Made Alive in Christ

Discussion Questions:Scripture Memory Our church-wide scripture memory this year will be selected passages from Ephesians. This is a great opportunity to dive deep into the goodness God has for us from Paul’s letter.  Sermon Overview The main idea of this week’s sermon reminded us that God makes the spiritually dead alive. The passage describes God’s method (vv. 5-6), God’s motivation (vv. 4, 7), and God’s masterpiece (v. 7) in making the spiritually dead alive.       Digging Deeper     Read Ephesians 2:4-7  The first two words of verse 4 (“But God….”), are perhaps among the most precious words in all the Bible. We were dead. We were utterly incapable of making ourselves alive. But God!  But God made us alive!   How might it change our perspective on the challenges of life if we were to wake up each morning utterly shocked that God has made us alive in Christ?    What habits might we want to put in place to remind us often of this precious truth?      According to verses 4 and 7, what aspects of God’s character were the driving force in his making us spiritually alive?  Why do you think God wants us to know this?  How should this affect us?   In your own words, what does it mean to be “united with Christ”?   We all define our lives by something. We all create an identity. What are common ways you observe people defining their lives by?  In this passage, Paul unpacks an identity people can have when united to Jesus of being made alive, raised, and seated.    Why is this way of defining our lives far better than any other way? What makes it distinct from any other way of finding our identity?   [there’s a wide range of answers here, but could include that: it’s given to us, not   earned; it’s dependent on what Jesus did, not what we can do, etc.]  Anyone who is a follower of Jesus has been raised up and seated with Jesus in the heavenly places now. How does that change your life now?  Part of being united with Jesus means being raised and seated with him. The implication is that we have power, through Jesus, over our own desires, over the influences of the world, and even over the devil.     How does Christ’s power in you help you live for him this week? What is an area of your life you want to increasingly tap into that power?  Verse 7 tells us that God has made us alive so that he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace toward us in Christ.  Is it selfish or loving for God to want to display to us and the world the riches of his grace? How so?   Prayer Requests