Sermon
Based Small Group Lessons

Don’t Come to Church;
Be the Church

2008 February 17

Rick Swing, Executive Pastor of Ministries

Meeting Schedule

1.  Fellowship
time & snacks

2.  Share prayer
requests

3.  Pray (taking
turns with short sentence prayers is good if group members are comfortable).

4.  Begin the
lesson.

a.  Share the
title (above)

b.  Ask the Ice
Breaker Question

c.  Follow the
guide, reading the Scripture and asking the questions.

Ice Breaker
Questions

Share your name and how competitive you are on a scale of 1
to 10.

Who is the most competitive person you know?

God has a design for the church to win.  His plan includes everyone being
involved.  God has gifted every
believer and expects us to use those gifts in His service.

Rick Swing likes to ask people, “What are you
doing?”  He means, “What
are you doing in the church to build the kingdom of God?”  How would you answer that question?  If you can’t answer based on what
you are doing now, answer with what you think God might have gifted you to do.

Focus
Scripture:  1 Cor. 12:12-27

12The
body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts
are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit into one
body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given
the one Spirit to drink.

14Now the
body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am
not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body. 16And if
the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the
body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would
the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense
of smell be? 18But in
fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he
wanted them to be. 19If they
were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one
body.

21The eye
cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say
to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body
that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less
honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special
treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater
honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the
body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers
with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you
are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Digging for Truth

1. We need each other.

We
aren’t designed to do it alone.
Doing church as a team makes everyone better.  In what ways do you think believers need
one another?

Read
Prov. 27:17.  In what ways has
someone else sharpened you?  Do you
have any intimate friends who are close enough to help you grow?

2. We differ from one another.

Read
Romans 12:4-5.  What do you think
this verse means for Westwood?

God’s
word also says that He has placed members in the body just as He desires.  That means he has placed us here for
some purpose.  How can we go about
discovering that purpose?

3. We care for one another.

Many
of us are familiar with the story of the Rick Burgess family of the Rick and
Bubba show who lost a young son.
The Bible says that when one part of the body suffers, all parts
suffer.   What can we do for
others in times of need?

In
what situations have you seen the church care for each other?

In
a church the size of Westwood, we need to be a part of a small group.  Relationships in a large church
sometimes require more work because we don’t know one another.

4. Every individual has to do their part for the church to
win.

What
keeps you from being a part of the body as God desires?

Throughout
the Bible, God uses flawed individuals to fulfill His purpose.  Could it be that Satan uses our failures
to keep us from serving God fully?

Can
you name some “failures” in the Bible that God used?

We are designed to serve
and we are fulfilled when we live by design!

Closing Questions

1.  What can we do
this week to be more a part of the body of Christ?

2.  How can we
encourage one another to find a regular place of service in the church?

Closing Challenge

Seek
to read a chapter in God’s word every day.  You can find a great plan that many at
Westwood are doing at www.BiblePlan.org.  Sign up for the New Testament in a year
plan.