Week 2

God’s People

Ephesians 1:15-23

Opening: When have you been a part of a team, in sports or with other groups? What was the team’s goal and what role did you play? (If you participated last week, share also with the group how Scripture memorization and practicing community went.)

Examine the Passage: Read Ephesians 1:15-23

• What does Paul, the author, praise them for in vs 15?
• What are some of the specific prayer requests Paul makes for these fellow believers (vs. 17-19)? Grab a pen and highlight or circle some of these key words.
• Which of these things do you most need to pray for at this point in your life and why?
• Paul prayed that you may know God better (vs 17). What is the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God? Practically, what can we do to know God better?
• How does God demonstrate God’s power to us (vs.19-20)? Have you experienced this power in your daily life?
• Are you more tempted to live as though you have lots of power and do not need God’s help, or are you more tempted to live as though you are powerless without drawing on God? Explain.
• We find the Church referred to as Christ’s Body in vs 22-23, with Christ as the leader. What point was the author emphasizing with the repetitive use of the words ‘all’ and ‘every’ (vs. 21-23)?

Explore the Theme: Interdependence. “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:5)

• Discuss what character traits are necessary for different parts of the Body of Christ to function well together. (Consider again your former team experiences. What helped your team to work together well? Or what hindered it?)
• In what specific ways do you see interdependence, humility, and/or unity displayed in our own church? In what specific ways do we need to grow in our interdependence at LAC?
• How have you personally experienced being a part of the Body of Christ? How have you cared for others, and/or how have you been cared for by others?

Engage Your Life: Practice Praying for and with Others. This next week pursue developing a regular rhythm of turning to God on behalf of others. Notice when people come to mind and make that an opportunity to pray for them. Make it a habit to turn to God in prayer after hearing or reading the news. If someone shares a worry or concern with you, offer to pray for them, and then pray right then and there. If someone asks for prayer in an e-mail or text message, pray and write back to them a written prayer. Consider asking a friend, family member, or co-worker how you can pray for them. As a group you will now take time to share with one another prayer requests. Write those requests down and commit to praying for them another time during the coming week. Consider sending a message mid-week to people letting them know how you prayed for them.

Praying Grace and Peace: Provide time for each person to answer the question ‘How can we be praying for you?’ Together, pray for each of these requests and include in your corporate prayer time a prayer for grace and peace to come to the Body of Christ.

Week 3

God’s Handiwork

Ephesians 2:1-10

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/288993682

Opening: Share with the group two skills or abilities you have or things in which you are good at. Consider highlighting an unusual thing you are good at. (If you participated last week, share also how practicing prayer went.)

Examine the Passage: Read Ephesians 2:1-10

• In Ephesians 2:1, we find that we were dead, or separated from God, in our “transgressions and sins.” It is often easy to gloss over sins or consider them ‘not that bad.’ Take time in the group to have a conversation about some common sins, found in the church or in society, that are easily brushed aside as not a big deal. (If you are comfortable share personal temptations. Later, on your own time, you will likely want to practice confession in your private prayer time.)
• The word “But” found in vs. 4 changes everything. What does God do for us? And why does God do it (vs. 4-5)? Grab a pen and highlight or circle significant words or phrases here.
• In your own life and personal story of redemption, what was something that helped you grasp God’s love for you and move you from being “dead,” in your sins, to “alive” in Christ?
• Reading vs. 8-10, we find that “grace,” and not “works,” saves us. But we also find that we are created “to do good works.” Discuss as a group the difference between the works found in verse 9 and the works found in verse 10.
• How does thinking about yourself as “God’s handiwork” affect how you feel about yourself (vs. 10)?
• Re-read vs 10 and circle or highlight key words related to your identity.

Explore the Theme: Good works. “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24

Discern what good deeds you are being called to now during this season of your life. Consider the words of Frederick Buechner as a guide, “God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

• Share as a group specific issues you care deeply about or feel especially burdened by. Where do you grieve that God’s Kingdom has not fully come to reign?
• Describe something that brings you joy.
• You already began your time sharing specific skills or abilities you have, but feel free to share additional ones.
• Now, look for a way to serve that lines up closely to the intersection of your burdens, joys and skills. Help one another brainstorm here! (Often times we can play an important role in someone else’s service by spurring one another on or by encouraging each other. A very tangible way you can do that is by telling one another skills or ministries in which we think the other would be good at.)

If you have not found a place to regularly serve in your life, here are four suggestions: (1) reach out to different LAC staff members for discernment about where to contribute at LAC or in the community, (2) check out the ‘serving opportunities’ section in the weekly Lake Ave News publication, (3) visit the Pathways Center on the west end of the Worship Center Lobby after any worship service to discuss how to get involved, and (4) visit www.lakeave.org/volunteer.

Engage Your Life: Serving. This is an important week to engage in the good works you were created to do. Commit to serve. Begin by choosing a small act of service to someone you see daily or weekly, either because you live with them, work with them, or go to school with them. Then consider if you are not yet regularly serving in the community or at our church, what is the next step you need to take to make a regular commitment? Come ready next week to share about a small act of service which you did for someone else.

Praying Grace and Peace: Throughout this series we are encouraging everyone to pray for grace and peace to come to all. (As a refresher, grace refers to the kindness God has shown us to redeem us and give us access to God through the work of Christ on the cross. Peace refers to the gift of God to set right, and make whole, all the different aspects of our lives.)

Begin by sharing prayer requests, then provide a couple of quiet moments of individual prayer time for confession. Finally, go to corporate prayer for one another, and for praying grace and peace to come for all.

Week 4

One

Ephesians 2:11-22

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/288993682

Opening: When have you wanted to become a part of a new group? Perhaps it was at school, or at work, with a group of friends, or maybe a club, or perhaps it was moving to a new area, or even a new country. What was your experience like? (If you participated last week, share also with the group how practicing serving went.)

Examine the Passage: Ephesians 2:11-22

• What words did Paul use to describe the Gentiles, non-Jewish people, before they were reconciled to Christ in verses 11-13?
• What was the purpose of Christ and how did he fulfill it (vs.14-16)?
• Grab a pen and circle or highlight key words or phrases that describe what has been given to Gentiles now that they are reconciled to God in verses 13, 17-19. Share with the group.
• Have you experienced “access to the Father”? How has that changed you? (vs. 18)
• In Christ, Jews and Gentiles, which were previously separate ethnic and cultural groups that strongly disliked one another, were now being “joined together” (vs. 21) into the “household” of God (vs. 19) to be the “dwelling” place of God (vs. 22). Imagine, how challenging would it be for them to live out this new oneness? What challenges often come up when groups of people who used to be separate come together to form one group?
• Paul uses three different metaphors to help the Ephesians understand their new oneness – fellow citizens (vs 19), family members (vs.19) and a whole building (vs. 21). Which metaphor resonates most with you and why?

Explore the Theme: Family of God. “Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 13:1

• The family metaphor adds elements of tenderness, loyalty and concern for one another. Have you experienced those yet as a part of the family of God? When has the family of God nurtured or sustained you? How should our interactions with each other be different given we are part of the same family, God’s family?
• How does fear of rejection play a role in someone being a full member in the family of God? How can you help someone overcome that fear? What might indicate that a person is afraid of being rejected? When do you feel most at risk for being rejected?
• How can we better include different groups in our church? What changes do we need to make to encourage more openness to include others? How can we be “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives?”
• What “dividing walls” or “barriers” (referred to in vs. 14) exist today between different groups that you believe Jesus wants to bring down? What role might you play in reconciling others and bringing oneness to the family of God?

Engage Your Life: Practice Understanding. During this next week consider how you can be a partner with Christ in bringing oneness in the family of God. Meet with someone different than you and ask them to tell you more of their story. Listen as deeply as you can, and only for understanding, during this meeting. Maintain a posture that is curious, rather than critical. Seek to gain a deeper understanding of this person. If a face to face meeting is not possible, consider reading a first-person account of a person different than you. Again, maintain a posture that is curious, rather than critical. Come ready next week to share what you learned, mostly about yourself, during this process.

Praying Grace and Peace: Share prayer requests with one another. Consider how you can not only pray for one another during this meeting but throughout the week. Provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to reflect on thanking God for including you in God’s family. Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.

Week 5

Together

Ephesians 3:1-13

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/293758970

Open:  When have you been welcomed and received well?  Recount the ways people reached out to you.  (If you participated last week, share with the group how practicing understanding went.  Share what you learned about yourself during this process.)

Examine the Passage: Ephesians 3:1-13.

• This section bookends with Paul as a “prisoner” with “sufferings.” (vs. 1 and 13).  And yet it is not a discouragement to him.  What seems to be giving Paul encouragement? 
• What is the “mystery of Christ” accomplished “through the gospel?” What does the passage tell us the Gentiles become? (vs.6). Grab a pen and highlight or circle key words or phrases because we, too, like the Gentiles become this.
• Is the reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles old news, or does it matter today? Explain. 
• What do you infer about the character of God, knowing this is God’s plan for the church?
• How can we approach God? Why can we do this? (vs. 12).   

Explore the Theme: Harmony.  “Live in harmony with one another.  Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.  Do not be conceited.”  Romans 12:16

• In what ways does pride impact unity and inclusion? How have you observed that in your own life? Or in Christian communities?
• What role does prejudice and favoritism play in disharmony? How have you observed that in your own life? Or in Christian communities?
• What kinds of cultural behaviors or expectations have you observed in different churches? How should you respond to those who act differently from you?
• How can you work to promote harmony and unity among Christians?

Engage Your Life: Practice Hospitality.   Reimagine hospitality in light of Romans 15:7, “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”  Intentionally consider how you can welcome and accept someone.  With your words and your actions, actively engage in being an includer this week.  Seek to communicate that someone belongs, as they are, rather than having to “fit in” to avoid being rejected.  Consider making a list of conversation questions to try that encourage acceptance rather than comparison.  Come ready next week to share what you tried. 

Praying Grace and Peace: Share prayer requests, and then provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to reflect on approaching God with freedom and confidence.  Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.

Week 6

Established In Love 

Ephesians 3:14-21

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/294949336

Opening:  This upcoming passage emphasizes love and power.  What examples have you seen or experienced of ‘the love of power’ in movies or in life?  What about ‘the power of love?’  (If you participated last week, share with the group how you practiced hospitality, and a true spirit of welcome.)

Examine the Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21

• What impressed you most about Paul’s prayer? Why?
• What resource does God give to strengthen them (vs. 16)? What is the goal of that strengthening (vs.17)?  Grab a pen and circle or highlight these key words or phrases related to your life in Christ.
• In whose love are you being “rooted and established”? (vs. 17-18)
• How is Christ’s love described? (vs. 18-19)
• Re-read the passage looking for all words that indicate the expansive and inclusive love and power of God. What does this say about God’s nature?

Explore the Theme: God’s love.  “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11

• What role can prayer play in grasping both the power of God at work in us and in knowing the love of God that surpasses knowledge?
• How are knowing and knowledge different here (vs. 19)?   
• How much are you aware of Christ’s love for you? How does your perspective on life and your daily habits and interactions with others reflect this?
• How could you grow in your awareness of Christ’s love so that it can become your firm foundation?
• Ephesians chapters 1-3 focus on our identity in Christ. Look back over the first three chapters and recall all the words you circled or highlighted as they relate to your life in Christ.  Place them on a note card.  (Refer back to Ephesians 1:4-8, 17-19, and Ephesians 2:4-5, 10, 13, 17-19, and Ephesians 3:6, 16-17.)

Engage Your Life: Practice Remembering.   Throughout Scripture, we are called to remember.  Participate in this important spiritual practice by placing Scripture on a door way that will become a reminder to you of God’s great love for you and your true identity in Christ.  Use the note card you made above in ‘exploring the theme.’  Think widely about a “doorpost” and place the notecard of Scripture in a place you commonly will see.  Consider as you enter a car door, a bedroom, or a desk drawer or even a cabinet door when you cook or brush your teeth.  Come ready to share next week how hiding Scripture in your home helped you hide the truth of God’s love and your identity in Christ in your heart.

Praying Grace and Peace: Share prayer requests, and then provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to offer praise for God’s love.  Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.

Week 7

Humble 

Ephesians 4:1-16

Alternate Video site: https://vimeo.com/296131153

Opening: How do you see society defining ‘a life well lived?’  (If you participated last week, share with the group how you practiced remembering your identity in Christ.  Where did you put your note card?)

Examine the Passage:  Ephesians 4:1-16.

• How does Paul describe a life well lived (vs. 1-4)? Grab a pen and circle or highlight these key words or phrases.  (If you are keeping track on a note card or on your phone, you will want to create a new category, or have a new card, as the keywords we are now highlighting are focused on how we ought to live.  We begin with the word, ‘humble.’)
• One of the keys to success for the church is to keep unity. What forms the foundation for this unity even as we have differences?  (vs. 3-6) Why is every effort towards unity worthy of our calling as Christ followers?  What can you do to strengthen the oneness you have with other believers?
• What is the purpose for gifting some to be in leadership in the church, and for even having different kinds of leaders? (vs. 11-13)
• Are you equipped for works of service (vs. 12)? What service are you doing?  Or what equipping should you seek?
• Being a mature Christian is linked in this passage to having the “fullness of Christ” (Christ-likeness, vs. 13), no longer being tossed back and forth by deceit (vs. 14), speaking the truth in love (vs. 15) and being joined together, building each other up (vs. 15-16). What are the connections between maturity and the ways we interact with others?

Explore the Theme: Humility and Unity. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3

• “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humble people let go of image management and self-promotion.  They honor others by making the others’ needs as real and important as their own.” – Adele Calhoun.  What do you think of this definition of humility?
• How have you seen humility and patience aid in unity?
• Can you think of a time when someone showed you consistent patience (maybe learning a new task or going through a difficult phase in life)? How did the person’s patience affect your relationship with them?  How did it affect your view of yourself?  How might your relationships be different if you showed more patience to those around you? 
• As you reflect on humility with the Scriptures, what is the difference between rejecting the Bible and rejecting a particular interpretation of the Bible?
• Practically, how can we share unity with people who refuse to agree with us?

Engage Your Life:  Practice bearing with others.  Take notice this week of people with whom you find it difficult to relate.  Take notice of when criticism and negativity creep into your thoughts about others.  Consciously consider something positive to praise about that person.  Also, consider what you might be doing (or not doing) as you relate to family members, co-workers, friends, fellow church members or fellow students.  Ponder honestly how you might be difficult for them and consider making adjustments. 

Praying Grace and Peace:  Throughout this series, we are encouraging everyone to pray for grace and peace to come to all, since that language is found in Paul’s opening and closing words to the Ephesians.  (As a refresher, grace refers to the kindness God has shown us to redeem us and give us access to God through the work of Christ on the cross.  Peace refers to the gift of God to set right, and make whole, all the different aspects of our lives, including relational, spiritual, physical, etc.) 

Share prayer requests, and then provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to reflect on living a life worthy of our calling.  Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.

Week 8

Followers of God’s Example

Ephesians 4:17 - 5:2

Alternate Video site: https://vimeo.com/297419950

Opening:  What are some ways you wanted to follow your parents’ example when you were younger?  Or perhaps ways you wanted to follow older siblings or other extended family members?  (If you participated last week, share with the group how practicing bearing with others went.)

Examine the Passage:  Ephesians 4:17-5:2

• We find in this passage a list of ways of how not to live with others. What sins are highlighted here?  (vs. 4:25-5:2).  Make a list.
• Yet, in Christ, we are called to a new way of being. What new behaviors are we to put on when relating to others?  Then grab a pen and highlight or circle each.
  • Verse 25
  • Verse 28
  • Verse 29
  • Verse 32
• We see here in this list that Paul has raised the bar in the purpose behind our actions. Why should we speak truthfully (vs. 25)?  Why must we work (vs.28)?  What should be the goal of our speech (vs. 29)?  What should be the motivation for forgiveness (vs. 32)? 
• You were ‘created to be like God’ (vs. 4:24) and ‘Follow God’s example’ (vs. 5:1). Circle or highlight those key phrases.  Now, looking to God’s example, in what ways has God acted toward you, (see 4.32-5:2)? 
• How specifically are you motivated to follow God with the knowledge that you are ‘dearly loved children?’

Explore the Theme: Compassion and Forgiveness.  “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

• When is compassion deserved or undeserved?
• What is it like for you when people are compassionate towards you?
• Consider a group of outsiders or disenfranchised people in your community. What do they need?  What do they have to give?  Where is God calling you to walk in his compassion?
• Consider: do I expect more from others than I do from myself? Do I criticize others in the area of my own weakness?
• Forgiveness does not mean subjecting yourself to continued victimization. If appropriate, share an example of when you needed good boundaries and limits for protection.  Or, as a group, share scenarios where boundaries are needed, even as we forgive.  You can also share from examples in television or movies.

Engage Your Life: Practice speech that builds up.  We see in this passage a real connection between our relationship with God and our relationships with others.  As we grow in our intimacy with Christ we will experience new ways of being with others.  Consider your speech this week.  How does it build-up others or when does it not?  How does it communicate a sense of oneness, while we are also gifted differently?  Consider also when to be silent, and when to really listen.  In conversations, when do you feel the need to appear well-informed, spiritual or funny?  When and how are you most likely to speak a harsh or impatient word?  How do you speak about others when they are not around?  Take note of what you have learned, and are able to adjust, over the next week and come ready to share next time.    

Praying Grace and Peace:  Share prayer requests and provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to reflect on the forgiveness and love that is offered us by God as dearly loved children.  Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.  

(Note: you may want to add these phrases, “dearly loved children,” “forgave,” and “loved” from Ephesians 4:32-5:1 to your note card, which we concluded using two lessons ago, and which highlights our identity in Christ as found in Scripture.  We are now highlighting new phrases and key words which focus on how we ought to live, in light of our identity.)

Week 9

With the Spirit

Ephesians 5:3-20

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/298896212

Opening:  How grateful a person are you?  When are you most likely to express being thankful?  (If you participated last week, share with the group how practicing speech that builds up went.)

Examine the Passage: Ephesians 5:3-20.

• Paul strongly speaks out against sexual immorality, greed and the negativity that can come from our words (vs. 3-7). How does our society’s culture normalize these behaviors so that we miss how terribly bad they really are for us?  How does society tempt us to walk in this darkness? 
• How did Paul describe our walk as “children of the light?”  What are some practical ways you can walk as children of the light today (vs. 8-14)?  Grab a pen and circle or highlight these words that describe how we ought to live.

What is missing from an English translation of this passage, in verses 18-21, is a clear way to outline what is being said.  There are two imperatives (commandments) which we must do and five participles (-ing words) which describe how we fulfill the second imperative.  (Note: in the English translations, sometimes in order to keep from long, run-on sentences, participles are switched over and written to appear as new sentences with separate commandments.)  Here is the structure for verses 18-21.  Note the four (five) things you can do to be filled with the Spirit. Grab a pen and circle or highlight them in your Bible.

• Do not get drunk on wine…instead, (Command)
• Be filled with the Spirit (Command)
  • Speaking to one another psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit
  • Singing and making music from your heart to the LORD
  • Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…
  • Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
• What role does corporate worship play in growing your connectedness with God?
• What role does personal worship play in growing your connectedness with God?
• Why do you think Paul associates gratitude with being filled with the Spirit?
• How might submitting and living in harmony with others help us to be filled with the Spirit?
• Practically, how might you ‘make the most of every opportunity’ (vs. 16) and participate more in these activities?

Explore the Theme:  Thankfulness.  “Brothers and sisters, rejoice!  Strive for full restoration, encourage one another…. “(2 Corinthians 13:11)

• How has a grateful person affected your own vision of what matters in life? How has someone who lives out of bitterness affected your life?
• How does comparison work against thankfulness? When are you tempted to compare?
• In what environments are you tempted to be overly-critical in? How can move toward thankfulness to counterbalance negativity in those scenarios?
• Name a time you were thankful in retrospect for something that was challenging or painful.

Engage Your Life:  Practice thanksgiving.  Devote yourself to the serious business of being grateful.  Create a long list of things which you are thankful for – in your journal, on your smart phone or on a list on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror.  Return to this task throughout the day.  Make alerts on your phone to remind you.  Consider people, opportunities, unique things about you, common everyday things, challenges and traits of God as potential items to go on your list of things for which you are thankful to God.  Come next week prepared to share about practicing thankfulness. 

Praying Grace and Peace:  As a part of sharing prayer requests, this week devote significant time to sharing things for which you are grateful.  Provide for a couple of minutes of your prayer time to be specifically focused on thanksgiving and praise, and then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.  

(Note: you may want to add the phrases, “light,” and “children of light,” from Ephesians 5:8 to your note card that you made during the 6^th lesson which highlights our identity in Christ as found in Scripture.)

Week 10

Submitting and Honoring

Ephesians 5:21 - 6:9

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/300173286

Opening: What compliment or honor have you received that meant a good deal to you?  And why?  (If you participated last week, share with the group how practicing thankfulness went.)

Examine the Passage:  Ephesians 5:21-6:9

Recall last week’s discussion on being called to be filled with the Spirit.  This week we will discuss submitting to one another as it helps us to be filled with the Spirit.  Here we have an important passage which starts off with us all submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  And then Paul takes what was common in his time of the Greco-Roman world, the household codes (or the lists of responsibilities for various members of a home), and reworks them in light of Christ.  The expectation, back then, was that the male was the sole authority in the home, and wives, children and slaves at that time were property.  Any list of codes would focus on what the subservient ones were to provide for the one in charge.  However, Paul provides a counter-cultural re-working of the household codes in light of Christ. 

• Begin by grabbing a pen and circling or highlight the phrase, “submit to one another,” in vs. 21. Then read through the passage for other key words on how we ought to treat one another.  Share them as a group.
• In modern culture, asking a husband to love a wife seems to be stating the obvious, but asking a wife to submit might seem shocking. However, in the first century that was flipped.  Asking a wife to submit was standard and asking a husband to love was unexpected.  Paul helps to explain this higher standard of relating in marriage by expressing how a husband’s love should be like that of Christ’s.  He uses two images to express this high standard of relating: (1) The Church and Christ and (2) one’s own body.  First, the church submits to Christ as Christ loves the Church (vs. 23-27) and second, the husband should feed and care for his own body as a model for how he should care for and love his wife (vs. 28-31).  Explore these two metaphors.  Which one helps you personally think about loving and submitting in a Christ-like way?
• How might fathers (or parents, in general) exasperate their children? What are some examples of how fathers (and parents, in general) could nurture and instruct their children?  How much time and energy do think it would take to do this? 
• As an adult child, how might you honor your parents?
• How would you respond if someone said, “The Bible supports slavery and this passage proves it. That’s why I don’t read the Bible”?
• Who is currently in authority over you (teachers, employers, etc.)? How might this passage have implications for you in those relationships and situations? 
• The passage ends with “there is no favoritism in the LORD.” (6:9). Where do you see favoritism negatively impacting your Christian community?

Explore the Theme: Submission.  “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:21

• What is your emotional reaction to being told to submit to someone else? What is your emotional reaction to being told someone else should submit to you?
• What is the difference between a Christian view of submission and society’s view of submission?
• How did Jesus model submission?
• What should you do if a person you are called to submit to abuses that authority?
• What does it look like for a leader to be submissive?

Engage Your Life: Honoring one another.  In what ways can you reflect sincere appreciation for another person?  How can you practically serve or honor someone else?  Come prepared next week to share how you honored someone outside of this group.  Next week, during the last session in Ephesians, you will also have an opportunity to give honor to members of this group.  Take time during the week to prepare what you might share about different group members, affirming their contributions to the group and admiring who they are.

Praying Grace and Peace: Share prayer requests, and then provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to reflect on Christ, who gave himself up for you.  Then go to corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace to all.

Week 11

Fearless in Prayer

Ephesians 6:10-24

Alternative Video site: https://vimeo.com/301523937

Opening: If you participated last week, share with the group how it went to honor another person outside the group.

Then, as a group, take time to honor one another.  Take turns as a group saying to each other, “One thing I admire about you is...”  Acknowledge people that help you stay on good terms even when you disagree, or help you see beyond yourself to the big picture, or who encourage teamwork, etc.  Make sure everyone in the group is affirmed.

(An additional opening question for this session, perhaps for someone doing the study alone, is ‘In what ways do you experience your Christian life as a battle?’)

Examine the Passage: Ephesians 6:10-24

• Where does your strength come from to endure struggles and work through challenges? (vs. 10).  What is your goal? (vs. 13) Grab a pen and circle or highlight that to which you are called.
• God has provided a set of armor for us. What are each of the six pieces in verses 13-17?  Which one feels most important to you now as you consider a current struggle?  And how might you use it?
• In verse 18 we find one more tool. What are the ways prayer can help you as you face challenges and opposition?  Circle or highlight that to which you are called. 
• Paul, too, asks for prayer to be fearless as he advances the gospel (vs. 19-20). What might you need prayer for in order to be fearless? 

Explore the Theme: Prayer.  “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray…. Pray for each other…”  James 5:13-16

• What do your requests to God reveal about your desires and priorities?
• What helps you remember to pray for others? When you pray for others, have you considered when your agenda is working against God’s kingdom?  How can you counter-balance that?
• How are worry and prayer connected?
• How might praying with Scripture for yourself or a loved one lift the burden from your shoulders and place it squarely on God’s?
• Here are some tips for prayer:
  • Pray attention when people come to mind. Consider that an opportunity to pray for them. 
  • Pray consistently as you learn about local and global news.
  • What other tips do you have to share about how to use prayer?
• Throughout chapters 4-6 you have been circling or highlighting key words and phrases that are noteworthy for the life we have been called to live now that we have a new identity in Christ. On a note card, write those down.  (For reference see Ephesians 4:1-4, 24-32 and Ephesians 5:1, 8-11, 18-21, 22, 25, 33 and Ephesians 6:1-7, 10, 13, 18.)  Share with the group, based on this study, what God is calling you to focus on now.  What will you do differently because of this study?

Engage Your Life: Practice praying with Scripture.  Using Scripture in your prayers is very powerful. This week use Ephesians 3:14-21 to pray for someone during the week.  Choose to pray this both for someone you adore and for someone that is a challenge for you.  Watch how God works in you as you pray.

Praying Grace and Peace: After having shared prayer requests, provide a couple of minutes of quiet individual prayer time to thank God that we are not alone in battle and have the Spirit and other Christians’ prayers to carry us. Close with corporate prayer for one another and for praying grace and peace with God and with one another across all barriers.