~Open in prayer~
Icebreaker
• What is your favorite thing to do in warm weather?
• Share your favorite vacation memory.
• If you went out to get ice cream in the summer, what flavor would you get?
Message Review
Galatians 3:13 (NKJV) says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),” Our Bible is divided into two laws, an old law and a new one. An old covenant and a new one and we call them the Old and New Testament. The generations in the Old Testament longed for the times we live in today. They didn’t long for the afterlife, they longed to live in the current society that we live in. This is due to the fact that in the Old Testament, Jesus had not come yet. At that time, it was only a prophecy that was told over hundreds of years. All they had was a law that God gave Moses and there were over five hundred regulations that were to guide their life. The regulations by their nature were spiritual but the problem was that no one was born again because Jesus hadn’t come. At that time, we were carnal people trying to keep spiritual standards. We tried to keep spiritual standards that we could not keep and that’s why Jesus called it a curse. The curse of the law is that no one could keep it. Jesus came and fulfilled the law. This means that all of the righteous regulations of God were met in a person. If you have been saved then that means you are no longer tied to the five hundred plus regulations of conduct, activity, and behavior. You are now tied to a person, character, and nature of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament was pointing to the very thing that we get to enjoy which is Jesus and freedom. When Christ came, He redeemed us, we are free!
Let’s Talk About It!
Galatians 3:27-28 (NKJV) says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God is not a God of classifications and that’s the current world that we live in today. When we are saved, in this life, we should not take a Bible and try to bend it to fit our world. We need to take the world and bend it around our Bible. In the Bible, God gave Abraham promises and they were promises for the people that would be made out of a covenant with him. At one-hundred-years old, God changes his name from Abram to Abraham which means Father of Nations. He did not have a son but at ninety-years- old his wife conceived Isaac the child of promise. This was the start of the covenant that was promised, but it could not stretch to us. This is because Jesus had not come yet but now that He has come, we are the seed of Abraham. His blessing falls on us and the promises that God gave a man thousands of years ago we can receive. They are supposed to be the normal in your life and not the exception. James 1:18 says, “He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.” When you are saved, it does not mean that you pray a prayer then have to straighten your life out. It does not look like you’re taking an old person and putting makeup on them. It is a process and there is a reason that you have been born again. The minute you accepted Christ you are saved. You became alive spiritually unto God and now you are airs of promises that God promised to Abraham thousands of years ago. God promised Abraham that He will give him land for his descendants. He was promised to be blessed and given a great nation with many descendants like the stars in the sky. We serve a God that is a Man of His word and He always keeps His promises!
Discussion Questions:
1. Think of some promises that God has given you, have you seen them come to fruition yet?
2. What does freedom in Christ mean to you?
3. Share your salvation story with the group.
4. Name one point that stuck out to you in this guide.
Prayer Focus and Requests
Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Encourage one another to stir up your faith and pray BIG prayers this week and expect God to blow your mind with His answers.