OWN IT | WEEK 6
Week Six, Own It: Growing People Change
Big Idea: We can temporarily alter our behavior, but Jesus can permanently change our hearts.
Key Verse: John 15: 5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Why do healthy things grow?
What is the difference between religion and a relationship with God?
How can self-help be detrimental to our lasting change?
Read Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
2. The pastor said, “Many of us have a relationship with Jesus it just isn’t a healthy one.”
3. If you were God and you were in a relationship with you, would you say it is a healthy relationship?
What determines whether our relationship with God is healthy or not?
Do you find yourself asking from God for your own benefit more than asking him to use you as he wishes?
A relationship based only on what you get is not a healthy one.
Where we focus, be it God’s hand or his heart, determines if we will grow in a healthy way.
Read 1 John 14:15
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
4. According to this verse, what is the foundation of our relationship with God?
Why is being rooted in God’s love so important to looking and sounding more like Jesus?
Read John 15:5
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
5. Remembering that our relationship with God is just like any other relationship, what are the things we can do to stay connected to God in a healthy way?
Read John 15:9
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
6. What pops out to you in this verse that helps us grow?
Closing Thoughts:
We can temporarily alter our behavior, but Jesus can permanently change our hearts. Growth is not how well we behave but how well we stay connected to God in a healthy relationship. Change doesn’t come from us but how close we hold to Jesus, who loves us most. He loves us the way we are but loves us enough not to keep us there. Growing people Change to look and sound like Jesus.