Core Convictions – Study #5
Obedience: God’s Love Language
Sunday’s Teaching: We are five weeks into our CORE CONVICTIONS series. In our time together on Sunday, we saw that our new life in Jesus is not simply about what we have been saved or rescued from. But (and equally as important), that we are saved and rescued for something. John is convinced of this truth, and finds his motivation coupled in God’s past promises that were kept in and through Jesus’ life and victorious resurrection, and that Jesus will one day return to have a final victory over all brokenness and evil. We said it this way, “God’s power and promise prompt my obedience.”
In this Connect Group Study, our focus is on Article 8 and 9 of the Evangelical Free Church of America Statement of Faith (SOF). All 10 Articles are below.
Let’s get STARTED – Take time to pray before you jump into God’s Word. .
As a group, pray for:
God to soften our hearts as we read His Word.
God’s Spirit to give you insight into the passage and into your own lives.
Ask for strength and endurance to cooperate with the Spirit as He prompts change and growth in your life.
That God would let us see the impact He is having on others through us.
Let’s Explore in the WORD – This week, let’s go back and dig into I John 2:28-310, and then let’s see what John teaches us about how we are supposed to live as Jesus followers.
Step 1: Read the passage out loud as a group. As it is being read, look for these key words.
Abide / Appeared & Coming / Children of God or God’s Children
Take time to circle or underline those words, and make observations about the passage.
As a group talk about what ideas or truths stand out to you from those key words. Remember, keep an eye on the context around the key words.
Step 2: As a group write down 2 or 3 principles from your observations above.
In step 1, you made observations around the key words of the passage. They are the ideas or truths that stood out to you.
Now, as a group talk back through those and distill them down to 2 or 3 really big or central ideas / truth. Ie. What seems most important or most clear from the text?
Let’s Prioritize APPLICATION
From the principles you made from the passage what is one key truth that stands out to you? And, how should that truth be applied to your life this week? Remember, be specific… think action step.
The key ideas from Sunday:
We are saved from our sin and death, and saved for energetic mission with Jesus.
Energetic mission is expressed in my abiding (keeping on) with God personally and in community.
I am motivated for energetic mission by an expectancy that he is coming again.
Application needs to be specific and attainable. What step does God want you to take this week?
Pray for one another.
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The Evangelical Free Church of America SOF
Statement of Faith articles
God
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
The Bible
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
The Human Condition
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
The Work of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Church
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
Christian Living
We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Christ’s Return
We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.
Response and Eternal Destiny
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen
What have you learned from the first 5 Articles as we’ve studied them in our Gather Worship Teaching?