Crystal Coast Nazarene Small Group Bible Study The Work of the

Crystal Coast Nazarene
Small Group Bible Study
The Work of the
Holy Spirit
August, 2014
GOD’S PLAN – OUR MISSION
At CCNaz, we believe that it is GOD’S PLAN for everyone to be…
Saved – Healed – Delivered – Filled
(Luke 4:16-19)
God’s plan leads us to our mission…
The Mission of CCNaz is …
“SHARING the Good News of Jesus while GROWING in our faith”.
(Acts 1:8; Col. 2:6-7)
Our Mission, “Sharing the Good News of Jesus while Growing in our faith” is mandated by the Word of God.
The priorities and methods of our mission form several faces: (Time) investing our time in worship and small
groups for spiritual growth; (Talents) using our spiritual gifts and talents to serve others; (Testimony) sharing
our testimony, our story of God’s transforming work in our lives with others; (Treasures) honoring God by the
giving of our financial resources to build the kingdom of God through CCNaz; (Teachings) by obeying God’s
Word in all areas of our lives. These are not separate objectives but an integrated and comprehensive plan to
make disciples according to the commands of Jesus. They are biblical mandates that we will all learn and strive
to obey by:
1. Making a commitment to an investment of my Time to regular attendance in a Worship service and to
become part of a Small Group for spiritual growth.
2. Making a commitment to use my Talents or spiritual gifts to serve God by involvement in a ministry to
others in our church, or the outside world
3. Making a commitment to share my Testimony (my story) of God’s transforming work in my life with
others
4. Making a commitment to honor God by giving of my Treasures (financial resources; money) to build
the kingdom of God through CCNaz.
5. Making a commitment to obedience to the Teaching of God’s Word in all areas of our life.
August 3, 2014
The Work of the Holy Spirit
Set aside 1 hour each day this week for Bible Study. It will surprise you what it will do for your spiritual life.
Work through several questions each day this week. Write any answers on the back side or another piece of
paper.
(Leaders – keep in mind there will be more material that you will be able to cover in 45 minutes, so pick the
questions that you want to lead your group in discussing)
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Your new life in Christ may go well and then be marred by a problem. If we could understand what was
causing the problem, we might be able to discover how to fix it.
1. What was the spiritual condition of the disciples of Christ before Pentecost (the outpouring and infilling of
the Holy Spirit)?
a) Luke 10:20
b) b. John 17:14
2. What attitudes did the disciples have in these verses?
a) Luke 9:53-54
b) Luke 22:24
3. What kind of attitude did Jesus expect of His disciples? (Luke 22:26)
4. What does Christ pray for His disciples as He comes to the end of His earthly ministry? (John 17:17-19)
a) What does He pray for you? (John 17:17-20)
5. Read Galatians 5:13-26.
a) What was the spiritual problem or struggle the Galatian Christians faced? (Galatians 5:17)
b) How does a Christian fulfill God's expectation?
c) What sums up the law? (Galatians 5:14)
d) What is the first of the fruit or harvest the Spirit produces? (Galatians 5:22)
e) What is your relation to the law then? (Galatians 5:18)
f) What should be done with the sinful nature (or "flesh," KJV), which is contrary to the Spirit (Galatians
5:17), according to 5:24?
g) What would it mean if the "sinful nature" or "flesh" was "crucified" in your life?
6. What was Paul's personal testimony? (Galatians 2:19-20)
a) Who had the control of his life?
7. What is the secret of ongoing victory? (Galatians 5:25)
b) How would that work in your life?
8. What was the spiritual level of the Thessalonians? (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10)
a) What was their problem? (1 Thessalonians 3:10 and 4:3)
b) So what does Paul pray for them? (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
9. What does God expect of Christians? (Hebrews 12:14)
10. What is behind committed acts of sin?
a) Ephesians 2:2-3, especially verse 3
b) What help in understanding this issue do you get from James 4:8?
11. Read Romans 6-8.
a) What has Christ provided for us? (Romans 6:6)
b) What step of faith must the Christian take to experience Christ's provision? (Romans 6:11)
c) Identify the "laws" Paul dealt with in Romans 7:22-23.
d) What was Paul's answer to his problem and struggle? (Romans 8:2)
e) What is the most powerful law in your present experience?
12. Though the Spirit will set us free from the "law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2), what does He do with our
weakness? (Romans 8:26)
13. What is the struggle of Ephesians 6:12-13 and how is it different from the battle of the Spirit and the
selfish nature as in Galatians 5:17?
August 10, 2014
Filled with the Spirit
Set aside 1 hour each day this week for Bible Study. It will surprise you what it will do for your spiritual life.
Work through several questions each day this week. Write any answers on the back side or another piece of
paper.
(Leaders – keep in mind there will be more material that you will be able to cover in 45 minutes, so pick the
questions that you want to lead your group in discussing)
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After resolving the inner battle for your soul (what one has called an "inner civil war") in favor of the full
control of the Spirit, the individual is privileged to be filled with the Spirit. Another way the Bible describes this
new and deeper relationship with God is to be filled with the Holy Spirit or entirely sanctified.
l. What did the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah predict would be God's new way of dealing with people?
(Jeremiah 31:33)
2. What message did Philip preach to the Samaritans? (Acts 8:4-8, especially verse 5)
a) What did the apostles in Jerusalem do when they heard Samaria had received the Word of God? (Acts 8:1417)
3. What did Paul pray for the Ephesian Christians? (Ephesians 3:16,19)
4. Christ gave His disciples the awesome task of witnessing and spreading His message. What did He tell them
to do to be ready for this task? (Luke 24:48-49)
a) How did He further describe what the Father promised? (Acts 1:4-5)
b) What would the Spirit do for them? (Acts 1:8)
5. What change had the Corinthian Christians seen in their lives? (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, especially verse 11)
The phrase "sanctified" used to describe them in verse 11 is often explained as "initial sanctification." What
indication is there that the Corinthians still had a serious spiritual problem and needed a deeper and more
complete relationship with God? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
a) In 2 Corinthians 7:1, what is Paul urging on the Corinthians to meet their need?
6. What longings have you had for a deeper experience with God?
a) How has God worked in your life to meet that need for you?
7. What descriptions of the spiritual life are given of the following New Testament saints?
a. Peter (Acts 4:8)
b. Saul (Paul) (Acts 9:17 and 13:9)
c. Barnabas (Acts 11:24)
d. How would you describe a person "full of the Spirit"?
8. Besides "filled with the Spirit" and "entirely sanctified," other phrases are used to describe the fully
surrendered, cleansed, and controlled life. What are some of these other expressions?
a)
Matthew 5:8
b)
1 John 4:17-18
c)
Hebrews 4:9-11
d)
Hebrews 6:1
e)
Romans 6:18
Which of these phrases speaks to you most powerfully and why?
9. What are some benefits of being filled with the Spirit?
a. Acts 4:31-32
b. Acts 6:5, 8 and 7:55, 59-60
c. Romans 15:13
10. What is the special work the Holy Spirit does according to:
a. Romans 15:16
b. 1 Peter 1:2
11. In 1 Thessalonians 1:3-8, the Thessalonians Christians are described in glowing terms. Yet they had needs.
a. What were they? (1 Thessalonians 3:10-13
b. What was God's will for them? (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7)
c. What did rejection of this instruction mean? (1 Thessalonians 4:8)
d. So what does Paul pray for them? (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
e. Who does the sanctifying? (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
f. How complete is this sanctification? (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
g. What does he pray for in addition to sanctification? (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
h. What confidence should you have that God will answer the prayer for entire sanctification in your life? (1
Thessalonians 5:24)
12. Read Ephesians 5:15-21.
a. What command is given to Christians? (Ephesians 5:18)
b. Why is Spirit fullness contrasted to drinking wine?
c. The "be filled" of Ephesians 5:18 is present tense. The idea is "keep filled." What does that mean for your
life?
d. Once we are filled with the Spirit, and as we are keeping filled with the Spirit, channels for natural overflow
are needed. They are:
(1) Ephesians 5:19
(2) Ephesians 5:20
(3) Ephesians 5:21
13. When Jesus taught His disciples about receiving the Holy Spirit in Luke 11:13, He gave a simple condition.
What is it?
August 17, 2014
How to Be Filled with the Spirit
Set aside 1 hour each day this week for Bible Study. It will surprise you what it will do for your spiritual life.
Work through several questions each day this week. Write any answers on the back side or another piece of
paper.
(Leaders – keep in mind there will be more material that you will be able to cover in 45 minutes, so pick the
questions that you want to lead your group in discussing)
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1. What is the provision of God by which the believer may be filled with the Holy Spirit, sanctified, made holy
or clean from sin?
a. Hebrews 10:10
b. Hebrews 10:14
c. Hebrews 13:12
d. Ephesians 5:25-26
2. What pattern of life does Jesus expect from those who follow Him? (John 12:24-25) How is your life like that
pattern?
3. Read 1 John 1:7.
a. What cleanses or purifies us?
b. From how much sin?
c. What is the condition needed for the cleansing?
d. What does it mean for you to "walk in the light" or live in the light?
4. What group is eligible to receive the fullness of the Spirit?
a. Acts 5:32
b. John 17:14 and John 17:17
c. 1 Thessalonians 1:6 and 5:23-24
d. What would it take in your life for you to be eligible to receive the Spirit's fullness?
5. Who applies or brings to pass this work of sanctification? (Romans 15:16)
6. What had Jesus commanded the disciples? (Acts 1:4-5)
a. How concerned were they to be baptized with the Spirit? (Acts 1:12-14)
b. Earlier, what had Jesus instructed those concerned about praying for the Spirit? (Luke 11:13 and 11:910)
c. What evidences of concern did you show before you were filled, or are showing in order to be filled,
with the Spirit?
7. Read Romans 6:13. How do you know these people are already Christians? Yet what are they urged to do?
8. Read Romans 12:1-2. What indicates they were already Christians?
a. What are they urged to do with their bodies?
b. What did it mean or what would it mean "to offer your body as [a] living sacrifice ... to God"?
9. When the disciples are filled with the Spirit, how long does it take?
a. Acts 2:4
b. Acts 8:15-17
10. Who does the sanctifying? (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
11. What is the common condition by which people receive the Spirit's fullness or are sanctified entirely?
a. Acts 26:18
b. Galatians 3:14
c. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
d. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, what is your part? What is God's part?
August 24, 2014
Walking in the Spirit
Set aside 1 hour each day this week for Bible Study. It will surprise you what it will do for your spiritual life. Work
through several questions each day this week. Write any answers on the back side or another piece of paper.
(Leaders – keep in mind there will be more material that you will be able to cover in 45 minutes, so pick the questions
that you want to lead your group in discussing)
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Once a person has been filled with the Spirit, a new quality of life begins. This is not the end, but the beginning
of an exciting, moment-by-moment dependence on the Spirit. Galatians 5:25 refers to it as keeping "in step
with the Spirit" (NIV), and Romans 8:4 speaks of those "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (KJV).
1. Read Colossians 1:21-23.
a) What had Christ's death provided for the Colossians?
b) How would God present them?
c) What condition is required for the continuing benefits of Christ's death? (1:23)
2. What is the positive relationship for the person who has died to self-centeredness? (Colossians 3:3)
a) What is the Christians life like when it is "hidden with Christ in God"?
b) One Christian leader has warned, "But don't let the devil tempt you out of your hiding place."
What does this advice mean to you?
3. In Romans 12:1, we are asked to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in a moment of time. What does
Romans 12:2 urge as an ongoing experience?
a) What are some ways you are transformed by the renewing of your mind?
4. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Paul prays God will sanctify you through and through.
a) What does he pray that has ongoing significance?
b) Who does the preserving or keeping? (1 Thessalonians 5:24)
c) What are some ways God preserves the people He has sanctified?
5. What phrases do we have in Galatians 5 that indicate an ongoing relationship with the Spirit?
a) Galatians 5:16
b) Galatians 5:18
c) Galatians 5:25
d) Which phrase is most meaningful to you, and why?
6.
Read Romans 8:1-4, 8-9.
a) What had the Spirit done for Paul? (Verse 2, "set ... free" is a tense that indicates something done in
a moment of time.)
b) What must be done to fulfill the law's requirements in us? (Romans 8:4)
c) What keeps you from being controlled by the flesh or lower nature or sinful nature? (Romans 8:8-9)
d) What are some specific practices that will characterize your life if you are controlled by the Spirit?
7. Besides being filled with the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, what can people do with the Holy Spirit?
a) Acts 5:9
b) 1 Thessalonians 5:19
c) Ephesians 4:30
d) What does it mean when a person grieves or saddens the Holy Spirit?
8. What does the Holy Spirit do for people besides filling them?
a) Acts 1:8
b) Romans 8:14
c) Romans 8:26
d) Acts 9:31
e)Acts 13:4
f) What is one thing the Holy Spirit has done for you since filling you?
9. According to 1 John 2:1-2, sin need not be a part of your Christian life; but if you do sin, what should you
do?
a) What is the promise of continuing cleansing or purifying in 1 John 1:7?
b) What does it mean for you to walk or live in the light?
c) What is some new light God has given you in the last three months?
10. Examine the following passages on being filled with the Spirit. Which refer to the moment one is filled with
the Spirit and which refer to an ongoing relationship with the Spirit?
a) Acts 2:4
b) Acts 4:8
c) Acts 4:31
d) Acts 6:3
e) Acts 9:17
f) Acts 11:24
g) Acts 13:9
h) Acts 13:52
After a Christian has been filled with the Spirit and sanctified entirely, he needs an ongoing relationship with
God-a walk in the Spirit. If anything breaks his relationship with God, the Christian should seek to be restored
(1 John 2:1). The life of Hudson Taylor, great missionary and founder of the China Inland Mission, is a help to
us at this point. He was converted to Christ at age 17. Soon after conversion, he apparently had a second crisis
experience of sanctification. After years on the mission field, however, he became out of sorts and fretful.
Perhaps it is best to understand if we say he renewed his sanctification. However, he now applied to his new
spiritual victory a lesson learned over the years. He testified: Do not let us change the Savior's words [he often
said in later years]. It is not "whosoever has drunk" but "whosoever drinketh" [John 4:14, KJV]. It is not of one
isolated draught He speaks, or even many, but of the continuous habit of the soul. In John 6:35, also, the full
meaning is, "He who is habitually coming to me shall by no means hunger, and he who is believing on me shall
by no means thirst."... It seems to me that where many of us err is in leaving our drinking in the past, while our
thirst continues present. What we need is to be drinking-yes, thankful for each occasion which drives us to
drink ever more deeply of the living water. Taken from: Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, by Dr. and Mrs.
Howard Taylor. NA Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Moody Press. Used by permission.
August 31, 2014
Uniting For God
Set aside 1 hour each day this week for Bible Study. It will surprise you what it will do for your spiritual life.
Work through several questions each day this week. Write any answers on the back side or another piece of
paper.
(Leaders – keep in mind there will be more material that you will be able to cover in 45 minutes, so pick the
questions that you want to lead your group in discussing)
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Did you realize that when you received Jesus Christ, you not only found your Heavenly Father, but you also a
whole new family? Every other true Christian became your brother or sister. This new family to which you are
related is called “the church” Be sure to show your spiritual family plenty of love.
1. The Bible refers to the followers of Christ in different ways. List three terms describing followers of
Christ in Acts 11:26.
2. Since we should work together as Christians, what is the Church is sometimes called? (1 Corinthians
12:27)
3. Who is the Head of the Church? (Ephesians 5:23)
4. What action of Christ shows us how important the Church is to Him? (Ephesians 5:25)
5. To be a part of the Church, in what relation to Christ must I be? (Ephesians 5:24)
6. Where had Paul taught the ways of Christ? (1 Corinthians 4:17)
7. What lessons has John’s Gospel taught you about the Church?
8. How will the world know that I am of the true Church (the followers of Christ)? (John 13:35)
9. What is the responsibility of the pastor toward the church? (John 21:16)
10. What is the special way by which we remember Jesus Christ and what He has done for us? (1
Corinthians 11:23-26)
11. How should I treat a fellow member of the church? (Galatians 6:2)
12. When the Holy Spirit gives special gifts to individuals, what is His purpose? (1 Corinthians 12:4,7)
13. Some churches are powerful and loving, some not. Which of the following two churches is most like
the one you’d wish to help create or belong to? (check one)
a. The church at Jerusalem (Acts 4:32-33)
b. The church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-17)
14. What was the extent of interest of the early Christians toward the apostles’ teaching, fellowship,
breaking of bread, and prayer? (Acts 2:42)
15. What should I be careful about if I wish to please the Lord? (Hebrews 10:25)
16. Some reasons I should join the church are:
Through your faith, you have been united to Jesus Christ and, in a spiritual sense, to all other true Christians.
Now you ought to consider the official step of joining the church. This fellowship is so important and its task
so large that Christians need to unite in every way possible. With the help of your church and pastor, you will
continue to grow in Christ. Congratulations on completing these studies. More wonderful days are ahead as
you adventure for God!