TALK IT OVER

Talking through the message during the week helps you turn what God is saying to you into action steps. These talking points, questions and scriptures are designed to help you take the next step. If you are leading a group, don’t feel like you must answer every question. Pick out the questions that will stir up conversation and action among those in your group.

With your Bible or CFCOG App, read Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul paints a dreamscape of how the gospel brings together what we’ve divided or separated by our prejudice, hatred, and pride. The church, at its best, is a beautiful mosaic, joined together in love as a holy temple where the Lord resides.

• The Gentiles before Christ, were made to feel like outsiders. Can you relate? What made you feel that way? In what ways has the gospel changed that for you?

• Most people in our day see the church as a place to go, or a building, yet verse 19 describes the church as the family of God. Share your view and experience with the church, and how important it is for you to belong to a church family.

• Belonging to a church family isn’t only important for its benefits to you, but also for what you bring to it. How does serving within the church family, change your view of it?

READING PLAN MONDAY Ephesians 2:1-10

TUESDAY Ephesians 2:11-18

WEDNESDAY Ephesians 2:19-22

THURSDAY 1 Corinthians 12:12-20

FRIDAY 1 Corinthians 12:21-27

This week reflect and write about your responses to the following… Are there relationships in your life that could use reconciliation (especially within the family of God)? What may God be leading you to do about it? Dream a little… What could God accomplish though His people when they are unified as one?

application TAKE IT HOME TAKE IT HOME

As you think about this week’s message, reflect on how you’ve experienced this topic in your own life. To break the ice in your group, discuss the following first before you talk it over.

God’s plans for us are so far beyond our wildest dreams! This series through the book of Ephesians is designed to ignite your imagination about God’s dreams for your life and for the future of our church. Take the journey with us through God’s Dreamscape.

• Sometimes certain words can stir up all kinds of thoughts, feelings, and reactions… these words might be called ‘hot buttons’ for us. If you are willing, share what words serve as ‘hot buttons’ for you. What word, when it’s brought up, stirs something inside for you… and why?

• Share your thoughts, feelings, or reactions that are stirred in you when you hear the word, “church.” What comes to mind when you think about a big church?

• The church through the gospel brings people together who otherwise may not have anything else in common. Share how you have seen or experienced this. Who did it involve? What happened?

4/9/2017

GETTING STARTED

You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the

foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined

together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

Ephesians 2:19-21, NLT