By His Spirit
About this series
This mini-series follows on from our talk titled Reforming Church: Disciples, which you can watch here.
Being a follower / disciple of Jesus is both a position (I’ve decided to follow Jesus) and a process (I'm seeking to become more like him). So when we think of the church, we should imagine not only a group of people who have a belief, but a people on the move because they’re following Jesus - they’re in training, they’re changing, growing, learning about him and becoming more like him.
"But how do I follow Jesus? How do I become more like him?”
Of the many ways we could answer that question, here is a crucial one: listen to him and learn from him and then do whatever he tells you. But then we might ask, "How do I hear him, how can I listen to Jesus and learn from him?” To which the answer would be: We hear Jesus in his Word, by his Spirit and through his Body.
About this talk
This is the second video in our topic 'What Does it Mean to be a Disciple', where Tim encourages us to follow Jesus this time by his Spirit. As followers of Jesus we all have the privilege of God dwelling in us by his Spirit, we are marked by the seal of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides us and speaks to us, convicts us of sin, gives us peace and courage to walk in Jesus ways and become more like him. Tim encourages us to be those who are open and obedient to the Holy Spirit.
If you have any questions about this talk, want to find out more about Citygate Church, or want to know more about what it means to be a Christian, please fill in our online Connect form at citygate.church/connect.
Watch it here
Questions for Life Groups
The questions below have been created for our Life Groups to facilitate discussion around this talk.
Watch Tim's video and use the questions/suggestions below to aid discussion and growth in your groups. Feel free to shape the conversation according to the needs of your group.
Read together John 14:23-27, Acts 1:1-8 & 2:1-13 and Ephesians 1:11-14
Back in November we looked briefly at listening to Jesus by his Spirit (feel free to look back to remind yourself). Have you managed to make any changes or take any steps that have helped you grow in listening to and being obedient to the Spirits voice/leading? Encourage discussion in your group over this. This could be people carving out more time to stop & listen, or writing down to record what they hear, or maybe some have started hearing Jesus speak in and through their dreams?
Does anyone in the group have a testimony of stepping out in obedience to the Holy Spirit's prompting which involved someone else or something they haven't done before (maybe over Christmas with the bless your neighbour initiative)? How did it go? How did it make them or the recipient feel? Has the person acting in obedience, been encouraged to do more or felt discouraged by the response? Pray for them during your prayer time later.
Gently challenge those in your group with 'what's next': What is the next 'growth step' in allowing the Holy Spirit more room to infuse your thought life? It could be the next thing on the suggestions we looked at in November, or if they have already seen growth and fruit from changes made, just an encouragement to keep doing more of that. Or maybe doing some further reading, (suggestions below).
As group leader, share with the group your next step in encouraging more space/room for the Holy Spirit to speak to you? Be real with them in terms of your challenges/battles in this.
Discuss the following together: Do you need to become more aware of the Spirits presence with you through the day? How often do you pause and just say, "Holy Spirit, thank you for your presence I am listening, is there anything you want to say to me?" Maybe this is your next step?
If you have time in your online meeting or you want to go deeper as a group here are some more ideas:
You could try practising hearing from God for one another - Ask for a volunteer to slowly pan the camera around the room they are sitting in, the rest of the group then individually ask the Holy Spirit to highlight a particular object in the room and use it to speak to them for the person whose room they are observing. Once the volunteer has shown the group their room, give the group a few minutes to just wait and listen to hear what the Spirit wants to say, you could do this with cameras/mics off. Bring the group back together and ask everyone to share what they think they have heard. Be very encouraging in this, especially if there are those in your group for whom this is new, it doesn't matter if we 'get it wrong' this is all part of learning. We're practising this 'in family' so that we can become more confident about hearing the Spirit speak for those who don't yet know him!
If your group are more used to hearing from the Spirit and responding, why not seek him for someone who is not in the virtual room with you. It could be someone's neighbour or colleague or an unsaved family member, or it could be one of our staff team or another member of Citygate who maybe has been really struggling, or a ministry area within the church. Take some time together to pray for this person/group and then ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you all for this person or into the situation. Make a record of what the Holy Spirit reveals, share this with the person you're listening for, if appropriate, or use it to fuel more praying. Remember that he can speak or reveal himself in a variety of ways, try not to limit him!
Did everyone catch the Safe Families profile from Sundays online meeting? Why not spend some time praying for Camilla, Rosa and this charity. Again, ask the Spirit to speak to you as a group, maybe play some worship songs as you pause and listen.
Prayer
Use any of the above to fuel some prayer together. Let the Spirit guide you as you pray.
If anyone is still struggling with the truth that the Holy Spirit wants to/can speak directly to them, pray for them for specific revelation of this and pray for them to be filled afresh with the Spirits presence and power.
Ask the group to pray for you as leaders to be filled to a greater measure of his presence and power.
Pray for Citygate as a whole that we would each become more aware of His presence with us, more willing to pause and listen, for courage and boldness to be more obedient to what he asks us to say or do, more sensitive to His leading when we are talking or spending time with those who don't know him yet.
Suggestions for further reading
You Version (online bible app), type Holy Spirit into the 'Discover' section for suggestions on reading plans about the Holy Spirit
Sustainable Power by Simon Holley
More: How You Can Have More of the Spirit - Simon Ponsonby
Follow up
Use your Whatsapp to follow up or encourage your groups to be obedient or courageous in their 'next steps'. Also the Citygate Life Group Lead would love to hear any feedback on how you and your groups are all growing in your awareness of and sensitivity to the Spirit. Super exciting!!
