Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!

 

In a journal, use the following prompts to write some truths that stood out from this week’s message:

I never knew…

I was reminded…

A question I still have…

I was challenged…

I was convicted…

A truth I could share is…

I was encouraged to…

I need to dig deeper into…

 

In your journal, use the following questions to write some prompts to use n praying through this week’s passage:

Is there a command to obey?

How am I compelled to exalt God?

Is there a promise to claim?

Is there a principle to follow?

Is there an example to follow?

Am I convicted to confess any sin?

Is there a sin to avoid?

How do I need to rest in Jesus/the gospel?

How can I pray for someone else?

What am I compelled to love or desire?

 

In your journal, write your answers and thoughts in response to the following questions.

1. As children of light, how do we seek a balance between exposing darkness and retaining a missional posture that desires to see those outside of Christ reconciled to God through him?

 

2. In what ways do you feel the real danger in falling into patterns of “partnering” with darkness? How easy is it for us to mix up “what is pleasing to the Lord” with “what I desire to be the case?”

 

3. What are some of the greatest hindrances to “making the best use of the time” that you see in your own life? What might it look like to embrace Paul’s attitude of “all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable?”

 

 

 

Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!

 

In a journal, use the following prompts to write some truths that stood out from this week’s message:

I never knew…

I was reminded…

A question I still have…

I was challenged…

I was convicted…

A truth I could share is…

I was encouraged to…

I need to dig deeper into…

 

In your journal, use the following questions to write some prompts to use n praying through this week’s passage:

Is there a command to obey?

How am I compelled to exalt God?

Is there a promise to claim?

Is there a principle to follow?

Is there an example to follow?

Am I convicted to confess any sin?

Is there a sin to avoid?

How do I need to rest in Jesus/the gospel?

How can I pray for someone else?

What am I compelled to love or desire?

 

In your journal, write your answers and thoughts in response to the following questions.

 

1. Read Ephesians 5:4 together again. What is the connection between our imaginations and our hearts? How does our culture aim at imagination in order to shape the affections of the heart, and how must we be intentional about guarding against that?

 

2. Read 1 John 4:6-19 together. How does this passage work together with Ephesians 5:1-2? How does God’s love perfected (matured) in us compel us to pursue Ephesians 5:3-7?

 

3. Who we are (our core identity) governs what we believe and how we think, and that belief and understanding determines how we act – how we live. How does this progression / process frame the way you apply this passage in your own life and pray for others as they seek to live it out? (Ephesians 5:1-6)

 

 

 

Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!

 

In a journal, use the following prompts to write some truths that stood out from this week’s message:

I never knew…

I was reminded…

A question I still have…

I was challenged…

I was convicted…

A truth I could share is…

I was encouraged to…

I need to dig deeper into…

 

In your journal, use the following questions to write some prompts to use n praying through this week’s passage:

Is there a command to obey?

How am I compelled to exalt God?

Is there a promise to claim?

Is there a principle to follow?

Is there an example to follow?

Am I convicted to confess any sin?

Is there a sin to avoid?

How do I need to rest in Jesus/the gospel?

How can I pray for someone else?

What am I compelled to love or desire?

 

In your journal, write your answers and thoughts in response to the following questions.

1. Gerald mentioned the concept of summum bonumin Sunday’s sermon, or “the highest good,” or “highest meaning of life.” How has that thought helped you in understanding your identity this week? How has it challenged you as you think about the question, “Who am I?” What do you see as the greatest dangers to Christ and his mission occupying that place in your own life and identity?

 

2. How does the idea of offering our lives as a “fragrant aroma” help us in understanding what our identity should be in the world? In what ways will our lives be distinguished, or set apart, as we live in this way within our culture?

 

3. Gerald referred to Christ as the “fountain” from which this love flows. Is that the fountain from which you are drinking the most? What are some other “sources” that we tend to drink from that hinders our pursuit of what Paul calls us to in these first 2 verses of Ephesians 5?

 

 

Use this daily guide to help you internalize this week’s passage & message!

 

In a journal, use the following prompts to write some truths that stood out from this week’s message:

I never knew…

I was reminded…

A question I still have…

I was challenged…

I was convicted…

A truth I could share is…

I was encouraged to…

I need to dig deeper into…

 

In your journal, use the following questions to write some prompts to use n praying through this week’s passage:

Is there a command to obey?

How am I compelled to exalt God?

Is there a promise to claim?

Is there a principle to follow?

Is there an example to follow?

Am I convicted to confess any sin?

Is there a sin to avoid?

How do I need to rest in Jesus/the gospel?

How can I pray for someone else?

What am I compelled to love or desire?

 

In your journal, write your answers and thoughts in response to the following questions.

1. A good challenging question I have heard goes, “What is true of your life that is only true because of the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?” How can we know the difference between our own strength and the supernatural strength provided by the Spirit?

 

2. Do you have a sense from time to time of the pleasure or the displeasure of the Holy Spirit at some course of action that you are taking?

 

3. How might we go about evaluating to see if there be any way in us that grieves the Spirit? How should we do this both individually and with other brothers or sisters?