October 20, 2019 - Andrés Pérez González, The Fullness of God

OCTOBER 20, 2019 The smaller groups in our church community are inside our homes where we go deeper, build friendships, and walk out the Christian life with each other. HOME CHURCH GUIDE + “Breaking the Ice” question (group facilitator) + CHECK-INS: Introduce, check-in + CARE: Needs in the group + COMPASSION: What is the group planning? Are you inviting your neighbours to join in? + GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS Church-wide, group-only + DIG IN: Discuss questions as a group + END AND HOMEWORK: Final questions, prayer huddles for personal requests. Consider breaking into small groups (huddles) of 2-4, by gender, if large enough. General DISCUSSION questions: 1. As you reflect on Sunday’s message, what principle or insight stands out as being particularly helpful, insightful, or difficult to grasp? 2. If the message had to be re-delivered, what two points or ideas would you encourage the speaker to include no matter what? 3. What’s one thing from last weekend’s message that you hope we talk about as a group? 4. Was there one thing that you most agreed or disagreed with from last Sunday’s message? What was it and why? 5. Read Ephesians 1:15-23 + Reflecting on these verses, what strikes you most? Why? + What is most challenging in these verses? Encouraging? New? + If these verses were applied to our culture today, how would it change? 6. When and where do you struggle the most with [whatever issue(s) this message raised]? 7. If you were to incorporate this truth into your own life, how would the next week be different? 8. Describe your life one year from now if you consistently applied this truth. Prayer Requests: KEY VERSE: Ephesians 1:15-23 (NET) Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation 15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, 18 —since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. 20 This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms 21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. 23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. INTRODUCTION: Talents, shortcomings, and remote controls QUICK RECAP: The mystery of God’s will is to recapitulate (or retell) all things in Christ. THREE THINGS: Hope, wealth, and power. THE CHURCH? FROM RECAPITU-WHAT TO THE RECAPITU-HOW A THEOLOGY OF PRESENCE / A POLITIC OF FULLNESS THE SIMPLE BEAUTY OF THE UNEXPECTED “The temple of Israel is a metaphor for the way God’s presence is central to who the church is and the way it must inhabit the world in God’s mission. God manifests his presence wherever the Church meets and from this place, his fullness extends into the world as the church makes space for God’s presence to become visible. Through his people, God’s presence becomes known over the whole world. It is a politic of fullness. – David Fitch, The Church of Us vs Them, paraphrased, p.177-179)”