Alignment (Part 5): Guarding the Gate

TO START

This week is our final week of Small Group Discussion Guides this Spring. We will pick back up at the end of August! We encourage your group to again consider what it can look like for your group to spend time together this Summer and have some fun growing in that way whether it’s once every two months, once a month or even more regularly if that makes sense.

  • Then ask your group to share what fun plans and/or travel they may embark on this Summer. Is there someone they will get to see for the first time a year or more?

TO WATCH

Take a look at the clip for this week!

TO READ AND DISCUSS

In Tim’s final sermon for the series, Alignment, Tim leads us to Paul’s words in Romans that challenge us to use the power of the Holy Spirit to align our lives with God’s will for us. Read Romans 8:1-11 together.

  • Tim mentioned that he believes that “in our pursuit of alignment, we are not our own’, does that give you peace? How does that make you feel?

  • Additionally, what things stood out to you in this passage? What’s the challenge and what is the encouragement you find?

Later in Tim’s sermon, he argues that power to realign our lives is that of the Spirit, BUT the responsibility is given to us to make the choice to use that power. We are to guard the gates of our mind from the enemy and to reflect on the things of the Spirit.

  • Do you feel the war going on in your life between living by the Spirit and living by the flesh? How so?

  • In light of guarding the gates, what safeguards do you have on your computer, home, car, etc. to protect them? What safeguards do you have on your mind to protect it? Have you found anything to be especially helpful in guarding your mind?

Now spend some time reading Galatians 5:22-25 together. Then answer the following:

  • What parallels do you hear with the passage from Romans 8?

  • What are some common temptations that might be thwarted by the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22-23? Which fruit do you feel God is leading you to grow in??

TO CLOSE/TO PRAY

Read Romans 8:14-17 as a blessing and reminder over your group as we close this series. Pray for God to remind us over and over again that we have been adopted into the fold and the Spirit testifies on our behalf as children of God. What a gift! A reminder of Tim’s important words that “our battle against sin is from a position of strength” because God’s Spirit is interceding!

Matt DeLano