Are you meeting regularly with a discussion group? If you meet just once a week, you can find all of this week’s discussion questions in one place right here.

Question:

Do you think God would evaluate your successes and failures the same way you do? Why or why not? What do you think God’s requirements for success are?

Reading:  

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:9-11 ESV)

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. (Romans 7:15 ESV)

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:12-17 ESV)

Question:  

How is the wisdom of this passage contrary to the wisdom of our society? What revolutionary ideas are present in the text?

Question:

How are the themes of life and death used in this passage?

Challenge:

On your paper, make a table by drawing five vertical columns and ten horizontal rows. In the far left column, starting in the second row, write the nine characteristics mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, one per space:

Situations:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self-Control

 

Then in the top row, starting in the second column, write four situations in your life where you feel you need the leading of God’s Spirit to direct you. For example, you might write kids, work, neighbors, and in-laws.

Then get with a partner to share the situations you’ve written. Together, work through both of your tables, and talk about how each of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit can affect the situations in your lives. You can use the spaces in the table to jot down your insights. Be sure to talk about what you can do right away to live by God’s Spirit in each of these situations in your life.