Watch: Above is a helpful overview of Ephesians from ‘The Bible Project’.

Read: It would be great to encourage your group members to read the book of Ephesians.

You could do this as a group, or individuals could do this in their own time. The YouVersion Bible App is good for people who might want to listen rather than read, biblegateway.com also has this option.

Paul’s passion leaps off the page as he writes. For example, in Today’s NIV verses 3 to 14 of chapter 1 have been divided up into 8 sentences, so that it makes sense to us in contemporary English, however in the original Greek in which Paul wrote, it is one long sentence! If we could hear Paul dictating this letter, we’d hear the exuberance in his voice. It would be good to spend some time reflecting on the passage and the amazing truths within it…

Spiritual Exercise

As a group use this Lectio Divina resource to reflect on Ephesians 1:3-14 together.

Share

What really excited you or perhaps caused your heart to respond with gratitude?

Did you notice any resistance or any specific parts that you found difficult?

Perhaps there are particular words used in the passage that you find difficult, or places in your life where you feel like you don’t measure up or feel unwanted or rejected? Places you don’t feel blameless and are aware of your shortcomings?

Share

How does this picture of what Jesus has done for us through God’s grace make you feel about the things you found difficult in the passage?

Discuss

John highlighted word ‘holy’ in this context as being ‘set apart’ for a specific purpose. God’s purpose in creating the world is that everything would function to the “praise of His glory”. We were created to orientate our lives around Him. We are set apart for the glory of God and for this reason we are called to live lives that respond to this.

Living for God’s glory doesn’t rest on what we do for Him. We glorify God by allowing Him to meet our needs. The question is, will we submit to Him and allow Him to meet our deepest needs?

• What substitutes do you sometimes turn to in order to get your needs met rather than allow God to meet your deepest need?

John referred to the film “Behind Enemy Lines” that was loosely based on a true story involving Captain Scott O’Grady, whose plane was downed over Bosnia back in 1995. While flying his F16 over Bosnia his plane is suddenly hit by a missile. He ejected at 26,000 feet and parachuted into enemy territory, the Serbs see his chute coming down and start a search for him. After 5 days when he felt it was safe enough to use his radio, Scott sent a signal to let the Americans know that he was still alive. Eventually he saw the Marines sent to rescue him and came running out from his hiding place, and jumped into a Marine helicopter. They pull him on board and as they lift off the ground, he utterly breaks down. The only thing he could say was, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Praise God for rescuing me.”

At times we all get stuck and can find ourselves captive in enemy territory. We all need to be rescued from a life without God. This happens at the point we decide to commit our lives to Christ, but also we need to be rescued whenever we find ourselves stuck in enemy territory. When God begins to operate in our life, his goal is to give us a life of freedom from what is constantly trying to actually control us.

• What areas in your life are most in need of God’s rescue?

John told the story of Degli Martines, a maintenance man from New York who, in June 2008, discovered that he had won a $65 million Lotto Jackpot - the largest prize awarded to a single winner in the 30 year history of the game. He immediately took the winning ticket to the mini-market, to collect what is known as a jackpot receipt. The shop assistant printed him the receipt, and told him to go to the lottery office to claim his winnings. On his way home, carefully guarding this receipt, he accidentally threw the actual ticket away. He had the receipt and could confirm that the winning ticket had been sold at the store.

But because he had lost the original ticket, he was unable to collect his prize money for a whole year, because the rules of the game said that they had to wait 365 days to make sure no one else handed in the original ticket. Degli, a low wage worker, effectively became a multi-millionaire. The $65 million was rightfully his. But for a year, he lived in relative poverty knowing that he should rightfully be living like a king.

Paul was saying to the church in Ephesus that you are spiritual millionaires. You have every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. But many of them were walking around in relative spiritual poverty, because they hadn't fully claimed the prize.

• Where do you sense God is inviting you to live as the spiritual millionaire you already are?

Reconciliation WITH us

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…..” (Ephesians 2:1 NIV)

The ‘you’ in this passage is plural, which becomes clear as Paul goes on to say…

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2: 4–5 NIV)

If you’ve ever witnessed or been part of a family feud, or a bitter argument between loved ones, you’ll know there’s a special kind of heartache associated with relational breakdown. Nobody knows that heartache that more than God, who was separated from His children by their sins

BUT because of his great love for us - demonstrated on the cross - He made a way and his goal wasn't just reconciliation with Him - it was also restoring our relationships to one another.

Reconciliation FOR us

At the time of writing Ephesians, there existed a long standing bitter division between the Jewish people and basically everyone else - the Gentiles, because a big part of their culture was living separately in many ways to the world around them. First century Greek and Roman writings describe hostility towards Jewish people and their practices. For example, not working on the Sabbath often led to accusations of laziness, refusing to worship the Roman gods was criticized as unpatriotic, and abstaining from non-kosher food was mocked. And worse still this period was punctuated by instances where these tensions flared up into a Jewish uprisings which were brutally crushed by the Romans. One such uprising in Galilee in 4BC lead to the Roman general Varus crucifying 2,000 of the rebels.

But as the church began - the message was – it’s time for that division to go! In verse 12 the writer communicates to believers from Gentile backgrounds saying ….

Read together: Ephesians 2:11–16 (NIV)

When it talks about Jesus taking down the dividing wall of hostility - that isn't just metaphorical. There was a literal wall in the temple. So there was a very real hostility and divide between the Jewish people and those outside - but Paul explains - it has to go! He’s describing and proposing an almost inconceivable ethnic reconciliation - but this is how the Church was birthed.

Every Nation Resources

The last couple of years we have been on our own journey of growing in our understanding of racial diversity and reconciliation.

We really encourage you to engage in this journey, both as a Small Group and as individuals, using the resources below to help:

• Small Group Focus Week Resources: trentv.org/everynationsg

• Materials for individuals: trentv.org/everynation

Reconciliation THROUGH us

Reconciliation is our heritage and our inheritance.

We are the reconciliation people!

And the gospel of Jesus does have the power to reconcile the most bitter divides.

When we come to Christ we are born again not just as a new person - but into a people - what Paul describes as a new humanity - the Church and we, the Church, are God’s plan for the reconciliation of this divided world. We are one body, with one united purpose.

The universe we live in is moving day by day closer to the day when this age will end and all things on heaven and earth will be reconciled to God and part of his new creation or forever separated from Him. Meanwhile the devil and his servants do their best to cause division and discord - through wars prejudice, inequality and more, but each day he has to watch as God’s Kingdom of peace pushes back through his Church.

For this reason we are called to…

• Fight for unity in the church

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25 (NIV)

Divided we are weak and without hope - united we are a people. This is why the devil spends so much energy causing division, especially within the Church. He is always looking for a chink in the armour - a friction - a misunderstanding - a different way of interpreting the Bible - a miscommunication - where he can pry us apart And pick us off one at a time. Telling us that we don't belong - that we don't fit in - that nobody would notice if we weren't there - that we’re different - that we can’t be around certain people or they can't be around us.

Reflect

- Ever had thoughts like that flash through your head?

- What is God’s invitation to you?

• Be part of the solution

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:” 2 Corinthians 5:17–18 (NIV)

Discuss

• Is there a place, a cause, a relationship, a situation where God is sending you to be a reconciler?

• Look to the cross

“For He himself is our peace” Ephesians 2:14 (NIV)

It’s important to acknowledge that some of us have lived through experiences that make us far more qualified to talk about the cost of reconciliation than others.

“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Reconciliation isn’t cheap - God knows this - and this is why the route to reconciliation and peace that lies the other side - runs via the cross.

Spiritual Exercise

The cross is the place where all repentance ultimately leads and from which all forgiveness ultimately flows.

Here are some practical ways you might like to bring any current situations to the cross:

• Share the Lord’s Supper together as a Small Group as a way of surrendering to the cross.

• Find an image of/or a cross and place it somewhere in the room – spend some time in silent reflection.

If you feel it’s right for your group context you could encourage group members to write down any situations that come to mind and place them by the cross (folding them to keep them confidential). Note: It’s worth explaining to your group how you will dispose of these in a safe and confidential manner afterwards.

• Perhaps play a relevant song about the cross, or watch a youtube lyric video as a focus for reflection. Here is an example ‘Sweetly Broken’

• Share as appropriate and pray for one another.

Where do people sense God’s invitation?

Perhaps encourage people to share what their next step will be.

• What is God’s love like?

It is important to recognise that there are so many things that can impact our view of love and how we receive it.

For example: Hollywood and television, our family, early childhood, life experiences.

Reflect

How would you answer the question “What is Love?”

Are you aware of things have impacted your view of love or how you receive it?

What comes to mind when you hear the expression “God loves you”?

Whatever our existing assumptions about what love is, we can all subconsciously apply our imperfect human ideas of love to the love of God and this can lead to a misunderstanding what God’s love is like at times.

Read together: Ephesians 3:14-21

In this passage Paul reminds us about the sheer magnitude of God’s Love.

He says, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ₁₈ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…” The love of God is the widest, longest, highest and deepest thing that any of us could possibly imagine, in fact, Paul says in verse 19 that “this love… surpasses knowledge.”

This was very different from the idea of the supreme god that would have been familiar to the Ephesians Paul was writing to. Ephesus was the second largest city in the Roman Empire, and was a centre for commerce and worship of the Roman gods. The supreme God of the Roman Empire was Jupiter. He was at the top of the hierarchy of all the Roman gods, and had absolute authority. Among things like the weather, he presided over the fates of humans, including whether they lived or died. But he was distant and very frightening. Romans were expected to appease him with sacrifices and risked punishment if they behaved in a way that displeased him.

Paul is saying that God the Father, far from being cruel and angry, ready to punish you, is a loving God who sacrificed himself for us in the form of Jesus.

Maybe your response to the expression “God loves you” was thoughts like:

“That is true for other people.”

“But me? I am unlovable.”

“I am so far from God, his love couldn’t reach me.

“It couldn’t reach as far as my brokenness, my shame, my addiction, the things I have done in my life”.

But in these verses in Ephesians we see that it is wide, long, high and deep enough to reach all of us.

Read together: Romans 8:31-39

In this passage we read that nothing can separate us from the love of God, no matter how far we may have drifted from Him.

Spiritual Exercise

Welsh Christian William Rees, tried to capture God’s incredible love in the hymn “Here is Love Vast as the Ocean”. This hymn became known as the love song of the Welsh Revival, in the early 1900s, when church buildings overflowed and thousands of people came to faith in Jesus.

Listen to the song together, reflecting on the words. You may want to use this YouTube lyric video (link https://youtu.be/izHuv2rhtF4) to focus your attention

Share

- What lyrics stood out to you?

- Did you notice any resistance or any specific parts that you found challenging?

- What is God’s invitation to you?

• What does it mean to know God's love deeply for ourselves?

Paul wants us to go further than grasping the magnitude of God’s love, he wants us to know it in an experiential way.

There is a little paradox in Ephesians 3:19 when Paul prays that they will “…know this love that surpasses knowledge.”

He wants us to know what is way beyond our being able to fully know. To experience the reality of God’s love in ways we can’t fully comprehend.

When he is talking about knowing God’s love, he doesn’t mean the kind of rational understanding we think of when we hear the word “knowledge” today. Knowledge that is to do with what we think (this idea only emerged in the Enlightenment period of the 17th and 18th centuries). To the Greek audience that Paul was writing to, there wasn’t a separation of the rational mind and irrational emotions. The heart was the location of both physical sensations and all thoughts.

So to know something is to experience it, and that is precisely what Paul is praying for here: that his readers would know the truth of God’s love, in both their minds and their experiences.

It is one thing to have money in the bank. It's another thing to withdraw it and spend it.

In the same way it is one thing to know about God’s love, but it is another thing to live in the reality of it.

For this reason

In the previous two talks, we have seen how God’s purpose for his people is to show the glory of God. Paul is exhorting the Church to live out the life that God has called them to, but first he prays for them to know God’s love. Paul knows that we are most effective for the Kingdom, when we deeply know and experience the love that God has for us, and for others. Everything else springs from that place.

Discuss

Discovering more about God’s love for us is a lifelong adventure, which we are all invited into.

- What do you think it means to live in the reality of God’s love?

- If you were to accept the invitation to go deeper, what difference might it make in your life and to those around you?

• How can we grow in experiencing God's love?

Paul prays that we would grasp just how vast God’s love is, and know it in our personal experience.

What does Paul say about how to grow in grasping and knowing it?

Read together: Ephesians 3:17 - 18

“Together with all the Lord’s holy people” - That’s us, the family of God, the Church.

Knowing and living in God’s love is not something we do in isolation.

Yes, of course we can have wonderful experiences of God alone with Him and we are encouraged to seek out time alone with God.

But, in many of his letters, Paul talks about our need for each other, often using the image of a body, including in the verse from Ephesians we are basing our Vision for the year on,-

“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Ephesians 4:16

Paul knows that we are limited in understanding God’s love until we see it working out often through others. We share our experiences of His love, which encourages builds each other up. We express something of the love that God extended to us by caring for one another, looking after each other in good times and bad. We get in touch with God's love at a deeper level when we worship with others. As we express our love to God in worship, we can experience his love at a deeper level.

Pray

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. And I pray that you …may have power... to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” Ephesians 3:16-18

We need the Holy Spirit to live the life that God has for us, a life serving Him and giving Him the glory. A life “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19)

It’s the Holy Spirit who;

- strengthens us and empowers us to understand and experience what is beyond understanding.

- reminds us of the ultimate source of all true love and affection, giving us identity and purpose.

- helps us to respond to others, sharing with them the sheer magnitude of God’s love.

• Spend some time waiting on the Holy Spirit and ministering to one another.

There may be things people want to share about the distractions and barriers in their lives whether thoughts, feelings, life circumstances and choices that make it hard for them to receive God’s love.

There may be people who feel drawn to share more of God’s love with others around them.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1 (NIV)

This verse is essentially the hinge verse in the whole book.

Because in the 3 chapters running up to this point - Paul has been talking about what Jesus has done for us…

Read together

• Eph 1:7 He’s redeemed us and forgiven us

• Eph 2:4-5 We were dead in our sin, but now we’re alive in Christ

• Eph 1:13 He’s filled us with the Holy Spirit

• Eph 2:6 He’s raised us up and seated us with Jesus

• Eph 2:19 He brought us into his family

• Eph 3:6 We are the diverse body of Christ

• Eph 3.19 We are loved beyond measure

• Eph 3:20 He has put his power in us and is able to do immeasurably more

So, for this reason, Paul says,

“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called” Eph. 4:1 (NRSV)

Paul is saying, in light of all that Jesus has done, therefore, live differently. Or, as we’ve named this sermon series –

For this reason - live a life worthy of the calling you’ve received.

What is the calling I have received?

• We are called to Jesus

“one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:5-6

• We are all called to be like Jesus

”Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

In other words: Jesus loved us and died for us, so for this reason live a life of love, following God’s example of love or how you receive it.

Reflect

What is your initial response to this call to be like Jesus?

Do you notice any thoughts or feelings, what about any resistance or excitement?

We all have areas we need to grow in, these verses are challenging but our hope is that as we look together at Paul’s challenges to us, rather than feel judged we remember we’re all works in progress, but also be encouraged - in light of who Jesus is - and what he’s done for us - to do our best to live it out.

What does it look like to live according to this call?

Reflect

Susie suggests that these 3 things matter…

1. What comes out of our mouths

2. What we do with our bodies

3. How we handle our emotions

• Where do you sense an invitation from God to deeper surrender?

Susie mentioned that looking back she is so grateful for the many times during her discipleship journey where, people who had earned the right, have loved her enough to challenge her to live a life worthy of the calling she’s received.

• Do you have someone in your life who you have given permission to ask you challenging questions in love?

Going deeper

Using the table from Susie’s talk:

• Where do you feel you lean more towards your new self?
• Where do you feel you might lean more towards your old self?

Remember: this is not about perfection - and it’s certainly not about judging others - especially those who don’t know Jesus, but it's about our heart’s attention and motivation being for Him.

Prayer / Ministry

It is through the empowering of the Holy Spirit we are able to live a life worthy of our calling. Whilst we have choices we can make and actions to take responsibility for we simply cannot do this in our own strength.

• Share as appropriate and pray for one another

Where do people sense God’s invitation?

Perhaps encourage people to share what their next step will be

A note to Small Group Leaders

As Small Group leaders you are best placed to decide how to use this material in your group. We rely on your ability to sensitively consider the needs of your members who are likely to be at varying stages of their discipleship journey. We would ask you to use your pastoral skills to find the most inclusive way to approach this topic, bringing encouragement and challenge without judgement. As you journey with your Small Group members, you may find these additional resources helpful:

Crucial Conversations: trentv.org/crucialconversations

Personal Prayer Ministry: trentv.org/ppmform

Leading a ministry time: trentv.org/ministrytime

Come Holy Spirit: trentv.org/comeholyspirit

In John 13:34 Jesus says to His disciples, “a new command I give you; love one another…as I have loved you.” It starts, before we get to Ephesians, with Jesus. The definition of love wasn’t to be drawn from the surrounding culture, from Rome, or Greece or even Judaism – but instead from Jesus’ example.

Read together

John 13:1-17

1 John 3:16-18

Philippians 2:5-8

Reflect

• How is Jesus’ love described in these passages?
• How does this love stand out from how culture tries to define love?

The word used for this love – agape love – is the least common word for love in classical Greek texts apart from the New Testament, where it’s the most common by a long way. Sacrificial - other centred love. It is like a repeating melody line in a film, you know how films develop musical motifs for specific characters? When you hear the motif weaved in, your mind goes to the character. The disciples pick up this idea, this melody line of Jesus sacrificial love, and begin to weave it in to their lives. And they weave it into their communities, and Paul picks it up and begins to weave it in to his letters and instruction, which brings us to Ephesians chapter 5.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

There’s that melody line, right at the start of the chapter. Setting the scene for all that’s to follow. Then jumping down to vs 22, Paul begins to unpack what this means for followers of Jesus in 1st century life, for husbands and wives, parents and children, slaves and masters.

Watch the clip

Discuss

What stood out for you in Dave’s explanation of this passage?

Watch the clip

Discuss

What stood out for you in Dave’s explanation of this passage?

Watch the clip

Discuss

What stood out for you in Dave’s explanation of this passage?

Reflect

“All the worlds a stage, and men and women players upon it” (Shakespeare - ‘As You Like It’)

Every setting we are in is like a stage upon which get to retell the story of the Gospel; to imitate Jesus. Marriage is a stage to tell that story, parenting is stage to tell that story, where and how we work is a stage to tell that story, of counter cultural, sacrificial, other-centred love.

We are to be Jesus-ey. To love like Jesus loved us. It’s costly, painful and massively counter-cultural, but it’s also beautiful and exactly what the world needs.

• Where do you sense an invitation from God to become more Jesus-y?
• What are some of the challenges / hopes / fears?

Share

You may like to spend some time sharing with one another. This might work better in smaller groups or pairs.

Prayer / Ministry

Paul begins this section of Ephesians with this, “be filled with the Holy Spirit”. He’s the one we need. To love in this way, we need the Holy Spirit to work in us.

Spend some time surrendering to Jesus and ministering to one another.

Leading a ministry time: trentv.org/ministrytime

Come Holy Spirit: trentv.org/comeholyspirit

Personal Prayer Ministry: trentv.org/ppmform

A note to Small Group Leaders

As you reflect with your Small Group members, they may share vulnerably about experiences they have had / are currently experiencing in the context of this subject. Please don’t hesitate to contact your Cluster Leaders or the Small Groups team should you need some extra support or signposting advice.

Read together

Ephesians 6:10-17

Sam likens the closing verses of the letter to the Ephesians, to a graduation speech Paul is giving to his readers, it’s like he’s saying “I have told you about the amazing work of Jesus, about your identities in him, and what that means for how to live, but… I need to tell you, it's rough out there, and you need to prepare yourself for it.”

What, or who are we fighting?

Verse 12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

It is clear throughout the Bible, its authors viewed evil as a spiritual force, led by a personal enemy of God called the devil (or Satan), who seeks to do what ever it can to oppose the work of God and draw our attention away from him.

Paul is using battle language to describe what is going on here - talk of Armour and taking a stand and struggles.

Lies & untruth

The devil and his allies - “the powers” as Paul describes in this passage - employ a whole range of weapons, perhaps the biggest one and the focus in this session - is LIES and UNTRUTH.

The word used for Devil in the Bible, literally means Liar or slanderer.

We experience these lies on two levels:

A personal level: Those little voices that tell us things that are not true about ourselves or undermine our need for God.

Things like:

• We are not good enough for God, that he could never forgive us, or use us.
• We are that we are unlovable, by anyone, let alone God.
• We are better than God and we don’t need him.

A societal level: Much like propoganda is used in war, these lies spread untruth in the world.

Things like:

• Instead of looking to God for our happiness and fulfillment – it is found in money or success
• Rather than looking at God for our identity we should try and find it within ourselves, by living your truth
• Rather than caring for the vulnerable, we should just look after ourselves because certain people don’t deserve help

Reflect

Can you identify lies or untruths that you are most susceptible to?

What are we to do about this?

Verse 11 - “Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…”

Paul is basically saying :

“The best defence against the lies of the enemy is to remember everything I have already said in this letter, the truth that you are chosen and adopted, completely loved by God. And, if you want to really live a life that reflects that, in a world that doesn’t want you to, you are going to really need to remember this stuff. Remember the truth.”

- the belt of truth buckled around your waist (v.14) - The armour God gives us is essentially TRUTH. Truth that is strong enough to overwhelm the lies.

- the breastplate of righteousness in place (v.14) - Knowing that we are made righteous in Christ, and that God will put everything - including all of us - back in together as he intended it to be.

- and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. (v.15) - That we can have peace because we know what God has done for us.

- take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (v.16) - We can have faith, trust in Jesus and the knowledge of our salvation.

- Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v.17) - We can be reminded of all this in God's word and through his Holy Spirit.

What does that look like in practice?

Reading the Bible - countering the lies of the enemy with the truth of scripture. The Bible has every truth in it that we need, we need to immerse ourselves in it.

Worship - where we take our eyes off the things that are distracting us, or calling out for our attention, like money or success or whatever it is for us, and back onto the goodness of God. Strongholds are broken when we spend time with God in worship.

Prayer - being with Jesus himself in prayer.

Reflect

“Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…”

Paul uses the Present Participle tense here - meaning it is a continuous action. It’s not put on the Armour of God and be done with it - hear the good news once, and we are protected from the devil’s schemes, we need do this stuff regularly.

• Where do you sense an invitation from God to go deeper or be more intentional with the above?

We stand, together as an Army

Once we are fully dressed in the armour, then we are ready to stand. You can hear Paul’s earnest encouragement jumping of the page - Keep going. Don’t give in, don’t lose hope. Stand.

We don’t do this alone. We do it with the Holy Spirit and with each other. Our vision for this year is based in a verse from Ephesians 4, which starts with “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament…” (v.16)

Thinking about armour, particularly Roman Armour given that Ephesus was a Roman city, we are reminded of a technique the Roman’s used in warfare, known as the Tortoise. The soldiers would stand in a group and pack their shields together, to create a shell around themselves.

This meant that the enemy could not get through, no matter which direction it was coming from. A solider on their own, no matter how good a fighter they are, could be vulnerable, but as a unit they were stronger than the sum of their parts. Sometimes we need to do that for one another. Stand with each other.

Share

• Standing will look different for each one of us at different times. What does it look like for you at the moment?
• Spend some time reflecting on how your group can stand with one another at this time.

Other activities:

It would be good to spend some time doing the three practical things together…

Read together some of the verses we have already heard throughout this series e.g.

Ephesians 1:4 (when we are feeling unworthy or unlovable)

Ephesians 1:3 (when we are getting drawn into the world’s obsession with material wealth)

Ephesians 4:1 (when we are tempted to go our own way)

*There may be other verses from the series that you wish to use here

Worship together

Pray together