October 28, 2018

Introduction:

This passage is about walking.

1.     Walking in the course of the world.

a.       How the world is set up determines how a person walks in the world.

b.       The world is set up by the ruler of the authority of the air (Satan).

c.       A person who walks in this world is dead in sins and trespasses.

2.    “By Grace you have been saved, through faith.”

a.       In this context, being saved means walking in a new way.

b.       Faith means to believe that the redemption story told in the bible is true.

c.       Faith means to walk in new ways, in a different house.

i.         In this house: God rules, believers love God and serve others, justice is restorative, believers rejoice with those who rejoice, share their wealth with the poor and show compassion.

3.    Faith is a gift from God.

a.       God gives this gift because

i.         God loves us and

ii.       God loves people; wanting them to repent and live.

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Small Group Questions:

1.     What are some different ways in which the word `walk’ is used?

2.    The word `walk’ serves as book ends in this passage. What are book ends?

3.    Is it true that how a house is set up determines how a person lives in the house?

4.    What does the passage say about the condition of a person living in the course of the world?

5.    What does it mean when a person says that they are saved?

6.    In the context of this passage, what does being saved mean?

7.     What does faith believe?

8.    Faith is more than believing, faith is walking in new ways. What does this mean?
Read James 2.14-17

9.    How does walking in new ways differ from walking in the course of the world?

10.   Why does God give the gift of faith?