. Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always has existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man to spread to other men the kind of life He has…Every Christian is to become a little Christ.” – C.S. Lewis
We are to be Little Christs built together into a spiritual house.
What is this spiritual house like?
A house of peace
A house of priests
A house of gifts
A house of compassion
A house of presence
A house of peace - God has given His life - the living stone - rejected by men and chosen by God to bring us to a place of peace (Ephesians 2 v 12-18)
So the question is, are we living that experience of PEACE WITH GOD which is your spiritual inheritance?
Is there a disconnect between your positional peace, received through Jesus, and the experiential peace in your life?
A house of priests
You are being built into a spiritual house; to be a holy priesthood
What do priests do?
Help people remember and connect with the presence of God.
Hears confession - to be those who really listen to those around us
Really, listening seems to be something of a lost art in the internet age
To be those who can receive and enter into other people’s stories
Communicates mercy
To say there is forgiveness available
To say the heart of Christianity is a man dying for His enemies
Intercession
To be those who pray fervently for the needs of those around us
Who stands in the gap
Speaking God’s Word
Encouraging and building each other up
Remembering that God’s words and promises will not fail
A house of gifts
We are given a picture in the New Testament of a people equipped to love in the way of Jesus by the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12 v 4-13)
A house of compassion (Romans 12 v 9-18)
How do you react when someone gets a win in their life?
How do you feel when you see the pain of another?
Jesus was moved by compassion - it stirred Him at the center of His being
A house of presence
There is a beautiful picture in 1 Corinthians 14
When people are living as a house of peace, walking in their gifts, moved by compassion.
When people are speaking God’s words - as the priesthood of all believers
Someone would come in from the outside and say – SURELY GOD IS AMONG YOU
What parts of a spiritual house do you feel is not as it is intended to be in your life?
Do you need peace with God?
Do you long for the distinguishing part of your life to be that God is with you?
Do you need to know or begin to live in your Spiritual Gifts?
June 18: Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 11: Second Sunday after Pentecost
June 11: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Texts: Genesis 1: 1-5
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Genesis 2: 1-25
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Spirit-empowered Work
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Describe the best day you have had at work in the last month.
What word would you use to describe how you feel about your job?
“How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of his life?” – Dorothy Sayers
Your work matters
It is not at all that God mostly cares about when you pray or read the Scriptures or attend small group or serve in some obviously charitable way.
God cares deeply about what you do with your energy, and creativity, and time. What you make with your hands or dream up with you mind or lead with your heart
It is no small thing that in Jesus the Word become Flesh and dwelt among us and half His life worked as a carpenter or stone mason in relative obscurity.
Your journey through life going to present you with some really important questions.
Potentially none bigger than these three:
What will you worship?
Who will you love?
What will you make? Or do with your time?
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver
In Genesis, God shows up on the scene bringing order out of chaos, then we see God pushing back the darkness by the Spirit
This is part of your calling as well.
And it’s true if you are working your dream job in a fully resonant sense of vocation
Or you are doing work you despise at the moment - waiting for something else
Or anything in between
God invites you, God created you to join in
Bringing order out of chaos and pushing back the darkness
The Genesis text say there was work to do:
Cultivation
Exploration
Bringing order - naming the animals
Some aspects of ruling or dominion
“[Human beings] “cultural mandate” - the call to rule, fill, and transform the earth - was established before the Fall and exists independently of our need for redemption. God clearly had an initial basic plan for the development of the newly created earth, which includes human beings cultural involvement.” – David Bruce Hegeman
“Humans are called to work the earth in order to uncover the rich potentialities “hidden” as it were, beneath the earths surface. On the most basic, agricultural level, mankind cuts into the earth and sows seed, which grows up into plants, which, when carefully tended, yield fruit in the appointed seasons. Dig deeper and the earth will yield still more riches; precious stones and gold; ore which can be melted to make metals; and basic chemical raw materials which can be synthesized into pigments and dies for artwork, fertilizers to increase crop yields, or rocket fuel to explore God’s vast universe. Other parts of the creation can be transformed as well. Wood can be fashioned into flutes for the praise of God or timbers for buildings, stones can be dressed and fitted into walls etc.” – David Bruce Hegeman, Plowing in Hope
RULE - FILL - WORK - PRESERVE
Rule - have dominion, bring order, make peace, organize for thriving, this isn’t about using power to manipulate
Recovered dominion is a big part of what Jesus has done for us in the Gospel
Fill - Be fruitful. This call is for the us as a people but also to fill the world with songs and homes and meals and enterprises for good and on and on
Work - make, create, innovate, clean, repair, edit, build, teach, dream, write
Build a cabinet, repair an eye, make as latte, craft a lesson plan, make a pitch deck
Comfort a mother in labor, coach a team, make something beautiful
Sweep a floor, sell a house, argue a case, set a menu
We are made to work
Preserve - protect, guard, recycle, tend, manage resources with love
God has accomplished creation.
Jesus has accomplished our salvation.
“Now that you dont have to be perfect , you can be good.” – John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Where can you bring order to chaos?
Think small
Think medium
Think big
Where can you push back darkness?
Give vision, give light, give hope
Glorify God - represent God in true ways (even if incomplete)
RULE - FILL - WORK - PRESERVE
Here are some questions:
What is wrong? Confront and stop
What is missing? Create and catalyze.
Changes what is possible in a place.
What is good? Celebrate and cultivate
Enjoy. Share. Spend. Watch. Reward.
What is confusing? Clarify and compel.
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” – Oscar Romero, priest in El Salvador
Pray over our endeavors
Work challenges Confusion or Opportunities
Pray for each other
June 4: Groups Guide
About This Guide
The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.
Join a weekly group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
pdf download
Download this PDF to help you make a plan to follow Jesus in your everyday life, including diagnostic questions to help get you started.
Pickup a print version at our weekly in-person Sunday gatherings.
more Resources
Explore a curated online collection of recommended practices and resources to pursue presence, formation, and love in your life.
Questions about the series or looking for a way to get involved? Contact us.
Love
Teaching Text: Acts 2: 42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numberdaily those who were being saved.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Pentecost
Formation
For group discussion:
Which forces shape your life the most in your present moment?
What do you think changes in someone's life when they become a follower of Jesus?
For reflection:
What do you do the day after your life changes?
Our life often changes in two ways.
Breakthroughs and habits
Significant moments like:
We meet God in Salvation
We experience a shame freeing experience of love or forgiveness
God shows us how seen and known and loved we are
You have a new insight into God's character
You come to the absolute end of a thought or behavior thats been sapping your life and you cry our for help and God meets you
Maybe the Spirit leads you to a new place of surrender of obedience
And now you have to decide how you are going to live - especially after the adrenaline or emotion or immediate challenge has passed.
How will you shape your time?
What will fill up your thinking?
What will relationships look like?
How will you do mornings?
What will the rhythms of you week be?
What will be non-negotiable a part of your life?
A way to ask this is what you will be devoted to?
What changes in me can be put into three categories:
Identity: WHO YOU ARE - known, loved, forgiven, adopted in the family of God, filled with the Spirit, qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints
Desires: WHAT YOU WANT - God’s Word, God’s presence, Expressions of the Kingdom of God, people to experience God’s love, to use my gifts and talents to reflect God and do good, to lift others up, etc
Rhythms: HOW YOU LIVE - how I spend my time, my energy, my attention, my money, how my actual days go, what my habits are
But it’s not just automatic:
What if you have a moment or season of forgetting or losing who you are?
What if your desires are primarily shaped by our moment in American culture, advertisements, social media, or just selfishness?
What if your life doesn’t match who you say you are or what you want most?
This passage at the end of Acts 2 is an incredible guide….
Their lives changed in a radical moment
What were they devoted to?
We are told of 4 things they were devoted to the Rhythm of their life.
The Apostle’s Teaching
Fellowship
Breaking of Bread
Prayer
Apostles teaching – instead of just being shaped by their wider culture they were forms by God’s Word to the
The Fellowship – instead of remaining isolated and going it on their own or using the world’s criteria for evaluation, they joined in this new shared life.
Breaking of bread – In being devoted to the meal, they were devoted to keeping Jesus and the message of the Gospel at the center of their shared lives.
Prayer – as you learn to pray, you will learn to enjoy God
Start praying in the simplest ways.
Begin and end your day
Make spaces where you pray
Practice venting as you go
Normalize praying together
Don’t despise small beginnings
Prayer changes lives
“Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – ACTS 2
The most incredible things flow out of a life of devotion to the things of the Holy Spirit
