As a church, we want to move with the Spirit of God. In fact, one might argue that without the Spirit of God, it isn't a church moving. It's but a group of people who ultimately don't have that critically important third ingredient to guide our actions toward love, reconciliation, mercy, equality and justice.
Spend time as a group discussion what it looks for the few of you, and then Crosspointe as a whole, to hoist sails and catch the Wind in our homes, schools, jobs, city and world.
Thaw
- How is your life changing with Summer coming to a close?
- What have you learned about yourself recently?
- What has most stayed with you from Sunday morning?
Read
- Genesis 11:1-9
- Thoughts?
Read
- Acts 2:1-21
- Thoughts
Discuss
- What kind of symmetry do you pick up on when you read these two stories, separated as they are by thousands of years?
- God is bridging a gap between peoples. Why is it necessary that The Spirit is involved in this reconnecting?
- This is a story about a minority of people not merely managing their sins and staying out of trouble, but moving toward and into others' world to "make the two, one". When you think about the birth of the church, in what ways does your or your family's faith have room to grow?
Read
- Ephesians 4:28
- Thoughts?
Leader note: Help the group see that this little verse is Paul describing the two major phases of faith. A "stop sinning and be good" phase, which is very important. And then a matured, "here's the good we accomplish" phase, which is what marks us as not merely religious or moral, but "Christlike".
Discuss
- What are the difficulties in growing from a "sin no more" phase of your faith, into the "go and serve" phase?
Apply
- In what ways can this group, and the individuals and families that comprise it, take a more active role in bringing about the love, the healing, the reconciliation and the peace of Christ?
