Identity in Ephesians: You are New
Ephesians 4:17-32
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Discuss how resolutions made last week in “growing more like Jesus” worked themselves out – what God did in and through you (Phil. 2:13) Celebrate and thank God for those together and pray with those who experienced some “Lows” this week, for God’s encouragement for them.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
We are launching into a new series on our identity in Christ as presented in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. There are 14 things that God says we are. We are “Blessed”, “Rooted”, “Alive”, “Reconciled”, “Called”, “Loved”, “Gifted” and now “New”! See if your group can summarize the main idea in the previous ones!
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflect:
Share about a time when God gave you strength you didn’t know you had!
Read Ephesians 4:17-22
o How do we “put off our old self, which is corrupt through deceitful desires”? (John 3:3-7, Galatians 2:20, Romans 6:6-7,11-14, Mark 12:28-30, 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Timothy 6:10-11, Matthew 7:21-27)
o How does a person become “alienated from the life of God because of ignorance, due to the hardness of their hearts”? (Proverbs 28:13-14, and 29:1, Hebrews 3:12-13, James 1:13-15, Isaiah 59:1-2, Psalm 66:18).
o How does God help us when we are tempted to sin? (Philippians 2:12-13, Psalm 51:10)
Read Ephesians 4:23 and 24
o What does “holy” mean?
o How do we “put on the new self, created after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness”? (Romans 12: 1-2, Joshua 1:7-8, John 14:21 and 23)
Read Ephesians 4:26-27
o Discuss some guardrails that allow us to “be angry” but “do not sin”. When does anger become sinful?
o How do we deal with anger promptly, so we do not give the devil a foothold? (Colossians 3:12-13, Matthew 6:14, Mark 11:25, 1 Peter 3:9, Romans 12:17,18,21, Hebrews 12:14-15)
Read Ephesians 4:28-32
o Knowing what we are saved FROM is vital, but what does God say about what we are saved FOR? (2 Corinthians 5:14-17, Romans 8:28-29, Ephesians 2:10, Hebrews 10:24-25).
o How can we grow in our ability to speak only in a way that builds others up and benefits them? (Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 12:33-37, James 3:5-6, Psalm 141:3, 2 Corinthians 13:10)
o What insights help us, even in times of great stress, to be slow to anger and to continue to speak words of encouragement to those around us? (2 Corinthians 1:8-9, and 12:7-10, Romans 5:1-5, James 1:2-4)
Respond:
o The theme of this section was all about being made “new” in Christ and what that will look like in practice… and all that starts with a moment by moment, step by step walk with Jesus! Pray for that and commit to that in this coming week, and be ready to share next week about what God did in and through you!
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