Living By The Spirit
Gentleness
June 4, 2023 • Brandon Rose, Laura Cochran, Lisa Rose
1.) When you think of the word “gentleness, what comes to mind? Is being gentle or humble good traits or bad traits? Why? Is it easy to be gentle or to have faith like a child? Why? 2.) How does God typically speak to you or reveal Himself to you? Is it loud and furious and powerful or is it more like a whisper? Why do you think people sometimes have a hard time hearing the voice of God? What keeps you from hearing Him clearly? 3.) If you knew and believed in your total being that God loves you and is for you and you are His workmanship, how would that make you feel? What would that enable you to do or how would it affect your life? How do we get to a place in oiur lives where do know truly how God feels about us? 4.) What does forgiveness require? How do we let go of our need for justice or vengeance or even “an eye for an eye” and forgive those who hurt us?
Goodness
May 21, 2023 • Brandon Rose
1.) Why is it that we sometimes do what we do not want to do and do not do what we want or should do? Why is living by the flesh so appealing? Are we truly slaves to it or can we break free? How and why? 2.) What does living by the Spirit mean to you? What does it look like in your every day life? What is the goodness of God and how do we get the opportunity to experience it? What can the goodness of God do for you this week? What do you need His goodness to do for you this week? 3.) Is there some thing, some brokenness, some habitual sin, some nagging fleshly desire still fighting for control of your life? Would you share that with your small group, your friends, your family or would you not? Why? And if you will share it, how can we pray for you and come alongside you to help support you in your battle with it?
Peace
April 30, 2023 • Brandon Rose
1.) What is the perfect peace of God? How would you describe it? Have you ever experienced it and how were you able to experience it? 2.) Is all “anxiety”, caring for something or someone, bad? What is bad anxiety in your life? How does it affect life negatively? How do you handle it? Is there something that you church/small group can help you with? 3.) Take some time to work through “the list” in Phil 4: 8-9 and talk through what each of those descriptors mean and where and how you can find them in your life!
Joy
April 23, 2023 • Brandon Rose
1.) What is the joy of the Lord? Have you ever experienced it? What is it like? Does it truly give us the strength to act/move/live like Jesus? 2.) Have you ever been through a period of refining fire? How did it affect you? Where you able to “rejoice” about it later or even during? How and why? 3.) Why does God allow us to go through hardship? How does His joy empower us with His glory? How do we make the invisible qualities of God, His nature, His ways real to a very visible and broken world? Are you going through a period of refinement or weakness now? How can we help you?
Love
April 16, 2023 • Brandon Rose • John 16:7–11, Romans 8:1–4, John 14:15–17, Colossians 3:12–14
1.) Who is the Holy Spirit to you? What do you know about Him and have you felt His working in your life? Was there anything in particular that stuck out to you about the Holy Spirit from the sermon this week or in your personal time with God? Something that perhaps you learned new or that you were reminded of or that you disagree with? 2.) What does the word of God say about our “standing” or condition with God? What does it mean that we are no longer condemned but are free from the law of sin and death? Do you feel this freedom in your life daily or do you struggle with guilt/shame/doubt? Why? How can the Holy Spirit help you with that? How can we help you with that? 3.) Why is love such a key component to our relationship with God and the fruit of the Spirit? How do we love an unloving world/our neighbors, when they sometimes put themselves against us and God? What are practical ways we can do that this week?