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Gospel Fluency:  The Gospel In Our Words

2/23/2020

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After listening to Pastor Brennan's sermon on loving other with the gospel in our words, check out video #8 in our series and dig into the following questions with your group…

  • Read over the passages referenced in this sermon and make some connections between love and sharing the gospel.
  • Colossians 4:2-6
  • 1 Corinthians 13:1‭-‬7
  • Mark 12:28‭-‬34
  • As a group, how would we together define “love” and “wisdom,” and describe our need for each, in thoughtfully declaring the good news of Jesus, especially to those who don’t know him?
  • As we talk about acting, sharing and declaring our love for others through sharing with them what is most important to us, let’s remember that we rely on God the Spirit to give us the right words for any non-believing friends, and that he does so in his timing. And as we said last week, we must remember and celebrate that it’s only God who can produce any fruit in our displays of the gospel.
  • In what ways do you feel you're hindered from declaring the gospel? How can we encourage and help each other overcome those barriers? 
  • What do you think of the quote Pastor Brennan read from C.S. Lewis's Weight of Glory?
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, ikt is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
  • As we consider love and wisdom, let’s celebrate God’s goodness and encourage each other, by sharing a) some of the ways he has displayed his love to you, though others in the group, and/or b) ways you see his wisdom at work through your interactions with others.
  • Especially related to helping each other carry out God’s mission of making disciples, are there any commitments your group needs to make to each other, as you pursue “regularly rehearsing the gospel” in each other’s lives together? What commitments can you make to each other to encourage you along in sharing the gospel with your friends, neighbours, family, and co-workers?
  • Finally, prayer. This is where the discussion ends, but where the 'work' really begins. Pull out a pen, paper, phone, just something to take notes on. What from the discussion tonight can you lift up in prayer? Do you need to begin with confession for any of this? Are there names you can write down, or fears you hold that you can pray against? How do you long for God to work in your heart and through your life to build his kingdom? In Luke 10:2 we have a command to pray earnestly. What is this command seeking to show us and cultivate in us? Take time to pray this for your family, friends, co-workers, and neighborhood. Remember, you are already part of the answer to this prayer!
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Gospel Fluency:  The Gospel In Our Actions

2/16/2020

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Setting up the discussion. First of all, please take the time to go over the weekly email. Click here if you missed it.

Second, take turns reading through the following excerpt from chapter 13 of Gospel Fluency by Jeff Vanderstelt. 
Whenever, I am engaging in a conversation with someone, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me. He is called “the Helper,” after all (John 14:26). “Help me slow down,” I pray. “Help me to trust you are working here in the silence. Help me to listen well—to them and to you.” In some Bible versions, “Helper” is translated as “Counselor.” So I ask the Spirit to give me the ability to hear the longings of the heart as I listen. I invite him to be the primary counselor in the midst of our time. I ask him to give me ears to hear what the real issues are, and then provide me with wisdom as to how to share the truths of Jesus in such a way that they will be good news to the other person.

I am more and more convinced that the Holy Spirit goes ahead of us, preparing people for conversations like this. This growing confidence in God as the one who saves has freed me from the pressure to be the savior for people. Our job is to be present, filled with the Spirit, and ready to listen, then open to speak as the Spirit leads.

As you grow in listening to people’s longings, also learn to listen for their overarching stories.We can share our stories in a way which is always making Jesus the hero. If we are going to speak the gospel fluently to the hearts of others, we need to listen for the dominant storylines under which others live their lives. What are their gospel stories? Who’s their hero? Let’s look at the fundamental questions or longings in each movement of the story in light of people God has put in our lives. Get familiar with them, and then, as you listen to people, listen for their answers to the questions:
  • Creation: In what do they find their identity or sense of purpose and significance?
  • Fall: Who or what is the fundamental problem they blame for the things that are broken in their lives?
  • Redemption: Who or what are they looking to as their savior to rescue or deliver them?
  • New Creation: What does transformation look like and what is their ultimate hope for the future?
In Gospel Fluency chapter 13, Jeff shares the Spirit’s work in helping him hear two peoples’ stories, and how he was able to share the gospel in meaningful ways to both. Here’s a brief overview of each conversation. In the first, a woman on a plane who revealed that she was in the process of a divorce, described how she had had an affair and how her husband, in his anger, had done everything he could to destroy her image on Facebook, turning all their friends against her. He had succeeded in turning her sons against her as well. She was terribly embarrassed, broken, and demoralized. I listened for quite some time, and it became clear to me that she was sorry for what she had done and regretted the pain and shame it had brought on her and her family. And she was deeply burdened by her husband’s anger and her sons’ pain.

Over the course of a long conversation, I shared with the woman that she was feeling shame and guilt because of her sin and her subsequent attempts to deal with it. I shared with her the story of Adam and Eve, and how they tried to deal with their sin. I continued to show her how it led them to blame each other and brought destruction in their relationships. “What you need,” I continued, “is one who can truly atone for your sin. You need someone who can handle the weight of sin, forgive you of your sin, and set you free from it, so that it no longer defines you. You need Jesus.”

I then went on to describe how Jesus willingly went to the cross to take her sin on himself. I shared how he was willing to be publicly shamed for her so that she not only could be forgiven, but also clothed in his righteousness and freed from guilt and shame. We went on and on about how the gospel brings forgiveness, healing, hope, and even love for those we’ve hurt or been hurt by.

She wanted to make things right. She wanted forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation. Jesus had good news for her. I let her know that I know and love Jesus, and that Jesus cared and was listening to her as well. She then shared how she had never been into religion, but recently she had been seeking and checking out some churches in our area. She knew she needed help and was reaching out.

In the second example, a friend was lamenting his recent job loss. Over the course of a long conversation, he admitted that his identity had been tied to his job: “without it, I’m not sure who I am anymore.” After sharing a similar situation from his own life, Jeff prodded his friend to share more about his upbringing, and learned that the young man had lost his father during his teenage years. In hearing more of the man’s story, the Spirit helped Jeff listen and realize the following:
What was his Creation narrative? “My identity is in my job because I’m looking for approval and love from my dad.” What was his Fall narrative? “My dad died and I lost my job. And even though I could get another job, I could lose it as well. Nothing is dependable. Nothing lasts. We lose dads and jobs.” What was his Redemption narrative? “I need a dad who will love me and a job well done.” What was his New Creation narrative? “I want a dad who won’t die and will be proud of my work.”

Do you see how the gospel has great news for my friend? With the Spirit’s help, I did. So I gave it to him. Both conversations are merely summarized here for the sake of brevity, and thus lack nuance and most of the words in each conversation. We’ll say again, that both are given more context and fleshed out more in Gospel Fluency . But at the end of the day, [everyone needs] the good news of Jesus shared as good news for [each of our specific areas of] pain and longing. Remember, we don’t save people. God does. We listen and learn, and then we love and share Jesus.

​Just for context...
John 14:26
Galatians 5:22-25
Look again at how the Apostle Paul spoke to direct areas of need and question in Acts 17:16-34

​
  1. In chapter 13 of Gospel Fluency , Jeff Vanderstelt writes, “As we listen, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can discern the longings of their hearts, the brokenness of their souls, the emptiness of their spirits. And then, we must be prepared to show how Jesus can meet them at the well with soul-quenching water—himself.” Considering the ways you wrote down in Reflection #1, that the gospel might become good news to each of your non-believing friends, take some time to pray that God might show you specific ways you might “speak truth in love” with each. Write down a few ways Jesus might answer some of the questions/needs your friends have.
  2. Each of the 3 non-Christian friends you took note of through the email exercise this week believes some story. If it’s not the gospel story, they’re believing a lesser story. Considering what you know of your friends, answer the following questions for each: 
    1. Friend #1
      1. Creation: In what do they find their identity or sense of purpose and significance?
      2. Fall: Who or what is the fundamental problem they blame for the things that are broken in their lives?
      3. Redemption: Who or what are they looking to as their savior to rescue or deliver them?
      4. New Creation: What does transformation look like and what is their ultimate hope for the future?
    2. Friend #2
      1. Creation: In what do they find their identity or sense of purpose and significance?
      2. Fall: Who or what is the fundamental problem they blame for the things that are broken in their lives?
      3. Redemption: Who or what are they looking to as their savior to rescue or deliver them?
      4. New Creation: What does transformation look like and what is their ultimate hope for the future?
    3. Friend #3
      1. Creation: In what do they find their identity or sense of purpose and significance?
      2. Fall: Who or what is the fundamental problem they blame for the things that are broken in their lives?
      3. Redemption: Who or what are they looking to as their savior to rescue or deliver them?
      4. New Creation: What does transformation look like and what is their ultimate hope for the future?
  3. After considering your friends’ stories in light of the story, what might be a few specific ways you might share the story—their true identity in Christ, sin as the ultimate problem, Jesus as the one true savior, or the fullness of hope in God alone?
  4. To put this week’s theory into practice, prayerfully consider taking a bold step, trusting God and the leading of the Spirit, and have a conversation with at least one of those non-believing friends, in which you share the gospel through one of the ways discussed in questions #1-3.
  5. As you think back through your own story through these four lenses, read—and pray that God will help you believe and rest in—this truth: “Whenever, I am engaging in a conversation with someone, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me. He is called ‘the Helper,’ after all (John 14:26)… In some Bible versions, ‘Helper’ is translated as ‘Counselor.’ So I ask the Spirit to give me the ability to hear the longings of the heart as I listen. I invite him to be the primary counselor in the midst of our time. I ask him to give me ears to hear what the real issues are, and then provide me with wisdom as to how to share the truths of Jesus in such a way that they will be good news to the other person.” As you reflect on this, write out your thoughts and spend some time talking to God about it in prayer.
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Gospel Fluency:  The Gospel In Community

2/9/2020

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There’s a bit of reading to get you primed here. Take turns, going around the circle in your group each reading the paragraphs in succession (yup, even those of you who feel more comfortable keeping quite). ​
From the Gospel Fluency Handbook:
​
Another way to grow in seeing Jesus as the Better is to get to know the larger story of the Bible. We walked through a condensed version of it in Week 2. So many people read the Bible as a bunch of individual stories. Sure, there are plenty of stories in the Bible, but the point of the whole Bible is to tell the one true story—the true and better story of the world. It is the story of God and his redeeming love. It is the story of his pursuit of us to rescue and restore us to relationships with him, each other, and a renewed creation.
​

In one sense, the whole Bible is the gospel—the good news that God has come to rescue and restore humanity and all creation in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And every part of the Bible either points forward or backward to Jesus, because he is the heart—the center—of the story. The entirety of the Bible also shows how desperately needy every single person is for God’s salvation.

Jesus is the point of every story, the fulfillment of every longing, the completion of everything that is lacking. Every character, story, and theme points to him, because it’s really all about him. So how can you learn to read the Bible this way? I recommend you go through the story of God together as a group regularly. There are many ways to do this. I am increasingly convinced and concerned that most Christians can’t tell the whole story of the Bible. Therefore, they likely can’t show how it all leads to Jesus as the Better. 

I would also strongly encourage you to commit to regularly reading through your Bible—the whole thing. So many Christians have never read their Bibles. Sure, they have favorite sections they read over and over again, but they haven’t read the entire book. As a result, most don’t know the whole story, so they often wrongly interpret Scripture out of context. When you don’t know the whole story of God, you tend toward making the Bible about you and not about Jesus. I would highly recommend that you commit with others to do this. I have found that people are more successful in reading through the entire Bible when they do it with others in their small group or missional community. This allows them to learn together, as well as to hold each other accountable for their reading.

As you get to know your Bible more and more, look to see Jesus in every text by looking for the typology of Jesus in every story or situation. The Bible is not just recounting the story as it occurred, but in such a way as to create an anticipation, a longing, for a better person, a better solution, a better fulfillment—a better Savior. In his providence and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God insured the Scriptures would include numerous “types” (prefigurings) of Christ and would create a vacuum of longing for him to arrive and fulfill our greatest need. Learn to read the Bible, both alone and in community, while asking these questions: 1) How is this person or situation a type of Christ? 2) What is lacking in this story that only Jesus can fulfill? and 3) What is the longing or the hunger that is created here for Jesus to satisfy?

Don’t settle for substitutes. Don’t try to be a substitute. Jesus did better than anyone or anything. Jesus does better than anyone or anything. And Jesus will do better than anyone or anything. Jesus is the Better everything! Don’t look elsewhere and don’t give one another anything or anyone else. Remind one another of these truths about him in a gospel-fluent community. And be reminded yourself as you submit to others speaking into your life and experience that Jesus is the Better. Give each other Jesus. He’s better.
This reading technically advises two methods of rehearsing the gospel with others: by considering the Story of God (explained in week 2), and diving in and reading the whole Bible. The point of both methods, though, is the same: whether you’re looking at themes of the Bible or specific texts within it, this week’s first way of rehearsing the gospel together is finding Jesus in the story. To apply the concepts of this reading in your everyday life, pray that God will open your eyes and guide you, then answer the following questions together.
​
Considering the content you read, in your own words describe how you can read the Bible in a way that looks for Jesus as the key to every text. (If you’re confused about this—especially regarding the Old Testament, before Jesus was born—ask others to help, or ask your community to talk about it when you meet this week.)


While some followers of Jesus don’t seem to know the Bible well, it’s also not uncommon in some veins of Christianity today for someone to be “Bible fluent” without being gospel fluent.
Being “Bible fluent” means we know the words, stories, and even commands of Scriptures, and at times we can teach, preach, and even try to obey those words, stories, and commands. “Bible fluency” is a great and needed goal for the Christian life. However, we often become “Bible fluent” without seeing Jesus in the Bible, and without relying on God’s gospel work for all that the Bible teaches. By itself, “Bible fluency” leads to moralism (doing good things and living well by our own power), or to guilt and shame (when we fail at doing good and living well by our own power).

For example, Philippians 2:1-11 encourages Christians to be humble toward others; it even looks at the example of Jesus’ own humility as a model for our own. Without understanding God’s work and the gospel’s power in our lives, “Bible fluency” leaves us on our own to follow Jesus’ model and become humble. Anyone who’s tried this realizes it’s a double-edged sword: if we try to become humble on our own, by making our own rules, changing our own mindset, or anything else, we might succeed—but often only for a season, and by the means of self-created legalism. In many cases we ironically end up prideful because of “how humble I’ve become”! Or we might realize how prideful we are and feel hopeless by our failed efforts which can lead to guilt and shame. Only God, working in us through the truths of the gospel, has the power to make us truly humble: knowing the Bible isn’t enough to accomplish that; we need the gospel! Only by trusting in God’s power and submitting to the Spirit’s work, can we truly follow Jesus’ example and become more humble. 

Knowing the Bible without knowing God and his gospel is not true Christianity. What does it look like to read the Bible through a gospel-fluent lens? In his providence and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God insured the Scriptures would include numerous “types” of Christ and would create a vacuum of longing for him to arrive and fulfill our greatest need. Learn to read the Bible, both alone and in community, while asking these questions: 
1) How is this person or situation a type of Christ? 
2) What is lacking in this story that only Jesus can fulfill? and 
3) What is the longing or the hunger that is created here for Jesus to satisfy?
​
  1. How would you define the differences in “Bible fluency” and “gospel fluency”? Why are both necessary for the Christian life? How is either without the other detrimental?
  2. Briefly define the gospel. Once you feel good about your definition, think about how that has changed or grown in depth over the last 6 weeks in this series. What has this process been like for you?
  3. We have talked about how Jesus is better than the other things in our life (the better boss, the better food, the better raise, the better joy… etc.) Now, let’s do the same looking at personalities from scripture. Pick at least five from the list below: in the first column below, write a few words about that biblical person, and how he/she did/didn’t fulfill his/her role. In the second column write a few words that describe how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the person’s role, in a way they never could, to the glory of God:
Jesus is the Better
Human in That Role (did well in part / failed to do)
Jesus in That Role
Eg. Melchizedek
Genesis 14
​Priest of the most high, took a small tithe, pronounced a blessing over Abraham, offered wine and bread in celebration
Hebrews 5
​Jesus is the better High Priest, in a priestly order which predates the Levites. He paid the tithe infinitely, he is the blessing eternally. 
​Offers the best wine and bread, his flesh and blood.
Adam
____________________________
____________________________
Abel
____________________________
____________________________
Abraham​
____________________________
____________________________
Isaac
____________________________
____________________________
Jacob
____________________________
____________________________
Joseph
​____________________________
____________________________
Moses
____________________________
____________________________
Job
____________________________
____________________________
Esther
____________________________
____________________________
Jonah
____________________________
____________________________
For more practice in this skill, compare Jesus to inanimate objects, too: the rock of Moses, manna, the temple, light, water, fruit in the garden, animal sacrifice and more.
​

As you rest in the fact that Jesus is the key to every theme and text of the Bible, read—and pray that God will help you believe and rest in—this truth: “Jesus is the point of every story, the fulfillment of every longing, the completion of everything that is lacking. Every character, story, and theme points to him, because it’s really all about him.” Consider writing out your thoughts and prayers as you reflect.
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Gospel Fluency:  The Gospel Around The Table

2/2/2020

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Matthew 26:26-28
Luke 22:14-23
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Thoughtfully read the following excerpts from the Gospel Fluency Handbook together…

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he shared the Passover meal with his disciples. That meal commemorated the night when God struck down every firstborn son of Egypt while protecting his people from the same fate. Their protection came through the Passover lambs that were sacrificed and eaten inside homes where the doorposts had been covered with the lambs’ blood. This was the final straw for Pharaoh, and he finally let God’s people go. Ever after, the Passover was a remembrance meal of God’s redemption of Israel out of slavery.

At his last meal with his disciples before his death, Jesus showed how every Passover meal was pointing to him. And at this meal, Jesus changed the Passover to the Lord’s Supper as his meal. It became a meal at which we remember how he redeemed us out of slavery to sin and Satan by becoming the true and better sacrificial Lamb of God for us.

Jesus picked up the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying: “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Paul said, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). We should remember him regularly with the meal and practice proclaiming his death to each other through it.

Another helpful practice for both remembrance and growth in gospel proclamation is to speak the gospel through the elements to each other’s needs, hurts, and longings in small-group gatherings or missional-community meetings. I first tried this during a missional-community gathering at our home in January several years back. I explained to our group that I wanted each of them to share something they were struggling with; a desire they had that was yet to be met; or doubts or fears they might be experiencing. Then one of us would take the bread and the cup, and speak the truths of Jesus’ body given and blood shed for us to the need… We [went] around the circle: one after another, we confessed our need for a Savior, and one after another, we proclaimed the good news of Jesus to our very real needs. It was an incredibly joyous and tear-filled experience of grace!

I’ve led this same experience many times now with brand-new Christians as well as church leaders. It isn’t always the same experience. Some are not very fluent in the gospel and therefore struggle with how to speak it to specific needs. However, I let people know that’s okay when I start and that those in the group will help one another. I usually ask for someone to volunteer to share, and let the person to the right know he or she will be asked to speak the gospel to the need. I then say: “If you don’t know what to say, let us know and the rest of us will help. Over time, we will all get better at this.”

God has given us many ways to remember him and grow in proclaiming the gospel. They are around us all the time in what is called general revelation—creation and the rhythms of life within it. Our job is to learn to see the truths of God around us and speak the truths of the gospel into it. The meal—“the Jesus Supper”—is the one he told us to use to regularly remember him. It is also one of the most effective ways I have found to train us to do this in all the other places of life as well.

Start with the meal every week, then practice remembering Jesus at the others meals, and you will have twenty-two stops through your week in gospel remembrance and proclamation. If you do this, you will be well on your way to growing in gospel fluency with others!

  1. Considering the content you read, in your own words describe the concept of “the Lord’s Supper” or “communion” (or in some traditions, “eucharist”).
  2. What has been your understanding of, and personal experience with, “the Lord’s Supper”? If there is brokenness, misunderstanding, or even guilt or baggage associated with this, are there ways the gospel can become good news, even to that reality? In what ways can others help you through that?
  3. In what ways can you see it as remembering Jesus’ death for our sins? In what ways can you see it as a proclamation of that death, to ourselves and to others?
  4. The reading above describes how the Lord’s Supper, taken in community, can be a meaningful venue for speaking good news over each other: 
    1. In what specific ways is Jesus’ death, which we remember and proclaim with the bread and wine of communion, good news to the areas you’ve been wrestling through over the course of this Handbook ? Spend a decent amount of time on this question, answer it in light of the different areas of struggle, and worship God for Jesus’ death for every one of those struggles.
    2. Now take some time for this helpful practice, for both remembrance and growth in gospel proclamation, speak the gospel through the elements to each other’s needs, hurts, and longings in your life group. In the video your leader has, Jeff provides some examples of how this looks. Please take time to prayerfully speak the gospel into each others areas of need and vulnerability. Discern together, and lift up Christ to each other as the one who meets each need best!
  5. As you wrap up this focus on the specific meal by which Jesus calls his followers to remember him, read—and pray that God will help you believe and rest in—this truth: “God has given us many ways to remember him and grow in proclaiming the gospel. They are around us all the time in what is called general revelation—creation and the rhythms of life within it. Our job is to learn to see the truths of God around us and speak the truths of the gospel into it.” Consider writing out your thoughts and prayers as you reflect.
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Gospel Fluency: The Gospel In My Mind

1/26/2020

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Thanks to Saturate the World for major sections of this study.

While the war of the mind is a personal war for everyone, it doesn’t have to be an individual war. It’s helpful to know that the ultimate Helper—God the Spirit—and those in your close community are in the foxholes with you, fighting on the front lines for your holiness. In chapter eight of Gospel Fluency, Jeff Vanderstelt writes: 


When I am teaching people how to fight with gospel truths, I introduce some cues to help them discover the aspect of the gospel they may need to press into. For instance, if someone is struggling with guilt or shame for what he been done, I encourage him to go to the cross where Jesus died and remember his words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). We need the reminder that Jesus’s death paid for all our sin, past, present, and future. He atoned for our sin, removed our guilt, and covered our shame.

If someone is struggling to overcome sin, I might encourage her to remember and believe in the resurrection, where Jesus condemned sin’s power. He gives us the same power to overcome by the Spirit who raised him from the dead. 

Some are dealing with feelings of inadequacy in their behavior and lean toward performance-based acceptance. If so, I direct them to remember Jesus’s life, perfectly lived in their place, and the Father’s words spoken over Jesus (words that are now ours in Jesus): “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). 

Whatever the struggle, the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus gives life, hope, and power. And by faith in Christ, every attribute, characteristic, and blessing that belongs to Jesus is available to us because of our unity with him. 

In essence, fighting with gospel truths is trusting in and putting on ourselves all that is true of Jesus, and therefore also true of us in Jesus. 

This week’s group exercise puts that into practice as you consider going from “fruit to root” to “root to fruit” together. If your group is larger than six people, you might want to divide into groups of three or four to make sure everyone gets a chance to participate. We’ll encourage you to “let your group in”—especially if there are areas you’re having a hard time reconstructing right belief. It can feel shameful, but by God’s design you need each other in those areas especially!

First, looking at the Tree Diagrams and considering the four questions, have each person…

  1. Share one or two areas of unbelief he or she processed (unbelief in the sense of continued patterns of difficulty in trusting God in a particular area or type of situation / places in our lives in which we have not trusted God to rule well over us, we’ve desired control when it really belongs to him), along with specific ways God used that process to establish greater belief in his or her heart and mind. This is the process we walked through in our groups last week using some of the x-ray questions.
  2. Share at least one area you need help deconstructing disbelief based on the “fruit to root” process and reconstructing right belief based on the “root to fruit” process.
Picture
​After each person shares, together as a group . . . 

  1. Celebrate God’s work in each person as He worked through His Spirit to establish new areas of belief in former unbelief. 
  2. Lovingly serve one another as you help deconstruct unbelief and reconstruct right belief in areas others need help. 
  3. Why is it so easy to miss the “root” of our sin and disbelief, and instead try to merely solve or fix the “fruit”? What’s the result, both short-term and long-term of stopping at the “fruit” instead of getting to the “root”?
  4. Apply the gospel, even to this conversation: sometimes it’s hard to get to the root of things. Discuss why it’s difficult to “dig beneath the surface,” and why it’s hard to ask others for help in our own fights for holiness. Consider those reasons, in light of this week’s and previous weeks’ content.
  5. Consider if there are any commitments you need to make to help one another live consistently in light of newfound belief.

If you still have time, look together at Ephesians 6:10-18. List off the items of the armor of God that Paul talks about and discuss which is the most difficult for you to think about putting on. Dig into why this may be. How can you speak the gospel to each other and help to see Jesus as the one who has given this to you already. What do you need to begin believing about him in order to allow you to conquer this?!
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Gospel Fluency: What Do You Truly Love?

1/19/2020

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This Sunday, Jo Antonio pointed us toward an examination of our own heart and what we love. Jo said that our actions flow from what it is we love, so let’s spend some time digging into this with the help of some questions from the Gospel Fluency Handbook by Jeff Vanderstelt and Ben Connolly.

How do you define the word love? Pull out your phones and get some technical definitions. Do you have a more nuanced definition to offer? In what ways do you love according to your definition? In what ways do you receive love like this?

“What do you get most excited about? What has most captured your affections? Be honest for a moment. What is it? Who is it? And why has it or he or she captured your heart? And if your affections have been captured, how have you been affected? What do you do in light of your heart being captured? Most importantly, has Jesus captured your affections? Why or why not? Are you impressed with him? It will show, you know. If he has captured your affections, you will not be able to stop talking about him.”
        These questions are similar to those that respected counselor Dr. David Powlison asks in his article, “X-Ray Questions.” Originally published in 1999, “each question circles around the same basic issue: Who or what is your functional God/god? Many of the questions simply derive from the verbs that relate you to God: love, trust, fear, hope, seek, obey, take refuge, and the like. Each verb holds out a lamp to guide us to Him who is way, truth, and life. But each verb also may be turned into a question, holding up a mirror to show us where we stray. Each question comes at the same general question. In individual situations – different times, places, people—one or another may be more appropriate and helpful. Different ways of formulating the motivation question will ring the bells of different people.” 3 Powlison’s article includes 35 questions; we’ve included 10 below. Choose at least five questions to answer honestly, and please don’t pretend that your answer to each one is truthfully “Jesus.” (Meaning, don’t answer how you think you should, answer with honesty.)
  • What do you want, desire, crave, lust and wish for? What desires do you serve and obey?
  • What do you seek, aim for, pursue? What are your goals and expectations?
  • What do you fear? What do you want? What do you tend to worry about?
  • Where do you find refuge, safety, comfort, escape, pleasure, security?
  • What or who do you trust?
  • On your deathbed, what would sum up your life as worthwhile? What gives your life meaning?
  • Whose victory or success would make your life happy? How do you define victory and success?
  • What do you see as your rights? What do you feel entitled to?
  • How do you spend your time? Who are your priorities?
  • What are your characteristic fantasies, either pleasurable or fearful? Daydreams? What do your night dreams revolve around?

Think about the things you answered in Question #2: write a few of them in the left column below. In the middle column, write a few of the reasons that thing is so precious to you. Finally, in the right column, compare each one to Jesus: are you more impressed with, excited about, and affectionate toward that thing/person, or toward Jesus? Why do you think that is? Remember, these are not inherently negative or sinful things. We’re just looking at their place in our life, and in relation to Christ's place in our life.​
What You Love



​

Why You Love It​



​

Love For That
vs
​Love For Jesus

​

What are some of the things that most amaze you, stir your affections for, and excite you about Jesus? What is about who he is, what he’s done in his life, death, and resurrection, that is especially “good news” to you right now? Write down at least five*, and pursue ways in the next few days to work through each with someone else—maybe with someone who follows Jesus and someone who doesn’t.

For each thing you wrote down, work as a group to point each other to truths in scripture which reinforce the beauty, sufficiency, and worthiness of Jesus over (and sometimes against) what we easily settle for loving more than him. Maybe write these down and meditate on them throughout the week.


As you ponder the person and work of Jesus, and your love for him, read—and pray that God will help you believe and rest in—this truth: “You will talk about [Jesus] if you love him. If you don’t, start talking about him, what’s he’s done, and what he’s done for you, and you will love him. And you’ll begin to see more and more clearly how wonderful his gospel is and how powerfully it works. As a result, you will talk about Jesus more and more. He is the best news there is.” Consider writing out your thoughts and prayers as you reflect.
​
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Gospel Fluency:  God's Story Is Your Story

1/12/2020

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In his sermon on the one, true, great, story, Pastor Matt walked through the gospel. This is God’s main narrative, it is the record of him pursuing his people, and the plan he’s had to redeem us all along. 

Yet so often we get side tracked. The story which provides us with our primary identity as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus, this story gets lost in the immediacy of crisis and daily grit. So often we quickly slip back into our default narrative of coping, believing lesser stories which have lesser heroes that temporarily deliver so we can enjoy lesser things. It’s sad but so regularly true. 

Take turns around the group to each read a paragraph from the Gospel Fluency Handbook before moving on to dig in deeper.
​“When people say they are saved , what do they mean? Think of this chapter as a vocabulary lesson. To become fluent in any language, you must develop your vocabulary. So let’s delve into the aspects of the gospel that are expressed in the person and work of Jesus more fully.

Belief in the gospel is not a one-time decision or a conviction that we need salvation only for our past lives and future afterlives. Belief in the gospel is an ongoing expression of our ongoing need for Jesus. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Rom. 1:16). What do we believe? What are we putting our faith in?

Jesus’ life represents both the righteousness of God in human form and the perfect fulfillment of the standard of righteousness on behalf of humanity. If you want to know what the righteousness of God looks like, you look at Jesus’ life, and if you want to be declared righteous by God, you need to have faith in how Jesus lived on your behalf, not just in how he died. We all needed a new human to give birth to a new humanity—a perfect man who is also the true image of God, fully displaying what God is like by living a fully submitted and obedient life before God. Jesus is that man. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15). We need more than the humble life of Christ. We also need the victorious rule and ministry of Christ to overcome Satan’s schemes, bring healing and restoration to the brokenness that sin produces, and provide reconciliation between God and man.

Jesus was betrayed, arrested, wrongly accused, and crucified. The perfect Son of God, the righteousness of God, the one who knew no sin, became sin at the cross so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We needed a perfect substitute—one without sin, fully pleasing to God—who would die in our place. The Bible says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23). Our sin, our rebellion, every way in which we fall short of the glory of God, were put on Jesus at the cross. His perfect life was exchanged for our life of sin. Jesus died for our sins. He took our sins on himself—on his real physical, human body—and then died for them. Our sins were buried with Jesus. They were not just removed and put in another place. They were destroyed by his death. If your faith is in Jesus, your sins, past, present, and future, were terminated through Jesus’ death.

[Jesus] was raised on the third day and appeared to more than five hundred people. He was raised with a glorified body, one without sin. This was a body for the new creation. The gospel doesn’t just bring about forgiveness of sins and save us from hell. The gospel of Jesus Christ empowers us to live a whole new life today by the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. After Jesus rose from the dead, he ascended to the right hand of God the Father, where he is now making intercession on our behalf. He is continually praying for us, willing to empower us by his Spirit in us, and speaking a better word over us than Satan, sin, or our past experiences speak.

After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, God sent his Spirit to wake us up from spiritual death, convict us of our sin, make the truths of the gospel clear to our hearts, grant us repentance and faith, and bring about new life as a result. By his Spirit, we are born again from the dead, spiritually speaking. We become new creations in Christ. Each of us has a new nature, a new identity, and a new purpose. And the Spirit in those who believe is a sign of all of this. The Spirit is also the means by which we have the power to live entirely new and different lives. He is the sign that we are forgiven and cleansed, changed and made new, chosen and adopted by God—he wants us, he chose us, he changed us, he empowers us, and he loves us.

All of this is a gift. It is all by grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8–9).”
Read the following passages together. Take time to discuss the idea of faith and salvation in each. 
Mark 1:9-11
Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-26, 8:9-17 
1 Corinthians 15:1-6, 15:20-23 
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 
Philippians 2:6-8

When it comes to salvation, think of these 3 elements: 
You were saved from the penalty of sin. Jesus did this on the cross, fully, ultimately.
You are being saved from the power of sin. The Holy Spirit is in your corner, daily. While we’re no longer living in fear of the ultimate penalty of sin, it’s power must be overcome daily in our lives through the greater power of the Holy Spirit.
You will be saved from the presence of sin. This is in heaven, where there will be no more sin. The promise is beautiful, and we get a little taste of this each day as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Matt gave the example of someone who has built their life around a defective alternate story. He asked that we examine the ultimate career oriented man as a case study. 

Creation: your friends identity is based upon his performance, He wants to be known in his field of business, and he is only a success if his career reaches a certain height. Which makes him incredibly insecure.

Fall: His career or the hunger for success is his god and he is laying his life down before it in worship because he thinks it will answer the question of your identity and purpose.
Redemption: His saviour is himself, he overworks himself trying to make it to the top. Trying to overcome any obstacle or even doing things he shouldn’t do to try to get the edge.

New Creation: His hope is in his success, or maybe that big break, or finally achieving that desired success…He believes that life will be better once he hits that next level. So he works harder and sacrifices more of himself and his family thinking it will be for just a short time until he hits that next level…but that level comes and nothing changes, and he is left just as unsatisfied as before... the cycle starts over again.

In this example it is easy to see how the life story of this man is defective. But what about you? Where do you slip into believing a story other than the gospel?

For example, something as simple as not taking time to be with God in prayer and reading His word regularly? Do you struggle with this? Why? What is the narrative of your life which gives room for this to be normal? Are you too busy? Is your concept of leisure overly elevated? Are you too exhausted at the end of the day and it’s way too hard to wake up earlier in the morning? If this is someone in your group, how to do you speak the gospel fluently into their life without being legalistic? (Repetition doesn’t equal salvation, but the enjoyment of something leads to particular behaviours). 
How does the gospel speak to anxiety?
How does the gospel inform addiction?
Does the story of God in the gospel have anything to say to the person who always has anger bubbling just under the surface?
What about bad collegial relationships or stress at work
What about body image or personal insecurity?
Our culture says that we should look to experts, medications, wardrobe, etc. for our salvation. Each of these have a place, but they are the lesser, and Christ is the greater. But how do you speak gospel into this? Spend some time working through the examples above, or share your areas of struggle with each other if you feel ok with that. Keep this in mind as you speak into someone else's story, "Give them Jesus!"
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Gospel Fluency

1/5/2020

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​Looking back over the sermon this week, discuss at least one or two of the following questions with your Life Group. As you discuss, remember your commitment to be honest, and to help each other “grow up in Christ” by “speaking truth in love” with each other (Eph. 4:1-16).
  1. What concepts were new, or especially stood out, from this week’s sermon? What was difficult from the sermon? What questions arose for you after thinking it over?
  2. As a group, how would we together define the concepts: “unbelief,” and “gospel fluency”?

A key concept is this: “Language fluency requires immersion into a community of people who speak the language constantly. Gospel fluency requires immersion into a community of people so saturated with the gospel of Jesus Christ that they just can’t stop speaking the truths of Jesus wherever they go and in whatever situations they find themselves.”

  1. In what ways does our group reflect this picture of community?
  2. In what ways don’t we, and why (what barriers, temptations, and lies might exist)? Or, in what areas of your own life is it the most difficult for you to speak the gospel into, or to trust the truth of the power of the gospel message? Some examples of probing questions to help illuminate these areas are (feel free to add your own): 
  • What do you get the most frustrated or angry with? 
  • What does you Google search history look like?
  • Do you have things which could be considered ‘coping mechanisms’?
  1. Are there any commitments we can make together in light of this, as we pursue “gospel immersion” together?
  2. Apply the gospel, even to this conversation: in what ways do we need the truth and power of God the Father (seen most clearly in the life, death, and resurrection of God the Son, and empowered in us by God the Spirit) to help make us a community that overcomes barriers, talks about Jesus, speaks truth in love to each other, and grows together in Christ?
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