๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข What are some of your favorite group activities?ย
โข Do you consider yourself introverted or extroverted? How do you respond when you are put in an uncomfortable situation?ย
โข Tell us about your go-to groupโthose you usually communicate with and are quick to update. How did you become friends?ย
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.ย ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ๐ฎย
(Read also ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ๐ฏ-๐ฐ๐ณ)
Imagine being one of Jesusโ first disciples and part of the early church. That unlikely bunch went through so much togetherโfrom being called to follow Jesus to His death, resurrection, and ascension, to being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, their groupโthe church, the called-out onesโwas growing by the day. This must have been both exciting and disconcerting. They just kept following Jesus, their lives were changed, and they were about to change the world. They were called and commissioned by God for a purpose that could only be accomplished together. This was always Godโs design for the churchโan assembling or gathering of people. In this lesson, we will look at their shared experiences as a community and their results.ย
๐ญ. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ.ย
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.ย ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ๐ฎย
The disciplesโold and newโdevoted themselves to what mattered most: knowing God and being in community. They made an effort to gather and grow together. Why do you think this is important? What do you think will happen if we lose this?ย
๐ฎ. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ.ย
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด . . . ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ๐ฏ-๐ฐ๐ฒ
As they devoted themselves to God, they experienced Godโs power and miracles. They were consistent in this, and God consistently met them (Matthew 18:20). As a community, they experienced God through each other by helping each other know God and His word, sharing lives with one another, and meeting one anotherโs needs. How do you think our church can learn from the experience of the early church?
๐ฏ. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ.ย
. . . ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ.ย ๐๐๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฎ:๐ฐ๐ณ
Our experiencing God as a community does not only grow us spiritually, but also results in others coming to know God as well. Because they reflected God, the early church had favor with their community. As a result, more people came to know God every day. As part of the Church today, how are we reaping the benefits of what the early church did? What is the Churchโs role among the watching world today?ย
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข How much priority do you give to gathering together as a church? How can you express that through your words and actions every week?ย
โข In which community or communities have you experienced God? How has this community helped you in your spiritual growth? How have you helped others in their walk with God?
โข What is your prayer for your local church and for the universal Church?ย
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for the community He has placed you in. Speak a blessing over them.ย
โข Pray that you would remain and continue to experience God in community.ย
โข Pray for your church to find favor in your surrounding communities, for the gospel to be preached, and for more people to be added to the Church.