About This Guide: This weekly groups guide, “Life to the Full,” is designed as a companion to our Eastertide / Pentecost 2022 teaching series, fostering discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting. Join a group for a meaningful way to connect to our community.
exploring strongholds
Teaching Text: Romans 8:1-11
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the fleshcannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
Strongholds
Addictions
Behavior Patterns
Presence
Take a moment of silence and think about these questions:
A practice of noticing:
Be quiet for about 2 minutes…
Notice your breath. Notice your body. Notice your emotions.
Notice what thoughts try to invade the silence.
Think of lies you continuously believe or live out of
Think of the addictions you face. Patterns of behavior that seem impossible to break.
Confess these all to God and ask him for Grace to meet you.
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
Eastertide is about LIFE TO THE FULL that Jesus offers and the primary barriers to that FULL LIFE
Heaven and earth in biblical cosmology are not two different locations within the same continuum of space or matter. They are two different dimensions of God’s good creation. And the point about heaven is twofold. First, heaven relates to earth tangentially so that the one who is in heaven can be present simultaneously anywhere and everywhere on earth: the ascension therefore means that Jesus is available, accessible, without people having to travel to a particular spot on the earth to find him. Second, heaven is, as it were, the control room for earth; it is the CEO’s office, the place from which instructions are given. “All authority is given to me,” said Jesus at the end of Matthew’s gospel, “in heaven and on earth. —NT WRIGHT
Jesus, having died and been raised from the dead, was then exalted in the ascension to the very throne of the father in order that he might continue to implement the work he had accomplished on earth; and that the role he is thereby taking is that of the true high priest. The priest was and still is one of us. —NT WRIGHT
So my question for us today is are we experimenting the freedom and victory and abundant life that Christ died and rose and ascended for us to have?
Are you experiencing the freedom of Christ?
Do we know by experience this abundant life of Jesus?
When we pray on earth as it is in heaven, are those just words or do we know what that looks and feels like?
THE MUNDANE AND REPEATING MISERY OF BEING TRAPPED IN SIN
We experience something and somehow perpetuate sinful and harmful responses:
interest —> obsession
enjoyment, relief, relaxation —> addiction
concern —> anxiety
sadness —> depression
anger —> explosive temper
comparison —> burden of negativity
insecure thoughts —> crippling shame
a feeling of rejection —> deliberate isolation
We experience:
inability to stop looking at pornagraphy
losing your tempter with your children or partner
always grumbling in your spirit about your life and other people
a burden of shame that you are never going to be good enough and always excluded
always running other people down and keeping gossip alive
always drinking more than your wanted to and unable to keep your limits with yourself
picking up your phone 36 times every hour to check your feeds
There is a phenomenon in human life where thoughts and behaviors get a hold on us and seem to be beyond the reach of ordinary will power to change.
John 8 - Whoever sins is a slave to sin (John 8)
“Regardless of how a compulsion appears externally, underneath it is always robbing us of our freedom. We act not because we have chosen to, but because we have to. We cling to things, people, beliefs, and behaviors not because we love them, but because we are terrified of losing them…. In a spiritual sense, the objects of our attachments and addictions become idols. We give them our time, energy, and attention whether we want to or not, even—and often especially—when we are struggling to rid ourselves of them. We want to be free, compassionate, and happy, but in the face of our attachments we are clinging, grasping, and fearfully self-absorbed. This is the root of our trouble” —GERALD MAY
Biblical language for this is that of a stronghold
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. —Ephesians 4:25-28
STRONGHOLDS:
Our willpower is not consistent or strong enough
We keep falling back despite our best attempts
Ever experienced a behavior or thinking that you just can’t break? Stronghold!
HOW DO WE GET FREE?
Breakthrough: awakening and revival (insight that change must come and even a glimmer of hope that it might
New Patterns of Thought : take your thoughts captive and replace them
New Patterns of Behavior: practice new actions - do the next right thing even if you dont feel it
Don’t Go Alone - The Community Part of Freedom
We know that a habit cannot be eradicated - it must, instead be replaced…the evidence is clear: if you want to change a habit, you must find an alternative routine, and your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as a part of a group. Belief is essential, and it grows out of a communal experience.” —Charles Duhigg
Stand
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. —GALATIANS 5 v 1
12 steps
Admit we need God, that we could not make the changes we need without God's help (Ephesians 2 v 8-9; Romans 5)
Come to believe that God could bring us to freedom and restore us to our right mind (2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:1)
Make a decision to turn our will and life over to the care of God in the person of Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit (Romans 10:13, John 3:16)
Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves (Psalm 139:23-24, Romans 7:15-20)
Admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs (James 5:16, Luke 11:4)
Be entirely ready to have God remove all our defects of character (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Romans 8:13)
Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings (Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 John 1:9)
Make a list of all the persons we had harmed and become willing to make amends to them all ((Luke 19:8-9, Ephesians 4:25-28)
Make direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others (Luke 19:8-9, Romans 12:18)
Continue to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it (1 Peter 5:6, Luke 11:4)
Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, asking to know God's will and and for the power to carry it out (Colossians 1:9-13, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of God and these actions we carry the message of freedom in Christ to all who need it and practice these principles in all parts of our life (Romans 10:14-15, Romans 12:1-2)
Love
Read these notes and discuss the questions below:
Spiritual practices for this series: Gratitude and Generosity
During this series we will explore and practice together aspects of these two practices. It begins within our own hearts, cultivating Gratitude in our own hearts, yet it does not stop there but ultimately overflows and results in the practice of acts of generosity.
Gratitude: Our world tells us incessantly how much we lack. Every ad, social media and our hearts alone are huge contributors to us believing a narrative that we dont have enough and that God has not been faithful.
Express gratitude that Jesus made a way to true freedom. Also reach out to those people who are willing to walk with you through struggle against strongholds.
Generosity: Often we say or subconsciously believe that we don't have enough to be generous with, and that It will leave me lacking if I am generous. Our world then convinces us to hoard, to hold on, to self preserve.
Who can you walk alongside through their stronghold struggle? How can you help them more?
Pray for one another in the group.
