Being Rooted Produces Faithfulness


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Rooted “Being Rooted Produces Faithfulness” PREPARATION • Familiarize yourself with this Home Community Study Guide. • If you missed it, watch the sermon online HERE. • Spend some time in prayer before your group gathers. • As a leader you always have the option to use some or all the questions and/or write your own questions. DISCUSSION Opening Prayer: (1-5 minutes) In light of what God is saying through this week’s message, here’s some suggestions of how your group can invite God into your time together. Thank the Lord for sending the Holy Spirit to transform our lives from the inside out. Pray that the Spirit would root himself deeply into our hearts as we reflect on Jesus’ attributes in this new series. Finally, pray that God would continually transform our body, mind, and soul in order to become more like Jesus every day! Check-In: (5 minutes) How did God’s agathos, or inherent goodness, change the way you viewed your life circumstances over the week? Where did you find it the hardest / easiest to see God’s goodness? Discussion: (30 minutes) What’s Going on This Week This Sunday, Pastor Larry led us into the seventh week of our current series titled Rooted. Pastor Larry begins the sermon by pointing out that our faithfulness in Christ is the starting point of our salvation and is only made possible because of God’s perfect faithfulness. He encourages the church to hold onto God’s promises faithfully as we walk with God, who continues to remain faithful to us even when we fail. “Faithfulness is a grace of God, given to us through the Spirit of God, igniting the Word of God as we run hard after God.” – Pastor Larry Vold

Suggested Questions

Warm Up: Skim Hebrews 11:1-38: What character listed in these passages (or in any other stories of the Bible) speaks to you the most when thinking about the idea of faithfulness? •

Read Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 3:22, 5:1; Galatians 2:16, 3:22: Pastor Larry begins his sermon by pointing out that the starting point of the salvation story for us is when we have faith IN Jesus’ ability to save us based on the faithfulness OF Jesus. In other words, if it weren’t for His faithfulness, we could never be faithful. When was the moment that you came to faith both IN Jesus and how was the faithfulness OF Jesus the only way that moment was possible?



Read Hebrews 11:6, Romans 12:1-2, Col. 1:18, Eph. 6:16: Pastor Larry points out that our faith in God is necessary for our spiritual growth, spiritual breakthroughs, and spiritual warfare. How can we pray that the Holy Spirit would build faithfulness in any of these three specific areas in this particular season of your life?



Pastor Larry uses the following passages to remind us of very specific promises God has made to us. He encourages to examine each promise and hold fast to these four beliefs that will continue to water faithfulness in us as the Holy Spirit takes root in our hearts: o

God is Faithful (Psalm 145:13, 146:6, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, Hebrews 10:23)

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God rewards / blesses Faithfulness (Hebrews 11:6)

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Faithfulness starts with the “little things” (Luke 16:10)

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God Remains faithful when we are not (2 Timothy 2:12-13; Rev. 1:5))

As you walk through your specific circumstances, what are the obstacles that prevent you from holding onto these truths and how can we pray the Holy Spirit would continue to show you these truths?

Closing Prayer: (5-15 minutes) In light of what God is saying through this week’s message, here’s some suggestions of what your group could talk about with God in prayer. Thank Jesus for laying down his life so that we could be transformed by the Holy Spirit into becoming more like Jesus. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in our hearts throughout this Rooted series so that we could share in Christ’s joy as a group. Finally, as the group goes out this week, ask the Holy Spirit to root Himself deeply in our souls so that we may abide in Him and we may experience His fruit! THROUGHOUT THE WEEK -

Be on the lookout for opportunities to connect outside of the group meeting. Our first season of Home Communities will end on November 18th. Begin discussing possible options over the Holiday break (e.g. you could suggest meeting every other week or once a month). Season 2 of Home Communities will start up again February 17th.

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Continue to pray for your group as they wrestle with their own faithfulness this week. Commit to checking in with one person in your group and encourage them by sharing how God has been faithful in your life over the week.