Grace: How Grace Frees You From ________ (Paul Collard)

Grace: How Grace Frees You From _______
Pastor Paul Collard

Where is it Written?

Read Ephesians 1:2

What two attributes does Paul desire for the church?

How are those two attributes connected?

Where do those attributes come from?

Read Ephesians 3:16-19

Where do we get strengthed in our inner being?

Where does that strength come from?

Who dwells in our hearts? How?

Who are the “Lord’s holy people” Paul is talking about?

How does love surpass knowledge?

What does knowing that love result in?

How Goes Your Walk?

Read Ephesians 3:16-18 again, this time inserting your name in the blank.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen _______ with power through his Spirit in _______ inner being, so that Christ may dwell in ______’s heart through faith. And I pray that _______, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...

How did it feel for you to put your name in the Ephesians 3:16-18?

What does being “rooted and established in love” mean to you?

How do you grasp the love Christ has for you?

Where have you experienced grace and peace in your life?

What habits help you to stay rooted and established in love?

What is your next step after giving your “_______” over to God?

Grace: The New You

Grace: The New You

Pastor Andrew Thompson

Grace: The New You

Grace is THE BIG DISTINCTIVE IDEA of Christianity, yet many Christians struggle to understand it. Most struggle to apply it to themselves and the people around them. This series digs into the big, distinctive idea of grace, discovers how grace changes everything and helps us more fully apply grace to ourselves and others.

Where is it written?

Read Ephesians 4:17-19.

Gentiles are people who are not Jewish. Here, the term “Gentiles” means the dominant non-Jewish culture the early Christians (who were ethnically both Jewish and Gentile) were living in. 

What Gentile values is Paul telling the Christians in Ephesus to stay away from?

How are these values present in our secular culture today?

Read Ephesians 4:20-24.

What attitudes or actions are we told to “put off?” Why?

What attitudes or actions are we told to “put on?” Why? How?

Read Ephesians 4:25-5:2.

What attitudes or actions are we told to avoid? (Make a list.)

What attitudes or actions are we told to promote? (Make a list.)

What do you notice about these lists? How are they connected? What larger connecting themes do you see?

What / who empowers us to make these changes?

Deep Study - Forgiveness

Read Matthew 6:12-15, Matthew 18:21-35 and Hebrews 12:14-15.

Steps to Forgiveness:

1) Total the debt. Make a full inventory of what the other person’s actions have caused you. Don’t minimize the emotional pain.

2) Cancel the debt. Choose to no longer hold the offense against them. Remember that you too have been forgiven. Note - This does not necessarily mean that the offender will not experience the natural consequences of justice, nor does it require you to make yourself vulnerable to repeated pain.

3) Repeat as needed. It usually takes time for our emotions to catch up with our decisions. Especially for deep hurts.

How goes your walk?

What attitudes or actions are you working with Jesus to “put off?”

What attitudes or actions are you working with Jesus to “put on?”

What habits for staying connected with Jesus are you continuing or developing in order to support these changes?

Challenge:

Spend at least five minutes thanking Jesus for his love for you, and asking for His help with an attitude or action you are looking to change in your life. Then listen.

Grace Through Marriage (Chris Garrow)

Grace through Marriage

Pastor Chris Garrow

Ephesians 5:21-31 NIV

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 

Read Ephesians 3:16-21
Where does our power to live into Christlikeness come from?
Read Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5 and Ephesians 5:31.
In these passages, what do Moses, Jesus, and Paul each say about God’s design of marriage?
Read Ephesians 5:21-33
In verse 21, who is to be submissive?
In verse 5:22, who is to be submissive?
Compare John 6:38 & 1 Corinthians 15:28?
Who is Jesus submissive to? How is this similar to marriage?

According to verse 26-28, what are a husband’s responsibilities towards his wife? (Make a list.)

Read Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24, John 12:25. How do these verses help us better understand the husband’s role in marriage?

Read Ephesians 2:4-5, Colossians 3:10, and 2 Corinthians 5:17. What do these passages teach us about how grace changes us?

Point of discussion?
What is the difference between authority and responsibility? Which cannot be delegated?
Do you think “headship” is more about responsibility or authority? (Ephesians 5:21-23)
What did Jesus do with his “authority”? (See Philippians 2:5-7)
How are both the husband and wife to put the needs of the other before their own?

How goes your walk?
How is Paul’s teaching on marriage different from our society's teaching on marriage?
How are you looking to apply these ideas to your own life?

Challenge
Husbands: Are you in the Word? How are you “washing your wife” in the Word? Are you more involved in “man stuff” than “giving up your life” for your wife? Are you holding grudges and/or being critical or are you presenting your wife as holy and blameless before God? How?

Wives: Do you respect your husband out of reverence for God? Do you pray for your husband? How are you encouraging your husband to lead?

Grace: How Grace Changes Us

Grace: How Grace Changes Us

Pastor Andrew Thompson

Grace is THE BIG DISTINCTIVE IDEA of Christianity, yet many Christians struggle to understand it. Most struggle to apply it to themselves and the people around them. This series digs into the big, distinctive idea of grace, discovers how grace changes everything and helps us more fully apply grace to ourselves and others.
Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Where is it written?
Read Ephesians 3:14-21. (Ideally several times.)
As you read this passage, what do you notice? What ideas or images stand out to you?
What is the source of the “power” Paul writes about? How is the power received? Where is the power received? What does this power result in?
As we increasingly grasp/ understand the love of Christ, what happens?
What is possible when the church experiences this together?

Read Galatians 5:22-23
What character attributes increase as the result of an indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

How would you summarize the ideas of these passages in your own words?

How goes your walk?
How do people usually pursue personal transformation? How is grace-based transformation different?
What words would you use to describe your relationship with Jesus now?
What kind of relationship are you wanting to have?
What habits, practices, etc. might help you draw closer to Him?

Challenge:
Spend at least 5 minutes before the end of the day thanking God for what Jesus has done for you, remembering how much Jesus loves you, and asking the Holy Spirit to fill you. Then wait and listen.