The Fight Within Me
COMMUNITY GUIDE
The Community Guide below is based on Sunday’s teaching from Tim Shontere: The Fight Within Me. As your whole Community gathers (online or in-person), use the Community Guide below to give shape to your time together.
Begin by Practicing the Lord’s Supper Together (5 minutes)
Begin your time by partaking of the bread and the cup together. Have each person bring their own Communion elements or provide elements for the group. To facilitate your time, you can either ask a member of your Community to come ready with a short prayer, scripture reading, or read the passage we’ve provided below. After reading (aloud), spend a few moments in silence, take the elements and then close in prayer:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23–26
CHECK-IN (10 MINUTES)
As we focus on this series, we want to continue to create space for checking in on each other but doing so in a shorter amount of time. Take a few minutes to do a whole person check-in (emotional, spiritual, physical) with your Community, creating space for each person to answer the question below:
What are two things that you are grateful for? What challenges are you anticipating this week?
If the need arises, spend a few minutes praying for one another, asking God to meet needs and help each person carry what feels heavy right now.
READ THIS OVERVIEW (5 MINUTES)
Tim preached on the fight that goes on within us every day. Whenever someones believes the Gospel, at that moment, Jesus pays the penalty of all of their sins. And there are many bonus items that God gave us when we believed. When someone believes the Gospel, God calls them His children (1 John 5:1), and God gives them the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 3:14) Every child of God is called to let the Holy Spirit guide their lives and turn away from their sinful desires. This fight is going on within them each day (Galatians 5:16). Tim gave a personal example of how he fights to let the Holy Spirit guide his life. He gave the illustration of: Prayer, Meditation & Fellowship. He thinks of these as three necessary components to “walking with God.” He said that from his perspective, walking with God is not a common thing. Church attendance & serving seems more common than actually walking with God daily. He used the example of the Yembi Church, explaining how walking with God seems to be the biggest challenge. It doesn’t matter where you stand on this earth; all of God’s children are in the same daily fight.
QUESTIONS (20 Minutes)
Are you a child of God? Why? (Romans 1:16-17, 1 John 5:1)
What two forces are opposing each other within you? What was Paul’s solution to that problem? (Galatians 5:16-17)
Tim gave the example of Prayer (Col 4:2), Meditation (Joshua 1:8) & Fellowship (Hebrews 10:25) as the three major components he thinks of as he fights to let the Spirit guide his life. Of these three ideas, which ones are you stronger or weaker in?
What is the Spirit leading you to do so that you can improve in these areas?
Missionary Practice For The Week Ahead: BLESS (10 Minutes)
ᐅ B.L.E.S.S.
(B)egin with Prayer:
Pray for the people in your life and the places that you’re in.
People: Who do you live, work and play with that is far from God? Pray that God would create spiritual curiosity in them, and then spend time with them.
Places:
Where does pain exist here? Pray for healing.
Who makes the decisions here? Pray for integrity.
Who throws parties here? Pray for community.
Where are the pennies spent here? Pray for provision.
(L)isten:
Listen to and discover the needs of others and for the places where God is at work.
Before you can help others find Jesus, you need to listen to them first - their hopes, pains, challenges and dreams. In your interactions with others today, take the posture of a learner. Lay down assumptions and practice being present in conversations.
(E)at:
Share meals, drink coffee, and spend time with people in your life that don’t yet know Jesus.
Who can you eat with (or have coffee with) that is far from God? A co-worker over lunch? A neighbor during the day? A friend or family member over the weekend?
Is there a place that you regularly visit (coffee shop, gym, etc.)? Ask God to grant you opportunities to eat with people.
(S)erve:
Who can you serve this week? Who do you know that has a practical need? Ask them how you can help.
Before jumping into serving, have you taken the time to pray for, listen to and eat with these people? Doing these things first helps you discover the way that you really need to serve them.
(S)tory:
Share the story of Jesus and what He is doing in your life with others.
Start by sharing how God has blessed you and made a difference in your life.
Share your story in such a way that demonstrates that Jesus is also at work in their life.
Don’t feel like you have to tell your life story at once. Think “bite-size” stories.
Prayer (10 Minutes)
Spend a few minutes praying for God’s grace over each other, that we might become a people who make Jesus our Lord, and that there might be a sweeping renewal of the Holy Spirit in our city. Ask that God would stir up within us a desire to be with him in prayer and to serve him, one another, and our neighbor in love.