Message Notes for September 8, 2019

Series: God on Trial

Title: God – you messed up with free will!

Free will is our preferences and choices and the accountability that comes with them.

Cultural consequences:

Eternal consequences:

Sin causes the brokenness of our free will.

• John 8:34
• Romans 8:6-7
• 1 Corinthians 2:14
• 2 Corinthians 4:4

God showed His ultimate goodness in our mess of free will.

• Ephesians 2:1-10
• Jude 1:24-25

How might we know we are living closer to that perfect free will of God again?

Family/Group Study Notes for the week of September 8, 2019

Series: God on Trial

Title: God – you messed up with free will!

• What influences the decisions and choices that you make?  The outcome, past consequences, hurts, family systems, religion, etc.  How is this restricting or freeing?
• Read Genesis 3:1-13.  What was the premise of Satan’s plea to Adam and Eve?  How would this decision change their perfect free will, to a free will of choosing from a broken state of being?  How is this similar to us?  How does this cause them to act and live? What similarities do you see in human decisions and choices today?
• Read John 8:34 and Romans 8:5-8.  How does sin restrict our choices?  How does sin enslave us?  Why does sin put us against God?  Why does Paul, in Romans 8, say that we “cannot” submit or please God from the decisions of our flesh? 
• Read Romans 8: 9-11.  What does Paul say lives among those who follow Jesus?  How does the Spirit change the preferences and decisions of the flesh?  What does this look like in daily life? How is this a gift from God for each of us and our messed up free will? 
• Read Galatians 5:16-26.  What are the clear differences of making free will decisions from sin (flesh) or the Spirit of God?  How does life and consequences look different in these places?  How does the Spirit bring about God’s original design in us as God’s creation? 
• Gather in smaller groups and pray for each other and the preferences and decisions you make each day.