BUILT TO LAST—Building a home centered on Christ…

• Week 1: Christ is the foundation, the cornerstone.
• Week 2: Marriage, parenting, and our familial relationships, are the walls of the home.
• This week: Our spiritual family is the roof.

The Roof is designed to protect us from the elements. The spiritual and biological families are supposed to be connected, coming together to point us toward Christ and to protect us from all the things that want to break down, destroy, and invade the home.

MY TESTIMONY AND EXPERIENCE WITH THE CHURCH:

• The church can be good when living in God’s design.
• The church can be experienced negatively when it’s not in God’s design.
• Our experiences, thoughts, emotions, and perceptions don’t determine what is good or bad—God determines that.
• He is the author, creator, and sustainer of life. He sets what the design will be.
• When children declare what’s right and wrong…
• Have you had good and/or bad experiences with the church?

GOD DESIRES ONENESS. See John 17:20-23

• He came, and died, for the spiritual family. He came so we would be completely unified and one.
• He didn’t come to have us just come to a building but to create a body of people who are a spiritual family.
• Jesus meant for the home and the spiritual family to be intermixed.

JESUS’ PERSPECTIVE OF THE SPIRITUAL FAMILY:

Matthew 12:46-50 46As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. ⁴⁷Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.” 48Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. ⁵⁰Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

GOD’S DESIGN

• Pray for each other and confess to one another.
• Restore each other and carry each other’s burdens.

Galatians 6:1-2 1Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation

yourself. 2Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.

• Submit to one another. (James 5:16)
• Forgive one another. (Ephesians 4:32)
• Don’t forsake gathering with each other. (Hebrews 10:25)
• Address conflict with one another God’s way. (Romans 12:17-18 and Matthew 18:15-17)
• Speak the truth in love to one another. (Ephesians 4:15)
• Love in a way that covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
• Value each other and be interested in one another. (Philippians 2:3-4)

NOT GOD’S DESIGN:

• Being hurt, betrayed, or misled
• Isolation
• Our enemy the devil. (1 Peter 5:8)

• What are your standards of the church?
• We must be connected to the church; it’s not an option. (1 John 4:20)
• The Bible’s perspective of God’s family is in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10.

WHO YOU’RE AROUND MATTERS. See 1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 27:6, and 2 Timothy 4:3-4

• Who we surround ourselves with impacts us more than we know.
• We are always being influenced, either for good or bad.
• We want to hear what we want to hear.
• The world sees that it needs connection.

WHAT IS YOUR NEXT STEP? Do you need to…

• …forgive?
• …enter the family?
• …look at your standards and expectations?

•

rch and look for people who need to be brought in?

he church to work in unison?

yourself with?

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hard, and you have been hurt?

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND DISCUSS:

• What was significant in the message and why was it meaningful to you?
  1. What was on your mind when Christian talked about God’s design for how the church should function? (See the verses referenced above.)
  2. Have you ever experienced a hard situation when the church failed you? What is God calling you to now? Is there a step you need to take toward what He desires for you and His people?
  3. What do you do when you isolate? What are typically the things you are believing in those moments?
  4. Has there ever been a time in your life where you weren’t surrounding yourself with the right people or influences? What did you learn? What is God calling you to in this?
  5. How are you doing with having your home connected to the church in your life right now? What would be something you could do to make it stronger?
  6. What is your number one take away from this series so far?
  7. What would it look like to let yourself be known by God’s people—to be transparent, connected, committed to becoming more and more one with God and His people?
  8. Spend some time praying for God to help your group become more unified and connected and for God to help your group become one as Jesus prayed.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright