“One.”
Week 1
Satan’s Game.
If you stand alone, you’ll be fighting alone.
Ps. Rob began a new series this week titled “One.” The idea comes from the “One Another” verses written in the bible—bless one another, share your sins with one another, serve one another, etc.
Ps. Rob shared how from the beginning we were created to be one with the body of Christ. Meaning that when you become a Christian, you are made “One Flesh” with the church, and God desires us to connect with His church in that way. To be transparent and share with others, allowing them into our lives so they can support and help us. In this message, Rob shared with us how Satan is doing his all to have us separated from the body. Why does he want to do this? Simple. Because if you stand alone, you will have to fight and deal with every season of life alone too. How does the enemy attempt to disconnect us from the church—the body of Christ? He bombards you with your dislikes, he reminds you of how spiritual and mature you are. He tells you “you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian,” that you are not good enough to be in church, and causes you to feel an overwhelming sense of shame for your sin.
Satan is doing he all to get us to do life alone.
Ephesians 6 NLT
14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Discussion
· What stood out to you in Ps. Robs message on Sunday?
· What do you see are the dangers we face when we become disconnected from the church?
· Reflecting on the 5 weapons the enemy uses to disconnect us from church—
Bombarding you with your dislikes. Reminding you of how spiritual and mature you are. Telling you “You don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” Convincing you that you are not good enough. Causing you to feel an overwhelming sense of shame.
What has Satan used against us to try and disconnect us from the church?
· Have you ever thought about how the armor of the God, is something we need help putting on?
· Share a time when the church supported you by helping you put the armor of the God on.
· How can you be proactive today at allowing yourself to be more “One Flesh” with the church?
Week 2,
You Cannot Have One Without the Other.
Your community will influence the quality and direction of your life.
This week Ps. Rob looked at how our lives are shaped and formed by community, and how community is fundamentally important in our lives.
When it comes to community, communities are plentiful. We have football communities, net ball communities, school communities, work communities. Our families make up part of our communities. The big idea that Ps Rob talking about this week was that our community influences the quality and direction of our lives. We might have plenty of communities that bring us great quality of life, but not great direction.
Our current culture wants all the feel-good sides of community without the prickly aspects of community that help set our direction. We want devotion without patience, leadership without having to follow tough decisions. We want forgiveness without confession (and vis-versa) and love without correction. In the end more often than not we want what makes us feel good without what confronts. But as we looked at, you cannot have one without the other. You cannot have encouragement without submission, love without correction, and so on. This is why the community around us influences both the quality and direction of our lives.
Discussion
What stood out to you in Ps. Robs message on Sunday?
Our current world has us living in an echo chamber. Social Media algorithms work to show you what you want to see. We tend to gather in groups that only support our opinions and desires. What is the danger of living in an echo chamber?
Ps Rob shared how you cannot have one without the other;
Encouragement without submission, love without correction, forgiveness without confession, devotion without patience, etc.
Have you ever thought of the above as going hand in hand, in that you cannot have one without the other?
How deliberate are you with surrounding yourself with people who actively challenge us when we need challenging, or correcting us when we need it? And when was the last time your community brought correction to you (if you can’t remember you aren’t engaged in a community)?
How can you be proactive today at allowing the church to speak into your life in a way that motivates you towards love and good deeds?
Prayer Focus
Ask God for the boldness to be transparent with the community around you, and for the courage to engage in a relationship with our church community that influences not just the quality of our lives, but equally so the direction.
Week 3
Unless you feed hope you will bleed hope.
This week Ps. Rob looked at how hope is fundamentally important in our lives.
The author of Hebrews encourages his readers by reminding them that “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1
Hope should be the hallmark of Christianity. It should be the very thing that separates us from everything else. Every other religion, every self-help movement. Hope should be our guiding force that reminds us that no matter what happens we have hope. Unfortunately, as Christians this is not always the case. The last couple of years through covid reveals that our hope is easily stolen from us. This is the plan of the enemy, to steal and destroy our hope. Hope is fragile, and needs protecting, and its protection is not something for just us to do by ourselves, but it is the role of the church—the one another’s.
In his message Rob shared how Abraham’s wife Sarah is listed as a hero of faith in Hebrews 11, but when you read her story in Genesis 18 she did not have hope in what God was promising, in fact she doubted. Robs suggestion was that someone got in her ear and reminded her of the promise of God over here. Someone got in her ear and stirred up her faith, her hope. This is the role of the church in our lives, to redirect our attention to Jesus, and to re-instate our hope in him.
Discussion
What stood out to you in Ps. Robs message on Sunday?
Considering the season, we have just been through in covid, why do you believe hope in Jesus promises are so important in our lives?
Share a time you had hope in Jesus through a season that was bleak and hopeless. How did that hope in Jesus impact that season?
The enemy's plan is to remove hope from us. Are there areas of our lives where the enemy has succeeded in removing our hope, or caused us to disbelief and stop believing for?
How deliberate are you with sharing with your “One Another's” what you are hoping for so they can support, encourage, and challenge you to help you see that become a reality?
Prayer Focus
Spend time in prayer praying over each other's hopes. Make space for people to share what they have lost hope in and feel the need of reviving. Spend time praying over this.