Come With Me Series (What Does It Look Like?)

This guide is a tool to help you facilitate discussion with your rGroup. Use it to lead your group in discovering, owning, and applying God’s Word. This is a flexible tool, not a rigid task list. Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead as you lead your group. You don’t need to ask every question.

 Understanding God’s Word: Know and Understand the Truth

READ Colossians 3:12-14

• In one sentence, how would you describe the message of this Scripture?  
• What does this passage tell us about who God is? 
• What does this passage reveal to us about ourselves? 

Living and Applying God’s Word: Give a Vision of Life With God

• As you look at these specific characteristics in people’s lives, can you tell when they are fake and when they are real? 
  • Why do you think you can tell the difference? 
• This passage reminds Christians of their identity, who we now are in Christ. Specifically, Paul reminds us that we are “God’s chosen ones.” Why is this statement so amazing?
• As we read Scripture like this and hear Paul reminding us of our identity, he is reminding us of who we are supposed to be, rather than reminding us of things we are supposed to do. What do you think the big difference is between being somebody vs doing things? 
  • Example: (Inside out vs. Outside In) When we do things from the inside out, they are genuine and their motivations are pure. Our actions are motivated by who we are, not what they will make us. When we do things from the outside in, we’re doing things even though we might not feel it or truly mean it. Oftentimes we do these things because of what we can get out of it, or we think that if we do these things we’ll be loved and accepted by God or others. God knows the difference. (Scriptural support: Proverbs 16:2. Also, in The Message, Romans 12:9 says “Love from the center of who you are. Don’t fake it.")
• How might your interactions with people look different were genuinely marked with these qualities? For example, how would you bear with someone who is deeply flawed and broken, if you openly acknowledged your own flaw and failures yet remembered you were chosen by God? 
• What might God do if we interacted with people like this? 

 Assessing the Heart: Identify and Address Sin

•  What dangers and consequences are there when the church and its individuals are not marked by these things, when they are only halfway committed to them, or when they fake it? 
• Which of these characteristics do you see yourself failing at the most in your life? 
• How often are the things you do as a Christians flowing out of who you are in Christ? 
  • Are you more of an inside-out type of Christian, or more of an outside-in person? 

      

 Turn to God: Confess and Renew Belief in God

• God does not want us to be outside-in people, Christians to just fake it. But how can we change? Read Colossians 3:1-11. 
  • As we read this Scripture, how does it show us we can experience change? 
    • We need Jesus to change us (Vs. 3, 5, 9 — put to death our old self; Vs. 3, 10 — put on new self or identity which comes when our life is hidden, wrapped up in Jesus.) 
    • We need to keep our eyes fixed on him (Vs. 1, 2 — when he’s our focus and the thing we pursue, we’ll start to look like him.)
    • Put sin to death (Vs. 5-9 — Let Christ change your desires, and intentionally fight against sin and temptation in your life.) 
• As an rGroup, we want all of our actions to be motivated by who we are in Christ. Instead of reminding or telling each other what we should be doing, how can we do a better job of reminding people of their identity in Jesus instead?