Category Archives: Growth Group tips

Growth Group tips

Helping People Pray

Let me guess. You have some people in your group who just will not pray out loud. Am I right?

Well, I have some too. Our young adult group is a mix of new and growing Christians and several people just don’t yet feel comfortable praying out loud. Left unchecked, I may end up with a group where there are only one or two who pray each week. In the end, it can lead to awkward and frustrating moments of silence in your prayer time and even quash the praying spirit of those who will pray!

What can you do?

Thanks be to God that when I was tidying my office this week I found a great article by Carmelina Read on praying out loud in small groups. You will find it here.

The article first provides five reasons why praying out loud is good. It then provides lots of tips on how to help cultivate a praying growth group.

We read it as a group tonight. It was excellent. I would recommend that everyone read the article and perhaps read it with your groups and discuss what would work.

I have two ideas I am going to implement for next week!

I’d love to hear about how you have cultivated prayerfulness in your small group. Please comment below.

Pray well!

Growth Group tips, Romans

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

Bible passages, Current Series, Growth Group tips, Romans

Romans 7:14-25 love for the law is not enough

Friends, sorry that the blog for Romans 7:1-13 did not make it out in a timely manner (ie, not at all). I’d like to offer you a focus in Romans 7:14-25 with reference to the whole chapter this week. Let’s follow a slightly different format this week called the COMA method of bible study (this doesn’t mean that it puts us to sleep!).

C.O.M.A. – CONTEXT, OBSERVATION, MEANING and APPLICATION

C is for CONTEXT
What have we covered so far in Romans that is relevant to this chapter?

Paul is writing to a Christian audience in a very friendly style. He has never met this church but loves their reputation. His aim is not to rebuke but to outline exactly what this gospel that he is not ashamed of. It is the power of God that bring salvation by faith alone.

Without God, we are all sinners. All have turned away from God regardless of their knowledge of the law or not. No one is righteous and yet it is only the righteous who will be safe on judeny day (I have not placed bible references hear bit I hope that this is all filial ground and you might even remember where these lessons are coming from).

It is not our works or attempts to be good that can save us but only faith like Abraham – who believed God and that act of belief or faith was credited to him as righteousness. We couldn’t save ourselves but God could and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Grace has saved all who have faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ.

What good then is the law? That’s the context and question of chapters 6 and 7. Romans 6:1 proposes: let’s sin! sin! sin! so that God can be praised so much more for his grace. What an amazing grace! Romans 6:15 asks: if grace is so good, we have no motivation to stop sinning. Romans 7:7 asks: is the law to blame for our sin and guilt? Romans 7:13 asks: did the law become like poison to me? Each of these questions are aimed at understanding where the law fits in to this teaching about Grace and each question is followed by a resounding NO!!!

The point? Sin and judgement exists prior to the written law but only when the law became known was sin both recognised and fanned into flame. We would struggle to understand the grace of God without first hearing what it means to be in rebellion against him.

The context of chapter 7 is working out who the enemy is: the law or sin? What is their relationship? Should we hate the law?

Verse 7 asks ‘is the law sinful?’ Is God’s commandments the bad guy? The answer in short comes in verse 12… the law is holy, righteous and good. After all, it came from God. Verse 6 tells us that we are living in the spirit now and not struggling under the written code or law but this does not mean that the law was useless. Verse 13 concludes for us that without the law, sin would not have been identified and understood as sin.

NB: Paul uses the word ‘law’ quite a lot without a clear definition and he doesn’t always mean the same thing. Mostly, what he refers to is the written down laws of the Old Testament. This includes everything that describes how God’s people ought to live as the people of God. Sometimes, as in chapter 2 and in 7:1-3, he refers to the law of the land – the laws that we live under in our society. Context is needed to work out what he means in each case.

O is for OBSERVATION
What can you see in the text that helps your understanding of it? What do you notice? What is the structure? This is an information gathering moment and a bit of initial comprehension.

Here is a thought on the structure of verses 14-25

  1. vv14-17 ‘I know’ that the law is spiritual but I am unspiritual.
  2. vv18-20 ‘I know’ that good itself does not dwell in me.
  3. vv21-23 So ‘I know’ this: I want to obey the law but sin is what is at work in me
  4. vv24-25 this seems impossible but thank God for Jesus!
  5. Verse 25b a recap of what he is attempting to say

This structure follows a logical argument from Paul, namely, the Law is from God but sin is my constant enemy and I cannot do what the law commands even though I try – God is my only help.

  • Verse 14 it is surprising to hear Paul describe the law as spiritual. This has two effects, firstly that it aligns the law of God immediately with a category that we’ve seen is good, that is, the way of the Spirit (v6). Secondly, it alludes to the fact that the law has it’s origins with God and that it ultimately embodies knowledge and revelation of God (see 2:18-20; 3:1, 21).
  • Paul discusses the concept of dwelling in the ‘sinful nature’. He contrasts the new life of the Spirit introduced in the first half of the chapter with the life of the natural person – living captive to sin – Note verse 15 stating that ‘I do not know understand what I do.’
  • “Total depravity” is a theological term used to describe the condition of humanity outside of Christ. Chapter 1 of Romans pictured the human race as out of control in the opposite direction from God. Here in chapter 7, Paul describes the battle that humans face. Total depravity encaptures a concept that means even becoming a Christian and rejecting sin is an act of mercy and grace from God. This is captured in the way that Paul finishes the chapter.
  • v24 highlights a problem that many discuss in this chapter: who does Paul mean when he says “I”? Does he mean himself? If so, is he describing what it was like before he became a Christian? Isn’t he already saved? Or is he pretending to be any human on the planet? Perhaps he is pretending to be all of Israel who received the law and were stuck with the problem of being unable to keep it? Does the answer to these questions matter?

M is for MEANING
What is the overall meaning of the text. Try and state the point of this section in 10 words or less.

Here’s my attempt – you might be able to capture it better…

“I am, by nature, incapable of good – God help me!”

OR

“Love for the law is not enough. We need Jesus.”

OR

“The Law is from God – sin is my enemy.”

Now, does that sound right? Does that first one sound too harsh? Does that sound like what Paul is saying? If I am wrong, prove it. If I am right, how does this affect your view on people, the world and society in general?

A is for APPLICATION
Having looked at the CONTEXT, OBSERVATIONS of the text and then the MEANING, what are we to do about it? How should we respond? Does the passage tell us? Is there an obvious implication? Here’s some ideas…

  • By default, we are not basically good and make mistakes at times. This is a radically different view from our culture’s view.
  • The law, given by God and revealing the mind of God, uncovers the savageness of sin. Without it, sin kills us without us even being aware that we are dying. With the law on our minds, we can only conclude that we need God’s help.
  • Let us have a high view of the LAW and a low view on sin. Let’s be absolutely suspicious of our motivations and ability to do good and very affirming of the origin of the law and the reason for the law.
  • Stop and consider why the law was given. Without our knowledge of the corrosion and demolition of sin, we would not conclude that we need a Saviour.
  • Rejoice that God is good.
  • Rejoice that he has delivered us through Jesus Christ!
  • Lean on God for help to deal with sin. Keep in mind that we need his Spirit to battle while we are still in the body.

That’s it from me. I know that this was a long post – perhaps they all are – but chapter 7 can be tricky to handle. Consider also, using the COMA method laid out in this post – I plan to use it in my groups this week.

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK?
Father God, we praise you for your goodness and kindness to us in sending your Son. Save us, we pray, from the power of sin in our lives. Thank you for your grace and mercy, for your word of truth and for the Holy Spirit. Keep us safe in your care we pray. Amen