Masterpiece

God has demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus has done everything that needs to be done for you to be made right with God. Our role is to acknowledge our rebellion and our wilfulness. You might be a wonderful person but away from Christ you are doing your own thing. And you’re dead in your transgressions and your sins. We need to turn away from that and turn to Christ and we receive his love and we receive his forgiveness, we receive his favour, not as an end in itself but so that he can raise us up and place us with Christ, he sits us with him in the heavenly realms. Why? So he can do his masterpiece work in and through our lives so that we can live purposefully and make a difference in this world. We can be positive contributors. We can do good and all for the glory of his name.

Discover

Read Ephesians 2:1-10. To help get a good understanding of the passage, try to describe what is happening or being said in your own words. Take a moment to reflect and note down what stands out as important, significant or meaningful to you. What does this passage tell us about God? What does this passage tell us about people? How does this passage change how we live?

Discuss

1. Describe a time in your life when you have been in awe and wonder of God’s workmanship or seen the outworking of his masterpieces?

2. Do you see yourself as God’s masterpiece? How can this perspective change the way we feel towards ourselves? Towards others?

3. What does it mean to be a conduit and not a container for the blessings of God? Discuss.

4. What is your sense of destiny in Jesus? What are the hopes, dreams or aspirations that God has placed in your heart? How does this impact you in daily life?

5. How do we live each day with a focus beyond the immediate to see a bigger picture of God’s purpose in our life?

Respond

Growth and development happen in our lives when we act on what we’re learning or what the Lord is saying to us. We experience real change when we take the next steps that God is challenging us with.

Consider again what it means for you to be God’s “masterpiece”. In light of that, what will you do to experience and learn how God wants to uniquely grow you? What acts of service, hospitality or generosity can you uniquely perform this week? Who are you uniquely positioned to share your faith with this week? Pray for opportunities to open up for each other.

 



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