Can you take special note of the times you’ve experienced the present help of the Holy Spirit when feelings of fear, failure or loneliness threatened to control you? Now, how can you be present with your small group members to comfort, counsel, offer truth from God’s Word, and stand by them in times of difficulty?
3. Participation
“… the gifts of the Spirit are “given for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7).
Do you want your Bible study to be a place where people feel empowered to participate? When the Spirit comes, He illuminates the Word to bring life, growth, depth, enrichment, and holy relationships. No Christian was ever meant to serve God on their own. We come together to benefit and to invest; to build up and to be built up.
How can you thank God today for the gifts other Group Members have that you don’t? And what blessings has God given you that you can invest into others – for their good, and God’s glory?
4. Potential
“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…” (Phil 1:6)
Self-confidence promises us much but only feels good until we inevitably mess up. No Christian should place confidence in their own abilities. Instead, we place our trust in God who draws His potential out of us. Only the Holy Spirit can sanctify and refine us, burning off the impurities in our lives and bringing us forth as His gold.
God will perfect and complete the salvation work He’s begun in each person in your small group. Your role? To place your confidence in His ability to finish the saving and sanctifying work He’s started. Who in your group is feeling discouraged? How can you confidently assure them God has promised to realize His potential in them?
5. Passion
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there…” (Acts 20:22)
Spirit-inspired passions compel courageous action. Want to see your small group step into the fullness of God’s purposes? No Christian is without a God-given mission. Help one another cultivate your unique God-given passions and direct them in wholehearted service. Whether it’s intercession, hospitality, mercy, or service, let what fires your group up fire your group forward into purpose.
6. Power
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
