Small Group Discussion
Some Assembly Required
10/06/2013
THE BIG IDEA: We are made for relationship. Relationship with God and with each other and
when we engage in God focused relationships our Spiritual lives grow deeper and richer.
ANNOUNCE:
baptized.
2.
1.Baptism is on Oct 20th and 27th, contact the church office if you’d like to be
We now have online notes for the Sunday messages through the Youversion
bible app and website. Search the Live Event section and follow along with Avalon Church.
(Bible.com)
START WITH THIS: Candy Facts (you’ll need m&m’s for this, enough for each person in your
group to have 2-4 each) Pass the candy around and have each person take 2-4 pieces each,
each a different color, tell them not to eat them yet. Once everyone has candy start with
yourself and share a fact about yourself based on the candy color.
Red – Favorite hobby Green – Most embarrassing moment Blue – First Car Yellow -Dream job
Orange – Wildcard (tell us anything about yourself!)
Your group may not need an icebreaker, if conversation is flowing then feel free to skip the icebreaker.
RECAP: We were designed for relationship, with God and with each other. When we don’t
engage in real relationships with each other and with the church then we miss out on what
God designed us for. Your next step is the most important step and it’s time to take it.
What did you think about the message?
Thinking about your own spiritual journey, what would you say is the next step you need to
take? We all have a next step, sometimes it takes us actually spending a few minutes to think about it. For newer
believers in your group, encourage baptism coming up. For longer term Christians, encourage serving on a Sunday.
Read The Message version of Ephesians 4:17-25
17-19 And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the
crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that
they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore.
Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of
perversion.
20-24 But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid
careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus.
Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean
everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through.
Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life
renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces
his character in you.
25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the
truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you
end up lying to yourself.
What is the Apostle Paul telling us about the importance of taking the next step?
The truth of God has set us free to move into the life Christ designed for us. Relationship comes from authenticity
with God and each other.
Verse 25 says “no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth.” Why is it hard
for us to open up and be honest with each other?
Community comes out of honesty. No one is perfect, God is leading us all away from our “old lives”. When we can
engage each other in a truly honest way then God can work within us all.
How does being in Christian community make our lives better?
Take prayer requests and pray to close the night