We’re looking for Life Groups to help us put on the biggest party of the year for our community on Friday, Oct 30th. From manning the rides, serving up food to helping in the reptile petting zoo, there are plenty of ways for your group to jump in! Contact our special events team to learn more.
Lean In // 5 minutes
What’s your guilty pleasure TV show?
Leader Note: From the guy that hates to admit watching The Bachelor, to bing watching House Hunters, most of us have shows that we love because they offer us an escape or a way to unwind! Transition your group to the next section by saying something like… “A lot of the shows we watch are based in some form of a false reality. Let’s see what our passage has to say about the reality and identity we are called to live in as believers.”
Look Down // 15 minutes
Read Romans 8:12-17
What do you learn about God’s Spirit?
- We have a choose to live by it or by the flesh
- Living by God’s Spirit puts to death the ways of our flesh
- Living by God’s Spirit brings life
- God’s Spirit leds us and marks us children of God
- God’s Spirit brings us intimacy, a personal relationship “Abba, Father”
- The Spirit “testifies” or bears witness to remind us that we are God’s children
- God’s Spirit does not make us fearful or slaves
- God’s Spirit is given to us, we receive it we don’t earn it
Leader Note: Highlight these key four observations from the weekend message.
1. I am a loved son/daughter // God is our Heavenly Father, He choose us, adopted us to be His! Because of this we have an intimate and personal relationship with him. Our identities, whatever they used to be… our now rooted in Him, our identities our in Him!
2. I have a Heavenly Father // God is our Father and he loves us more than we can ever imagine! Consider Matthew 7:11… “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
3. I have a witness // God also gives us his Holy Spirit to remind us of what we so often forget… that we are loved! The Holy Spirit stands to give testimony and witness to what is true about us.
4. I have a heavenly inheritance // God brings us into relationship with Himself and makes available to us all that is His.
Look Out // 10 minutes
Where do you see people creating their own identity?
How do they manage it and what happens when it collapses?
Leader Note: Invite stories here from you group. What are things people shape their reality and identity around, what does that look like, where have they seen it? What do they do to maintain that image, what are the effects of living that way?
Look In // 20 minutes
What parts of the passage are hard for you to embrace and why?
Why do you need to embrace it?
Leader Note: Point back to the observations from question 2, paying special attention to the four main observations… We are Loved, We Have a Witness and We have a heavenly inheritance. Ask your group to read out the four statements aloud. Which ones are most difficult to beleive, which ones cause the most emotion? Challenge your group to think not only about which of these truths they wrestle with but why do they think God would want this for them and what difference would that make?
Live it Out // 10 minutes
How might your life and the lives of others be impacted if you embraced these truths?
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Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.