"Prayer for the Fullness of God" Sermon Questions

1. Are you satisfied with your prayer life? Why or why not? Can you share an example of when you felt the need to pray and you knew it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit?

2. Why do you think Paul speaks of the “inner being” and heart in verses 16-17?

3. Find the themes of predestination and election in this prayer. Why does prayer show God’s sovereignty?

4. What does the “fullness of God” mean?

5. Paul stressed knowing that you are “rooted and grounded” in love. Is this something you are pursuing?

6. What do you think the average Christian’s life would look like if he or she knew the love Paul says we should pray for?

"When Confidence Starts to Slip" Sermon Questions

1. Paul instructs the Christians in Ephesus not to lose motivation for Kingdom work (v. 13) because he was wrongly imprisoned. When do you tend to lose heart about the mission and ministry of the church? Why do you think that is?

2. How do you tend to respond when you lose heart? What do you want your response in those situations to accomplish?

3. How does Paul’s self-description in 1 Cor 15:9, Eph 3:8, and 1 Tim 1:13-15 impact you? How do you think Rom 12:3 relates? How does the American church struggle with this issue?

4. While we have not been called to steward the gift of apostleship in the same manner as Paul (Eph 3:2), each of us has been given gifts of God’s grace to steward (Rom 12:3-8, 1 Cor 12). What are some ways to discern which gifts have been entrusted to you? What do you think your top two gifts are and how are you exercising them for others (cf Eph 3:1,2,8,13)?

5. What hinders people in the church from exercising their spiritual gifts more? What if the gift you have is not the one you want?

6. God’s eternal plan has been for the church to be the central instrument of advancing his Kingdom in this world (Eph 3:10). What would it practically look like for the average follower of Jesus to orient his or her life according to that aspect of God’s plan? Name reasons some Christians give to defend their decision not to have the church be central to their life as a follower of Jesus.

7. How did the Spirit use the preaching of the Word from this passage in your heart?

"Jesus Our Peace" Sermon Questions
1. This passage tells us that Jesus is our peace. Can you think of other truths or designations that are given to Jesus in Scripture such as, “Jesus is Lord,” “Jesus is Savior,” or “Jesus is God”? How is Jesus our peace? How does the Bible define peace?

2. Why is Paul stressing this “oneness” that Jesus brought to the Jew and Gentile? Why is there such energy from Paul in these verses? Does he overdo it?

3. The preacher spoke of hostility. What has brought about the hostility Paul talks about? Can we be hostile to God? See Romans 8:7 and Ephesians 2:1-3 Does the word “hostility” describe you in your relationship with God?

4. Is being “hostile” toward others sometimes descriptive of you? Would your family say that is an accurate term? What is hostility vs. anger or frustration?

5. What does verse 17 tell us about Jesus’ preaching? What is Jesus fundamentally about?

6. We are told that we have equal access to the Father with other believers. How should that influence our prayer life?

"When Outcasts Have a Home" Sermon Questions
1. It is God’s will and design for his people to cultivate deep community in the church. How does a community of “citizens” (v 19) in a city differ from a community of “members” in a “household” (v19)? Which of those metaphors does the American church tend to reflect the most? Why do you think that is?

2. Seminary professor Dr. John Leonard writes, “Western Christians live out their faith primarily in an individual and internal fashion. However, when I study the Scriptures, they seem to place the weight of expression of the Christian faith on the communal and physical. This doesn’t mean that the Bible isn’t calling us as individuals to repent and believe, or that our faith doesn’t touch all these areas of our life, but the gospel impacts and changes more than my individual life. It builds a community, a people, and a society.” What does this quote stir up in you? In what ways does your life reflect a faith that is primarily individual and internal?

3. God reinforces to us in this passage that he is the one building his household in this broken world. Read Mat 16:13-20 and 1 Cor 3:1-9. What do we learn from those passages about how the church grows? Why do our hearts want to believe that the building and growth of the church depend on us? If our hearts were convinced of what God tells us in verses 20-22, how would our ministry look different?

4. The Spirit is active and lives within the community of Christians. Notice how the emphasis in these verses is not on the Spirit living in the individual Christian. The Spirit works through individual people to lavish his grace on Christian brothers and sisters. One of the reasons the Lord commands us not to regularly miss worship (Heb 10:25) is so that we can be the Spirit’s instrument of mercy and hope to others at church. How does that reason for attending worship differ from the common reason why people go to church?

5. How is the Spirit using the preached Word from this week in your heart?

"Hit Repeat" Sermon Questions
1. Paul's instruction to remember in verses 11 and 12 highlights that the human heart struggles with spiritual forgetfulness and a craving for spiritual novelty. Name some different reasons that contribute to our spiritual forgetfulness. Which of those reasons are at work in your heart?

2. How does our culture disciple us to place higher value and priority on novelty?

3. The words "separated", "alienated", and "strangers" in verse 12 reflect
tremendous pain and divisiveness. Divisiveness is a constant characteristic of every community without Jesus. Describe how you see this at work in the world right now. Where do you see it still lingering in Jesus' church in America?

4. Read Gen 15 and 17:1-14. How do those passages inform our understanding of Eph. 2:11? Read Gal. 2:11-16. What did "the circumcision" group insist on? The human heart's impulse is to create additional spiritual performance requirements in order to be true followers of Jesus. The human heart's impulse is to create a "Jesus + _____ = rescue" system. Describe some of the ways you have experienced
"Jesus +" in the church? In what ways do you still struggle with "Jesus +"?

5. How does the passive nature of the believer's nearness, as described in verse 13, differ from common teaching in American churches? How does that passive past tense verb comfort the Christian?

6. How did the Spirit use the sermon in your soul this week?

"Even When"Sermon Questions
1. Describe a part of the sermon that encouraged you and explain why.

2. Describe a part of the sermon that discouraged or unsettled you and explain why.

3. In verses 1- 3, Paul paints a sobering picture of the natural state of the human heart. How does this differ from our culture's current explanation of people and their actions and motives? Describe some ways that you struggle with minimizing the reality of verses 1-3 in daily life.

4. In his book Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund writes, "Christ was sent not to mend wounded people or wake sleepy people or advise confused people or inspire bored people or spur on lazy people or educate ignorant people, but to raise dead people." Why do we prefer to think of the natural condition of people as wounded, sleepy, confused, bored, lazy, or ignorant rather than dead? How can that preferred thinking influence the way ministry is done? Why do we as Christians have a tendency to get mad at spiritually dead people for living like spiritually dead people?

5. How might Ephesians 1:20 and 2:6 guide your conversation with a Christian friend who believes that God should remove his love because of what he or she has done (e.g., his marriage is falling apart, she cannot treat her children better than her mom treated her, he is struggling with misusing his prescription pain meds, etc.)?

6. For what part of our spiritual rescue can we take credit? What moves us to want to have something to boast about? (cf 2:9)

7. If we are united to Jesus, then we have been created to go about doing good works (2:10). What do the following verses say about good works: Titus 1:16, 2:4, 3:18, Mt 5:16, 1 Tim 5:25, 6:18, 2 Cor 9:8, and Phil 1:6? How are you living out Eph 2:10? Describe how you see others in your community group living out Eph 2:10.

"What Are We Looking At" Sermon Questions
1. What are some of the struggles and failures of the Christians in Ephesus (scan chapters 4 - 6)? Paul starts this section by seeing the good in the Ephesian believers and giving thanks (vs 15-16) for what he sees. When is it difficult for you to see the good in others? What makes it easier to see more of the good in some than in others? How often do you encourage others about the good work you see God doing in them?

2. What is the hope of the statement, “you see what you look for”? What is the danger of that statement? How does that statement shape your experience of the Christian life? Of life in the church?

3. Paul desperately wanted the believers in Ephesus to really experience and know the hope (v 18), the inheritance (v 18), and the power (v 19) of the gospel. Which of those three do you tend to see and experience the most? Which of those three do you have the most struggle seeing and
knowing? Why do you think that is?

4. How do the majority of prayer requests and prayers in community groups, Sunday school classes, and other smaller Christian gatherings differ from the focus of Paul’s prayer in this passage? How would our prayers sound different in our smaller gatherings if this passage shaped our practice?

5. Group exercise: Do a web search for “Pray Beyond the Sick List | PCA CDM”.Read the brief article together and discuss.

6. If verse 22 is true, how should it shape our interest in and experience with culture?

"According to His Will" Sermon Questions
1. God has always had a plan to rescue his people from sin and misery. Read Genesis 3:15; 6:13-14, 8:1, 21; Exodus 6:1, 13:17, 21; Ezra 1:2-3 and discuss how God rescued the people in each passage.

2. In what ways does ‘religion’ try to deal with life’s big question?

3. The Bible claims that we need rescuing from our own sin and rebellion. Where do we see that idea in the Bible and in our own lives?

4. How do we see God the Father working in this passage to rescue us?

5. How do we see God the Son (Jesus) working in this passage to rescue us?

6. How do we see God the Spirit working in this passage to rescue us?

“Freedom’s Wholeness” Sermon Questions
1. Our society defines freedom as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” This view is called “negative freedom” and has become the chief moral good in our country. What philosophical and practical problems does this approach create?

2. How or where do you see the impact of this view of freedom on your own heart and practice?

3. What fraudulent promises have idols made to your heart? Read Gal. 4:8, Titus 3:3, Ezekiel 14:1-5. What idols shaped your heart before you came to know God? Read 1 John 5:21. To whom is the author writing? Why would he give that command to them and what does it tell us about the experience of the Christian life? What idols are your heart drawn to since you came to know God?

4. Paul reminds us in verse 7 that God lavished grace on us “in all wisdom and insight”. What was Paul referring to with that phrase? How should knowing that impact the Christian’s sense of assurance? When is your sense of grace’s assurance rattled most?

5. Read Mt 24:37-42. Who was taken in the days of Noah? What was left? Read Romans 8:18-25. Along with God’s people, what else will be set free (i.e., redeemed)? Read Rev. 21:1-4. Whose dwelling place changes according to this passage? How would you connect these three passages with Eph 1:10?

6. If our mission as Christians is to live out our Father’s plan (Eph 1:10), what are some practical things (a) you are doing and (b) what could you start doing to reflect Jesus’ aim to unify?

"I've Got You!" Sermon Questions
1. Paul begins this section of his letter by highlighting reasons God’s people have to bless (e.g., to praise) God. When do you find it easy and natural to praise God? When do you find it more difficult and challenging to give God praise?

2. God is zealous about making his people “holy and blameless” (v. 4,) Read Col 1:22 and Phil 2:14-15. In what situational context does God want his people to be holy and blameless? What does this have to do with evangelism and outreach?

3. Why do you think that many Christians are more concerned about the world not being holy and blameless than they are about becoming more holy and blameless themselves?

4. What does this quote stir up in you: “Predestination was never meant to be a doctrinal club used to batter people into acknowledgments of God’s sovereignty. Rather, the message of God’s love preceding our accomplishments and outlasting our failures was meant to give us a profound sense of confidence and security in God’s love so that we will not despair in situations of great difficulty, pain, and shame.” ~Bryan Chapell

5. How does verse 4 differ from the teaching that God’s election or predestination is based on him looking down the tunnel of time to see who would choose him? (see also Mk 13:20, John 1:12-13, 6:44, 70, 15:16, Rom 9:11).

6. Read the following verses and note how they refer to Jesus: Eph 1:6, Mt 4:17, Lk 9:35, Mk 1:24. Read Col 3:12. What do you notice? How does this relate to the doctrine of “union with Christ”?

7. How many times does Paul use plural first-person pronouns in Eph 1:3-6? What does that teach us about how God intends for us to become holy and blameless? What hinders us from living that out?