Romans catch up week!

Hello Growth Groupers!

Megachurch is coming up on the 22nd of June so please remind your group that we are having church in the school hall at 9:30 with optional coffee and something beforehand – check the newsletter for details.

This also means that we have a week in our Growth Groups to choose your own adventure. Sit back as the leader and pray about what you think your group could do in this coming week together. If there is some topic that you feel needs some more work on, then make a week of it and focus on that one theological or topical teaching.

Here are some options to choose from.

1) Make up for any weeks that have been missed. Nigel has organised to visit all of the Growth Groups over the next few weeks. He may have already visited yours! If not, then he will be visiting soon and you should have that in your diary already. When he visits, he will not be doing a study from Romans. This means that you will miss a week of Romans somewhere. There is an option here to cover whatever passage that falls or fell on the week that Nigel is at your group. Here is a link to the Sermon breakup for 2014 in case you have misplaced your copy.

2) Do an overview study of Romans 1-8. We have hit the half way mark in the book. Romans 1-8 contain some amazing things about our faith and has been one of the most influential pieces of writing in the church forever. Before getting into the second half of Romans – recap where we have been so far. One way to do that is to divide the chapters between the members of your group. This can be tricky with low numbers in your group but work it out and best if two people are doing it together. Read your allocated chapter(s), summarise what it says in your own words, note down what that section says about God, man, Jesus and the future. Come back as a full group and share that with one another.

3) The last option is to go back and study Romans 1:1-7. This will be really good because a) it was such a long time ago when we did that study, b) when we did it we covered verses 1-15, c) when we did it, we had not spent much time going through Romans and so it was all pretty new to us, and d) it contains a lot of stuff that the rest of the book describes in detail how it is so.

Here’s a few questions to answer while you go through Romans 1:1-7

  1. Who’s gospel is it? Where is the origin of the Gospel – where did it come from? (see verse 1)
  2. Where and how do we know and learn about the gospel? (see verse 2)
  3. What is the gospel about? What are the contents of the gospel? (see verses 3-4: NB how Jesus relates to the Old Testament, how he relates to God as both Son and working through the Spirit, how important the resurrection is in connection to his death and that he is known to us as ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ – Saviour, Messiah, King and God.
  4. Who is the gospel for? NB both who are called as well as for whose sake they are called! The word Gentiles refers ultimately to all the nations of the world.
  5. What is the description of those who have received (from the calling by God’s messengers/apostles) and responded to the gospel (obedience of faith)? Are we saints or sinners?
  6. Do you have any questions or doubts about this gospel? Come from God, through his son, by the Spirit and for us? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?

Friends, I hope that this week will be awesome for you. I have been so encouraged with feedback from people who have discovered for the first time, that they are not good enough to be accepted by God accept through Jesus but that they are loved by God and made right with him. This has been an emotional time for some who have come to Christ by reading the book of Romans. I thank God that he is working through his word – just as he said he would – and that by the careful reading and listening of the word of God, people are being called out of darkness and into the light. They are seeing for the first time how it can be true that God saves sinners and calls them saints.

Prayer for the week:

Father God, we thank you for the gospel of grace. Thank you for giving us your Son to set us free from the slavery of sin. Thank you for speaking to this world and to us this week through your word. May we learn to love you more and more by the help of your Spirit and through the reading of your word. Amen