Suggestions for Cell

Welcome and Catch-up time

Worship

Spend time singing praises to God 

Prayer Time.

After sharing prayer points, spend time praying specifically for needs in the congregation and for the ministry of your church.

Word:

Read: Colossians 2:11-23

Try to sum up what Jesus has done for us in this passage.

Read Monday’s notes and do discussion questions.

Read Tuesday’s notes and do discussion questions.

Word & Walk.

What does it look like to live a godly life that is pleasing to God?

Witness

Spend time praying for those people you listed earlier in the year. Pray that God would fill them with knowledge and lead them to faith in Him.

Saturday November 29, 2014

Read: Isaiah 58:13-14

Everyone wants to find joy, especially at Christmas. When we sing songs like “Joy to the World” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” (Joyful all ye nations rise) we are singing about a joy that has come to the world through Christ at Christmas. As Christians we know and recognise that ultimate joy is found only in God through our saviour Christ Jesus. We know that we will grow in joy as we grow in relationship with Him. But have you ever stopped to think that maybe observing the Sabbath principle might help you to find joy in God?

That is what Isaiah says here in Isaiah 58. Isaiah was calling God’s people back to God, exhorting them to be faithful again to God’s commands and faithful to God’s covenant. Here in Isaiah 58 God is commanding His people to live in a way that is honouring to Him and according to His commands. In verses 13 and 14 He commands them to keep His Sabbath day holy and to spend the day worshipping Him and resting from their work

Specifically he commands them not to do as they please on the Sabbath day but to honour Him. They are to call the day a delight and to keep it as an honourable day. They are to not go their own way, to do whatever they want or to speak idle words. This is to be a day that is set aside to worship God and to honour Him.

But notice the promise that comes along with this command. If they keep the Sabbath holy and obey all of God’s commands for it: “Then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” This is not some dusty, dry and boring command that makes the Sabbath day the most boring of the week. If God’s people obey His commands and keep this day holy they will be filled with joy in the Lord.

Now we must be careful at this point. We cannot simply take God’s promise to His people of Israel and transplant it into our day and age. We can’t assume that if we keep God’s Sabbath then we will ride on the heights of the land and feast on the inheritance of Jacob. This was a specific promise to God’s people in the Old Testament. But, what we do learn from this passage is that keeping the Sabbath is not a dreary duty. Rather, when we set aside a day to worship God and to rest from our work we will grow in relationship with Him and find joy, peace and satisfaction in Him. God didn’t invent the Sabbath as a test to see if people would obey Him so that He could punish them when they didn’t. God designed the Sabbath to bring rest and joy to His people.

When we ignore God’s commands, when we do not set aside a day a week (Sonday in our case) to worship God and to rest from our usual activities, we are missing out on growing in relationship with Him and finding great joy and satisfaction in Him.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray for the gathering of God’s people at your church tomorrow. Pray that God would be preparing your heart and the hearts of all who would come. Pray that the word would be faithfully and boldly preached and that many would be changed through it. Pray that the time of fellowship would be encouraging and that God’s people would grow in love for one another.

¥ Pray for the gathering of believers all around the world tomorrow. Pray that the word would be faithfully preached all around the world. Pray that believers in dangerous countries would be encouraged and that they would be bold to preach the gospel.

 Worship Moment:

We don’t really worship for God’s sake, we worship for our sake too. When we worship God, when we focus all our attention on Him and seek to honour Him alone we find that we grow in joy and peace too. Worshipping God benefits us too!

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. How do you think observing the Sabbath principle and setting aside a day a week to rest and worship God helps us to grow in relationship with Him?

2. How does this help us to grow in joy?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro:  Everyone wants to find true and lasting joy and happiness.

Share:  What is joy? Share something that gives you joy or happiness. Where do you think you can find joy?
Read: Isaiah 58:13-14 According to this passage where can joy be found? The Bible tells us that true and lasting joy comes only from God. What do you think is the difference between joy and happiness? How can we find joy in God? What does it look like to have true joy in God? Who should we tell about the true joy that we can find in God?

Pray Together: Thank God that we can have true Joy in Him. Pray that He would help us to tell many people about the joy they can have in Him.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro:  Everyone wants to find true and lasting joy and happiness.

Share:  What is joy? Share something that gives you joy or happiness. Where do you think you can find joy?
Read: Isaiah 58:13-14 According to this passage where can joy be found? The Bible tells us that true and lasting joy comes only from God. What do you think is the difference between joy and happiness? How can we find joy in God? What does it look like to have true joy in God? Who should we tell about the true joy that we can find in God?

Pray Together: Thank God that we can have true Joy in Him. Pray that He would help us to tell many people about the joy they can have in Him.

Friday November 28, 2014

Read: Colossians 2:20-23, Colossians 2:11-14

How can we grow in holiness? What should we do to defeat sin in our lives and grow to be more like Christ? How can we deal with our sinful desires? These are important questions that face any serious Christian. We have all experienced times in our lives where we have been frustrated and horrified at our own sin and wondered how we can possibly grow to be more like Christ. Even on what seem like our best days we can be discouraged by sinful attitudes or thoughts and wonder how we can grow.

The false teachers in Colossae had their own answer to this question. It seems that they were teaching the believers that the best way to restrain their sinful desires and to grow in holiness was to set harsh rules on themselves. We see some of these rules in verse 21: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” According to the false teachers these rules would help the believers to restrain their sinful desires and grow in holiness.

Paul writes very clearly against these rules and regulations. In verse 20 he tells the believers that they have died to regulations and rules like this when they died with Christ. They no longer need to submit to these kinds of rules and regulations (see vs 16-17 and Wednesday’s notes). They are willingly subjecting themselves again to the very thing that they have been freed from. In verse 22 he tells them that these rules and regulations are only destined to perish and pass away because they are based on human wisdom instead of the wisdom of Christ. They might appear to be helpful (vs 23) but they have no real value in restraining sin and helping God’s people to grow in holiness.

So how should we grow in holiness? How can we defeat sin in our lives if it is not through rules and regulations? The answer is found in verses 11 to 14. Through Christ our sinful nature has already been dealt with and cut away. Christ has totally defeated it at the cross and through Him we are no longer under it’s power. We are not slaves to sin anymore (Romans 6:17-18). But this doesn’t mean we are sinless. We have been released from the power of sin and slavery to it but we must still struggle against it and seek to grow in holiness.

We do this by growing in relationship with God. We do this by clinging to Him and living out of the work that He has already done to deal with sin in our lives. As we grow in love for Him and relationship with Him we will desire to please Him with our lives and we will grow in holiness. As we grow in understanding of all it is that He has already done for us we will grow in our desire and ability to live lives that are pleasing to Him.

Not only that but He empowers us and strengthens us through His spirit to resist sin and to grow in holiness. We use all our effort to participate with Him in this work that He is doing of changing us and growing us in holiness. It’s not about manmade rules or regulations, it’s about His grace working in us and our participation with Him in that work.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would be working in your heart to convict you of sin and to help you to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Pray that He would strengthen you against temptation. Pray that He would help you to encourage and challenge others to live in a way that is pleasing to God also.

 Word Moment:

We don’t depend on human regulations and manmade rules to know how God desires His people to live. We find out how God wants us to live in His word. Whenever you read God’s word consider whether it shows any sin you need to confess or a way you need to live. Then, by the power of God in us, seek to put it into practice.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What are some of the self-imposed rules and regulations we put on ourselves to try to restrain sin?

2. Is there a place for self-imposed restrictions as we seek to live a holy life? What is the difference between these and what Paul is talking about  in this passage?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro:  Sometimes people make up rules that aren’t in the Bible and tell you that you aren’t a real Christian if you don’t follow their rules.

Share:  An example, if you can, of a time when someone did this?
Read:  Romans 14:17-18 In Paul’s time people made up rules about eating and drinking. They tried to make other Christians follow their rules. According to these verses how can you really tell if you’re a Christian? What makes someone a Christian? What should you do when someone tries to get you to follow their rules to be a real Christian?

Pray Together: Pray that God would help us to follow Him and obey Him as our King.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro:  Sometimes people make up rules that aren’t in the Bible and tell you that you aren’t a real Christian if you don’t follow their rules.

Share:  An example, if you can, of a time when someone did this?
Read:  Romans 14:17-18 In Paul’s time people made up rules about eating and drinking. They tried to make other Christians follow their rules. According to these verses how can you really tell if you’re a Christian? What makes someone a Christian? What should you do when someone tries to get you to follow their rules to be a real Christian?

Pray Together: Pray that God would help us to follow Him and obey Him as our King.

Thursday November 27, 2014

Read: Colossians 2:18-19

There was some very nasty false teaching happening in the city of Colossae. We have already seen how Paul is writing to encourage the Colossian believers and to clear up their vision of Christ and the gospel that had been made murky by the false teachers. Here is verses 18 and 19 Paul writes very clearly against these false teachers and the heresies that they are spreading and teaching in Colossae,

We don’t know exactly what these false teachers were teaching. Paul gives us a few clues in these verses. The false teachers are delighting in false humility, likely puffed up with pride themselves but pretending to be humble or insisting that others act humbly. They are participating in the worship of angels. They are bragging about their visions or special experiences, perhaps using their visions  to teach the believers instead of God’s word. And their minds are focussed on unspiritual, worldly things which puff them up with pride and idle notions. These false teachers are teaching this kind of garbage in the church at Colossae and the believers are getting confused.

In verse 19 we see the ultimate reason that these false teachers have gotten so lost: they have lost connection with the Head. These false teachers have lost connection with Jesus. Because they have lost connection with Him they themselves have gotten lost in all sorts of sinful and heretical teaching. Paul tells us that true teaching and true growth only comes through connection with Jesus Christ as God causes growth through Him.

This is important for us to remember too. We must be careful not to lose connection with Jesus Christ and end up in the same position as these false teachers or the believers that they were deceiving. We must be careful to hold onto the head. There are three ways we should do this from this passage.

Firstly, we must hold onto the gospel. Throughout Colossians Paul has encouraged the Colossian believers to hold firmly to the gospel. In Colossians 1:23 he tells them that they must hold firm to their faith and continue in the gospel. In Colossians 2:4 he tells them that all wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ so that they won’t be deceived by fine sounding arguments. In Colossians 2:8 he tells them not to be taken captive by false teaching. If we are to hold onto Jesus Christ as our head we must hold firm to the truth of the gospel and not allow our faith to become murky.

Secondly, we must hold onto relationship with Jesus. It is easy to be disconnected and confused about the gospel and about Christ when we aren't in close relationship with Him. Setting aside a regular time to spend with God in prayer and studying His word helps us to grow in relationship with Him and helps guard us against false teaching.

Finally, we must hold onto relationship with the Body. Paul returns again to the metaphor of the body here in verse 19. That body is the church. If we desire to hold onto the head we must also be connected to His body. We must set aside time to meet with His people to be encouraged and to encourage others.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray for those believers you know who aren’t connected with at local church. Pray that God would help them to be connected to His body.

 Walk Moment:

Spending time with other believers isn’t just a fun, optional extra to add onto our Christian life. Spending time with other believers is vital to growing in our Christian faith and staying connected to Jesus.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. As a group how can you help one another to hold onto the truth of the gospel without getting murky?

2. As a group how can you help one another to hold onto relationship with Jesus?

3. Share with one another how your prayer and study life is going. Seek to encourage one another.

4. As a group how can you help one another to hold onto relationship with the body?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro:  There are many ways to describe the church in the Bible.

Share:  Some of the ways that the Bible describes the church. See how many you can think of together.
Read: Colossians 1:18 What word does Paul use to describe the church? How is the church Jesus’ body? Because the church is the body of Jesus we need to work together to get things done. What is the church supposed to do in the world? What role does Jesus play in the body? If Jesus is the head of the body, how should we treat Him?

Pray Together: Thank God for the church and for other believers. Pray that He would help us to work together well.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro:  There are many ways to describe the church in the Bible.

Share:  Some of the ways that the Bible describes the church. See how many you can think of together.
Read: Colossians 1:18 What word does Paul use to describe the church? How is the church Jesus’ body? Because the church is the body of Jesus we need to work together to get things done. What is the church supposed to do in the world? What role does Jesus play in the body? If Jesus is the head of the body, how should we treat Him?

Pray Together: Thank God for the church and for other believers. Pray that He would help us to work together well.

Wednesday November 26, 2014

Read: Colossians 2:16-17

How do we measure whether people are godly or not? It’s an interesting question. We all tend to have our ways of measuring whether or not people live up to our standards of godliness. We look at whether they swear or not. We consider whether they drink alcohol or how much they drink. Do they smoke? What is their family like? Are their children well behaved? Do they dress up to go to church? What do they do in their spare time? What do they do in the church? These are all questions that we often consciously or unconsciously use to weigh up other Christians and determine how godly they really are.

The false teachers in Colossae had a similar system of measurement. They would judge people by matters of what they eat or drink, whether they observe certain religious festivals or celebrations and what they do on the Sabbath. They were judging the Colossian believers based on their own external standards of measure.

Paul tells the Colossians not to let these false teachers judge them based on these standards. These things are not the measure of whether God is pleased with the believers or not. They are not the measure of what it looks like to be godly or not.

Why? Paul tells the Colossians in the next verse. These things, eating and drinking, celebrating certain days and not others, are only shadows of the true thing that measures godliness and makes us right with God. Christ Himself. Those regulations and rules were only ever meant to point us towards Christ, not as measures of how godly we are or how much God loves us. True godliness and true relationship with God comes through Christ alone, not by keeping these manmade rules and regulations.

This applies easily to our day as well. We often use the things mentioned earlier to measure the godliness of others. Often we allow others to judge us based on these things. Instead we are to remember that true godliness and relationship with God comes through Christ alone, not through keeping these external rules and regulations.

But this doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want either. We aren’t to judge others by these standards but that doesn’t mean we throw out all standards. God’s word still guides us about how to live a godly life and to please Him. If our godliness and our salvation is truly found in Christ Jesus then we will desire to live a holy life that pleases Him. We will obey the standards and commands that He has given us in His word.

As Christians we are blessed to be freed from the burden of the law and from using external measures to see if we are right with God. Instead we can be totally confident in the saving work of Jesus Christ as we seek to please Him in the way that we live.

Prayer:

Use the Bible passage from today and the reading notes to write down your prayer points before you pray.

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

¥ Pray that God would be at work in your heart and the hearts of all in your church. Pray that He would help you to grow in godliness and help you to live in a way that pleases Him. Pray that He would convict you of sin and help you as you seek to live a holy life.

¥ Pray for PlayPals as they meet at ChristLife today. Pray that the mums would be encouraged and that the gospel would be clearly lived and taught. Pray that God would be at work in the hearts of those who don’t know Him.

 Witness Moment:

How do we communicate the gospel to unbelievers around us? Do we communicate, even unintentionally, that being right with God is about smoking or drinking or what you wear or do we demonstrate that relationship with God is about Jesus Christ and what He has done on our behalf?

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What are some of the things that we wrongly look at to measure someone else’s godliness or their relationship with God? See if you can come up with more than the ones listed in the study.

2. Are there things that we can rightly use to measure our godliness and the godliness of others? What are they?

 Discipleship Moment For Girls

Intro:  It is great to be a Christian. Unfortunately sometimes we can get confused about what that means.

Share:  What do you think it means to be a Christian? How do you think you become a Christian?
Read: Colossians 2:16-17 When Paul wrote these verses some people were confused about what it meant to be a Christian. What are some of the things they thought it meant to be a Christian? Being a Christian is really all about Jesus and having faith in Him. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? Do you have faith in Jesus?

Pray Together: Thank God that He has given us Jesus. Pray that He would help us to have faith in Him.

 Discipleship Moment For Boys

Intro:  It is great to be a Christian. Unfortunately sometimes we can get confused about what that means.

Share:  What do you think it means to be a Christian? How do you think you become a Christian?
Read: Colossians 2:16-17 When Paul wrote these verses some people were confused about what it meant to be a Christian. What are some of the things they thought it meant to be a Christian? Being a Christian is really all about Jesus and having faith in Him. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? Do you have faith in Jesus?

Pray Together: Thank God that He has given us Jesus. Pray that He would help us to have faith in Him.