Open:
Terry said that Dr. Vanderweele “Has shown how active participation in a worshipping community…means you’re 5X less likely to commit suicide, half as likely to divorce…and every other factor related to human thriving improves for people who live in a worshipping community.”
Do you believe Dr. Vanderweele is correct? Share with the group why.
It’s one thing to look from a distance at the stats Dr. Vanderweele’s observed, but now bring it down to a personal level. Think about your own life in community. Where would you be if you had no faith, no community? please share them with the group. You can share both positive and negative observations.
Now think about your own observable world and answer the following question: Why is Lack of faith a personal, public, national health crisis?
Objective:
The objective of the study is to understand that faith in Christ works, it has a direct impact on all that we do in our daily lives. The reality for all of humanity is that a life oriented in faith to Christ…is the life that is oriented to the world as it is…it works. It is imperative that we understand this truth and make course corrections as needed to orient our lives to Christ.
Read:
Romans 4:9-12,
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
Study
Terry said that there are two main ways faith works:
- First, we are saved through faith by grace…because God is faithful to his promise…he justifies sinners who trust him.
- Second, Our faith is worked out in a life of trusting God…this life “works” in that we see God prove himself over and over in how our lives unfold.
Discuss these two points. How would you summarize them in your own words? How have you seen this play out in your own experience?
Romans 4:10 asks when Abraham was credited as righteous? After he was circumcised or before he was circumcised. What is the answer to that question, and what difference does it make (vv. 9-12)? How does this encourage you in your faith?
Apply:
The Gospel tells us that we cannot work for our faith, but when we put our faith in the grace of God then we put that faith to work in our lives. It’s then that faith works.
Terry said: Faith does work…not because it earns relationship…but because it is like breathing air…it is how we are designed…air works…faith works.
Do you find encouragement in this statement? Share why?
If you struggle grasping the truth of Terry’s statement, ask yourself why? What can you today to make it a reality in your life?
The message of the gospel is one of clarity, humility, and confidence; it is how we want to live.
Are you living with?
Clarity: This is who we are, we are people of faith in Christ.
— We live in the real world, a world where Christ has risen.
Humility: Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I was the worst.
–I will not mock your words, or thoughts…I will take you seriously…Christ took me seriously.
Confidence: This is the truth of God…I did not make it, it is making me.
What is a personal implications and application of living with this kind of confidence in your Life?