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 Introduction:

The Need for God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-17)

The Filling of God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)

The Evidence of God’s Spirit (Ephesians 5:19-21)

     Worship (v19)

     Thankfulness (v20)

     Submission (v21)

Conclusion:

Sermon Questions for Ephesians 5: 15-21

We are reformatting the sermon base small group questions.  We will be using this new format to reinforce the small group philosophy of moving people towards Christ likeness in their head, heart, and hands by using specific prayer, Scripture, sharing, and service.  There will be more content than you can cover, so please plan ahead and pick only what will impact your group.  I am treating the crawl as opening questions to get people talking, but feel free to skip it if that’s not an issue in your group.  If you have feedback, please let David Fuquay know at dfuquay@jacksonvillechapel.org.  This is an experiment, so please be patient as we try different things. Thank you.

SPECIFIC PRAYER  (suggestions)

Spend some time praying to be controlled by the Spirit tonight and this week.

Go around the room and ask everyone one thing they are exceedingly thankful for.

Spend time in silent confession (or out loud if your group is ready) on times when you were not under the Spirit’s influence this week.

Please pray for those who were on Flight 1549 that they would all come to faith because of their new found reflection on life.

SCRIPTURE AND SHARING

Crawl:

Who had the biggest influence on you as a kid?  Who has the biggest influence on you now?

Alfred Nobel, the inventor of modern dynamite, woke up one morning to read his own obituary (by mistake).  It disturbed him so much; he changed his life to the point where now we remember him not for dynamite, but for the Nobel Peace Prize.  If you were to read your own obituary, what would you want it to say?  How do you want to be remembered?

On Thursday, Flight 1549 crashed in the Hudson with 150 people on board.  If you were on that flight, how do you think that would affect you? How do you think you’d be feeling that same day?  A couple of days later?  Month later? Years later?

What is one thing that you should be more thankful for, that you usually take for granted?

Walk:

What does the Holy Spirit have to do with our lives? 

Read the entire passage as a group, Ephesians 5:15-21

Are you letting your life slip by?  Are you letting things just happen? Are you stumbling through life?  Or, are you being careful with your life (v 15)?

Why is it so easy to allow life to slip by?  Why is it important to not let it slip by?  Do you live life as if you only have one live to live?

What does it mean to make wise choices, according to v18?

How do we make wise choices on a daily basis?  What process should we go through to determine if it is a wise or unwise choice?

Do you think we will be held accountable for every opportunity the Lord gives us?  Do you think we have bountiful, innumerable opportunities or only a few?

What makes the days evil?

How do we understand what the Lord’s will is in general?  Specifically for your life? (In this passage, we find out that knowing God’s will, and doing God’s will, has everything to do with your connection with the Holy Spirit.)

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? (controlled)  How do you live by the Spirit, since the Spirit lives within us as Christians?  (cf Eph 5:13-14, 1 Cor 6:19 and for the answer see John 15:5)

Why does Paul single out being drunk with wine as leading to debauchery?  Is it wrong for a Christian to drink alcohol at all, or only if it spills into drunkenness?

What is true worship (v19b)?  See also Colossians 3:16.

Are you thankful for everything or do you focus on the scratch (the less than perfect parts)?  If not, how can you change this attitude and become more thankful?

What is hard about submitting to another person?  What is hard about submitting to the Spirit?

Run:

In what areas do you need to take a good hard look at your life and make some changes? (Look again at verses 15 through 17)

The consistent message of the Bible is: life is so precious! So use it well. Use it wisely.  Are you using your life wisely right now?

Are there some things in your life; could be alcohol, TV, the internet, anything, that is wasting your life?  What can you do to minimize that and increase the control of the Spirit?

Dave talked about being filled with the Spirit and drawing near to Jesus by “reading His word, and meditating on it, and consciously relying on Him.”  Out of those 3 areas, which area do you need to improve most?  How can this group help you improve in this area?

Verses 18-21 walk the believer through several areas of behavior (drunkenness), attitude (worship) and speech (thanksgiving).  How does this relate to last week when we walked through sexual immorality, greed, and foolish talk?

Key Words and Further Study:

Read Through Galatians 5:16-26 and talk about living in the Spirit.   So important to living in the Spirit?

Read through John 15 and Hebrews 10:22.  Discuss how you draw closer to Jesus.

SERVICE (fodder for ideas)

We have fantastic ministries at the Chapel for people who are blocked in their spiritual journey and need some type of support.  We call these Family Life ministries and they include, but not limited to: Benevolence (financial and emotional), Life Givers (life threatening illness), Loaves and Fishes (supplemental food), Overcomers in Christ (addictions), Sexual Integrity Group, DivorceCare (separated or divorced), REAL (wounded youth), Community Intervention/Crisis, Youth/Family mentoring, Disabilities Ministry, Helping Hands (homeless) Marriage Plus (strengthening families), GreifShare (grieving over death) and Diabetes Support Group.  What could this group do in order to support one or all of these ministries?  What would make an impact in their work?  For more information or to get involved, contact the Family Life office (973-334-6657) or KathyP@Jacksonvillechapel.org.