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The online groups guide is designed as a teaching series companion to foster discussion, study, and prayer, especially in a group setting.

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Formation

Teaching Text: Matthew 28:16-20

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

We are all being formed through the forces we allow to shape us.
Our vision is to be a people actively being formed in the way of Jesus.

Presence

Watch or listen to the sermon. Then take a moment of silence and think about these questions:

Practicing vulnerability is scary for most of us but also brings depth of relationship or presence. What habits do you have that you want to break? Share this with God or other people.

Formation

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

All my friends are finding new beliefs. This one converts to Catholicism and this one to trees. In a highly literary and hitherto religiously-indifferent Jew God whomps on like a genetic generator. Paleo, Keto, Zone, South Beach, Bourbon. Exercise regimens so extreme she merges with machine. One man marries a woman twenty years younger and twice in one brunch uses the word verdant; another’s brick-fisted belligerence gentles into dementia, and one, after a decade of finical feints and teases like a sandpiper at the edge of the sea, decides to die. Priesthoods and beasthoods, sombers and glees, high-styled renunciations and avocations of dirt, sobrieties, satieties, pilgrimages to the very bowels of being ... All my friends are finding new beliefs and I am finding it harder and harder to keep track of the new gods and the new loves, and the old gods and the old loves, and the days have daggers, and the mirrors motives, and the planet’s turning faster and faster in the blackness, and my nights, and my doubts, and my friends, my beautiful, credible friends. —Christian Wiman
People change
- Take time think of these questions
- What shapes you? (events, people, ads, environments, content, etc.)
- What changes you?
- Who are you becoming?
Formation
- Unhelpful assumptions about formation: Church - it will just happen.
- We might underestimat the formative power of our work and culture and stories and practices
- Made the mistake of thinking we change just getting more information
- World - it only happens when you chose it
- The opposite mistake in the wider world is to imagine you only experience spiritual formation if you deliberately opt in
- You have a spirit within you and it has been formed. It has taken on a specific character. I have a spirit and it has been formed. This is true of everyone. The human spirit is an inescapable, fundamental aspect of every human being; and it takes on whatever character it has from the experiences and the choices that we have lived through or made in our past. This is what it means to be ‘formed.’ Our life and how we find the world now and in the future is, almost totally a simple result of what we have become in the depths of our being — in our spirit, will, or heart. From there we see our world and interpret reality. From there we make our choices, break forth into action, try to change our world. We live from our depths. —Dallas Willard
- There have always been religions in the world that aspired to a higher form of living, that provided various sorts of inspiring stories that encouraged a higher-toned life. All of these religions were forms of self-salvation through various ethical practices, religious observances, and transformations of consciousness. But Christianity was and is wholly different. It insists that we are saved not by what we do, but by what God in Christ has done for us in history—in his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. —Tim Keller
- We experience the grace of God through the Gospel and begin to change it not from fear or pride or from shame or comparison but from love.
- You don’t change because you have to in order to get love. We change because we have love and that love is the direction and motivation of our growth.
- So he changes us by way of breakthrough and habits.
- Encountering God and shaping our practices and habits.
  - Change not rooted in fear (I am not enough) or pride (I’ve already got it all) or shame (I will never be enough or its always for others) or comparison (I’ve gotta fix myself to compete and achieve).
  - Change not rooted in fear, pride, shame, or comparison, but rooted in love - led by God’s Spirit
- Here’s a example list of convictions and practices that will form and shape ones life:
  - The most important opportunity of each day is to commune with God unhurried.
  - A life or ministry without prayer is a collection of human effort and will become exhausting.
  - Hide the Word of God in your heart. The Holy Spirit can call to mind what you need when you need it.
  - Do not let a day pass if you can help it without making some space for gratitude. Gratitude often grows into worship.
  - Sobriety is a gift to me and a gift I can give to the world beginning with those closest to me.
  - Be kind and as gentle as possible. There is usually a time when you can go back and be more firm but rash anger almost always does damage that must be repaired.
  - Sow seeds of consistency and learn the rare fruits of faithfulness.
  - Expect that God knows your limits and seek to be fully present in the places that you find yourself.
  - Be careful about what you start so that you can finish as often as possible.
  - Practice letting go of offenses.
  - Make others names safe in your mouth. Recognize and move away from running someone down who is not present.
  - Do your best not to stir up fear or jealousy in yourself or someone else.
- This list was born in a breakthrough moment and shaped by habits that form us.
- What would your key convictions and habits look like in this season?
- We need to experience the beautiful blossoming miracles in our life that grow from from the overlooked virtue of consistency.
Where do you need breakthrough?
Where do you need habit change?
What changes when you become a disciple of Jesus?
- IDENTITY - who you are
- DESIRES - what you want
- RHYTHMS - how you live

This week, fill in the section on formation in the booklet you have received. Follow the steps of pausing and praying, and inviting God to lead you before doing so.