We've Got Spirit: The Cheerleader

Text: John 16:8-15

Summary: One of the great roles of the HS is the helper.  The greek word for HS is "paraclete" (para-cleat) which means "the helper alongside us."  John then gives us 4 ways that the HS is our helper throughout life.

GROUP LEADERS:

Be prepared to share your personal story this week for each of these questions.  That will get the ball rolling and break the ice for other stories to be told.

1.  Read John 16:8-11.  One of the ways that the HS helps us it to convict us of our sins in a process of drawing us to God.  Share your story of salvation and how God used the HS to convict you of your need for a savior.  Encourage others to share their story of salvation as well and identify how the HS was working in and around their life.  Share your story!

2.  Read John 16:12.  A second way that the HS helps is to convict us towards righteousness in a process of making us look more like Jesus.  Without even knowing it, the HS is working in the lives of Christians every day.  Some Christians call it a "guilty  conscious" or "a bad feeling," but we're actually experiencing the HS work in our lives to help us turn away from sin and live a life that resembles that of Jesus.  How has the HS been working in your life lately to push you to look, act, talk, and treat others like Jesus would?  Share your story!

3.  A third way that the HS helps us is to give us guidance and teach us to make solid decisions in our lives.  Remember the WWJD bracelets?  How cool would it be to be able to ask God a question about a certain situation or relationship or decision and have him give you His insight?!  Well, through the HS, God does just that!  

Read John 16:13 Romans 8:26, James 1:5, and Psalm 143:10, then answer the following questions:

a. The HS inspired the writing of Scripture.  How has God been using the Word lately to help guide, teach, and make solid decisions in your life?  Share your story!

b. The HS is also active in using other things to help guide and teach us.  How has the HS been active in your life in others areas that have helped to guide and teach? (sermons, Christian brothers and sisters, prayer time, quiet time listening to God, etc).  Share your story!

4.  Read John 16:14-15.  In this text, the last thing that John says the HS helps us with is to bring glory and honor to God.  Do you want your life to make a difference and have meaning and purpose?  Scripture says that the HS can help you answer that!

  

a.  Corporate Worship:  How do you know how to worship?  The things to do?  How to respond to God?  Have you ever prayed and asked the HS to help you know how to respond to God to bring Him glory and honor in your worship at REVO?  How has that played out already in your life?  Share your story!

b.  Personal Life:  How do you bring glory and honor to God in your life?  How are you supposed to "worship" at work, school, or at home?  Have you ever prayed and asked the HS to help you know how to respond to God and bring Him glory and honor in your personal life everyday?  How has that played out already in your life?  Share your story!

We've Got Spirit: Got Spirit?

Text:  John 15:26-27, John 16:5-7, and Acts 1-2

Summary:  Who is the Holy Spirit?  The HS is the presence of God in the world today, specifically working in the Church.  Why does it matter to you?  The HS empowers you to accomplish what God has called you to do and be the follower that He has called you to be.

1.  If you grew up going to church, what are some of the things you grew up hearing about the HS?  Was it ignored?  Looked over?  Secondly, go ahead and give it your best shot!  How would you describe the HS to someone that didn't grow up in church?


2.  Read Genesis 1:2 and 1:26.  These are the first mentions of the HS in Scripture.  Why is it significant that the HS was there from the beginning? (he's not a secondary God or a lesser God.  He's been a part of the Trinity from the beginning).  If he's not secondary to God, then why do most people treat Him differently, less important or less significant?


3.  Jesus tells his disciples that it would be BETTER for him to leave the earth so that the HS could come to them.  Jesus was fully man (one man at one place at one time).  Why do we have it better today with the HS living inside of us as oppose to Jesus walking around us?


4.  What does it mean that "God lives in you"?  Why is that a big deal?


5.  Read Acts 1:4-8.  What does Jesus say the HS will do?  (empower believers).  Is there any way to be obedient to God and follow Him through life without having this power source?


6.  Do you have any HS stories from your life?  Stories of how there is no explanation of how you could have said/done/accomplished something in your life apart from God?

Christianity 101: Prayer

Text: James 5:7-20

Summary:  James closes his book by giving a reminder that we must be patient yet diligent in the things that God has called us do.  One day, Jesus will return.  Until then, be faithful with what James has challenged us with through the book.  Continue to develop your relationship with God through prayer, and examine your heart as you ask God to use you to bring other people to Jesus.

1.  In James 5:7, although James uses the word "wait," farmers still have a job to do while they are waiting for their crops to come in.  Tilling, planting, weeding, watering, etc.  While we are waiting for the return of Jesus, what are our tasks to be completing and working on?  (Prayer, evangelism, discipleship, missions).  Read Luke 12:43.  What does Scripture call the servant that is found working hard when the Lord returns?

2.  In verses 13-15, and James 1:5, James gives us 5 instances in life where we should pray.  What are they?  When you are in those situations, is prayer your first call or your last resort?  Why?

3.  James also instructs us to pray for each other.  Read Colossians 1:9-10, Ephesians 1:16-18, and 1 Timothy 2:1-4.  What else does the Bible say about the power of praying for each other?  Why don't you close the group time out tonight by praying for each other.

4.  How would you say that you have changed through the Christianity 101 Series through the book of James?  (doers, not just hearers)


5 WEEKS UNTIL EASTER!  Set up a challenge for your group that each group member is going to bring someone with them to the Easter Service on April 20th!!

Christianity 101: Time and Money

Text:  James 4:13-5:6

In this passage, James challenges the church about how they use their time and money.  Since our life is so short we must have urgency with the Gospel and with decision we need to make to Move Forward spiritually.  James also gives us some teaching on how followers of Jesus handle their finances.  James hints at the same question with both our wealth and our time:  The most important thing is to answer, "What are you going to do with it?"


1.  What has God called you to do NOW that you keep putting off until tomorrow?  What areas of your life do you need to be obedient in?  What steps of faith do you need to take now to act on the things that God has called you to do?  What spiritual things have you been promising yourself that you will start doing, only to see the deadline continued to be pushed back?  Are there areas of your life that you are trying to cram spiritually?

2. Making plans for our lives is a great, responsible thing.  However, making plans for our lives without the input and consideration of what God has called us to do is folly and disobedient.  Read Proverbs 16:9.
a.  Who is in ultimate control of our lives?
b.  Should we still plan our lives?
c.  What should we remember as we plan our lives?

3.  Three times in James 5:1-6 (1 3, and 5b), James pleads with the people to remember what's coming.  God will return and we will stand in front of him.  Our eternity is quickly approaching.  How does remembering eternity and what you are facing help you to make better decision in your life, specifically about your time and wealth?

4.  Scripture looks at us and our wealth as a middleman of sorts.  God gives us what we need, and then blesses us with excess.  Needs arise around us, and people cry out to God for help.  God then allows us to be the bearer of blessings and good news.  We get to step up and take God's money and meet needs with it.  That's a great opportunity and priveledge we have!  Explain some tangible, specific ways that you can be God's middleman this week.

Homework for this week:
a.  Open up to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to do an inspection of your life this week.  Ask God to show you what you need to change when it comes to your time and money.
b.  Look for ways to help others.  Make a list, do some research, and have your thumb on the heartbeat of the needs of the city around us.
c.  Deny yourself something to help others.  Would you be willing to give something up (a luxury or something otherwise self-indulgent) to meet a need for someone else?

Christianity 101: Submit to God

Text: James 4:1-12

Summary:  James continues his challenge to the church by addressing the disagreements that they have with others.  James notes that our own selfishness is the root of our frustrations and confrontations, but ultimately God offers us forgiveness and reconciliation through His grace.  He closes with a practical approach to confession and repentance that will keep our hearts pure both towards God and towards others.


1.  What are the different things that you pray for?  Is it always just asking God for stuff?  What about adoration, confession, and thanksgiving?  READ Matthew6:9-13.  Identify the different parts of the prayer that Jesus speaks as he instructs his disciples on how to pray.

2.  Read John 15:7 and 16:24.  What do these verses say about our prayers?
a.  Why ask in Jesus' name?
b.  What is the condition in receiving what we ask for? (Remaining in Jesus)
c.  So how do you "remain in Jesus?"

3.  Why does James refer to the church as "you  adulterous people" in verse 4?  (Read Isaiah 57:2-3, 8 and Jeremiah 3:20 for insight).

4.  The first 5 verses of this chapter are pretty firm, in your face, and unapologetic.  They highlight how sinful we are, how our frustrations are our own fault, and how we try to manipulate God sometimes through our prayers.  That's a pretty long list of things that we are guilty of.  Then we see vs. 6.  Ask everyone in the group to read the first sentence of that verse out loud.  Vocalizing it makes it even more stunning!  After all of that, God still offers us grace and forgiveness through Jesus.  What is your response to that?  How do you feel about that?

5.  Verse 6 can be very humbling, and that's exactly what James calls us to as we respond to Jesus.  Read Isaiah 55:6-7.
a.  What are the promises of this verse?
b.  How do they relate to our verses in James?
c.  What is one way that you can humble yourself this week?
d.  What is one way that you can draw near to God this week?

6.  In vs 7-10, the following phrases are used to describe what we need to do in our lives as we confess our sins, repent, and turn to God.  How do you do these in your daily life?
a.  Submit to God
b.  Resist the Devil
c.  Wash your hands and purify your heart
d.  Grieve, morn, and wail (when is the last time you were broken over your sin?  Broken to the point of tears?)


HOMEWORK:  What's one thing from the message/text this week that you are going to commit to do so that you can be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer?