Week 5 | Experience New Life
Summary of this week’s material: Committing to a church is a milestone event. Experiencing new life with Jesus among the people of Jesus is what this message is all about.
How to use it: After watching/listening to this week’s message, from March 6, 2022, use the questions to go deeper into the message, with your group…or on your own. The questions will introduce you to the topic, reflect content from the sermon, go ‘Beyond the Message’, & get you thinking about practical applications for your life.
1) Share a story about ‘membership’. For example: The first membership you recall having. The amount of memberships you currently have. An example of a benefit you have received from being a member of something.
2) What stands out to you as the most compelling insight from this week’s sermon?
3) One definition of ‘church’ is ‘the body of Christ’. Although body can have many definitions, we will define it as a group of people organized for a purpose. This purpose is two-fold: inner purpose & outer purpose.
a) Read Romans 12:4-8. From what Pastor Mark shared and your understanding of this text, what does it mean to be the body of Christ?
b) Read Matthew 5:14-16. From what Pastor Mark shared and your understanding of this text, what does it mean to be the body of Christ?
4) Church is designed to help us build a community of people to connect with, support and encourage. Pastor Mark spoke about “3 a.m. people”. Do you have some? Is there someone that you could be or are a “3 a.m. person” to?
5) Have you heard someone make a comment like, “I love Jesus but can’t stand the church.”? Read Acts 9:1-5 and determine what these verses would suggest regarding this philosophy.
6) In the Bible, there are several “one another” commands that promote unity, humility, and love. If you Google “one anothers in Scripture” or skim through books of the Bible such as Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, & Colossians, you will come across several. Take some time to find some “one another” commands and discuss what they reveal about new life with Jesus among the people of Jesus.
7) We have discussed the church being the ‘body of Christ’. There are other synonyms for church, in the Bible, including ‘bride of Christ’, as referred to in Ephesians 5:25-30. Read these verses and discuss why the church is described this way.
For those interested in membership, contact Pastor Mark at mark@westmeadows.org or call the church office.
