Coming out of Sunday’s teaching, “Ephesians: Stories from Ephesus” spend some time in prayerful reflection and dialogue with your Home Church/Friends/Family around any combination of these questions.
Read through Acts 19 before starting. Pray and ask God to speak.
- How did God speak to you through the text and/or Sunday’s message? Which stories most resonated with you? What questions did this passage (and/or the sermon) raise for you?
- Spend some time reflecting on ‘Story #1’ in Acts 19:1-7. Jeff talked about how these 12 new ‘believers’ were actually not believers as of yet (until Paul led them to Christ). Why is it important that we understand that in this story?
- Is it possible be a follower of Jesus and to NOT have received the Holy Spirit? Why or why not?
- What other questions/thoughts does this story raise for you?
- Where do you hear ‘echoes’ of this story in the book of Ephesians? (See Eph 2:1-10)
- Spend some time reflecting on ‘Story #2’ in Acts 19:8-22. What are some lessons we can learn about the “Seven Sons of Sceva’s” experience with an evil spirit? What do you notice?
- Where does our spiritual authority over demonic spirits come from?
- What is the role of our own spiritual condition in exercising our spiritual authority over evil?
- What other questions/thoughts does this story raise for you?
- Where do you hear ‘echoes’ of this story in the book of Ephesians? How do Pauls words in his letter impact the way we think about spiritual warfare today? (See Eph 6:10-18)
- Spend some time reflecting on ‘Story #3’ in Acts 19:23-41. What are some general observations and things that stand out to you about this story? Why?
- In Ephesus, the economy revolved around the worship of Artemis at her temple. Why might be some parallels to our culture today (of things our world/economy depends on but that the message of Christianity confronts)? What do we do about those things?
- What other questions/thoughts does this story raise for you?
- Where do you hear ‘echoes’ of this story in the book of Ephesians? (See Eph 2:19-22, 4:1)
- The invitation of the book of Ephesians is to “Remember who you are (in Christ) and to live like it’s true”. What might this look like for you? How might the Spirit of God be inviting you to embrace your identity in Christ (Eph 1) more fully and/or to embrace the Gospel (Eph 2) more fully? How is he specifically inviting you to live in response (Eph 4-6)?
