In this series, we're discovering God's plan to grow First Baptist Starkville. Below you’ll find notes and questions for reflection from sermons in our current series, Charting a Course.

+ January 7 - Get Ready to Grow

Ephesians 4:1-16

  1. Live With Urgency
  2. Look Out for One Another
    1. Galatians 6:2-5
  3. Lean into the Mission
    1. Luke 10:2
    2. Isaiah 6:1, 8-9
  4. Leverage Your Influence

Our legacy is not how large we grow but how many leaders we raise up. So if we grow large, it's always to leverage towards leaders. This raises the question. What are we doing to raise leaders? How do we equip our current generation to equip the next generation?

Table Talk

Take time as a family or with a group of friends to ask each other these questions. Contemplating these questions together will be valuable, but some will require individual reflection.

  1. What intentional steps are you taking to grow in Christ?
  2. How are you living sent? What are some ideas you and your family can do to live sent?
  3. Is there a rupture in a relationship with someone here in our church community? What are you doing, going to do, to repair it?
  4. Is there anyone you know who has not returned to church since COVID? What are you doing to invite them back?
  5. What are you doing to develop as a leader? Develop leaders? Are you engaged in a D-Group, Community Group, or are you mentoring someone?

+ January 14 - Always More

Ephesians 3:20-21

  1. Jesus is the More You Were Made For
    1. Proverbs 30:4-6
    2. Isaiah 40:12
  2. He Meet Us Where We Are
    1. Psalm 37:4-7
  3. He Leads Us to Glory
  4. All You Have To Do Is Ask

Table Talk

  1. If a close friend or loved one were to look into your life, what would they say you are pursuing?
  2. Do you have any passions greater than God's love for you? (The answer is no, by the way, but lean into the question to realize God's love for you.)
  3. Do you have any passions that are greater than your love for God? (The answer might be yes. If so, you have an opportunity to reorient your loves.)
  4. Why do you think the Bible speaks of God working through the church?
  5. What opportunities do you see for God to work through our church?

+ January 21 - This I Know With All My Heart

Ephesians 1:15-23

  1. Faith Forms Our Loves
  2. Someone Prays for Us
  3. We Are Able to Know the Truth
  4. God Gives us Hope
  5. God Counts Us as His Inheritance
    1. Psalm 2:7–9
  6. We Will Rise From Death
  7. Christ Is Over All Things
  8. Christ is Our Gift
  9. Christ is Our Head
  10. We Are In Him

"By this word 'fulness' he means that our Lord Jesus Christ and even God his Father account themselves imperfect, unless we are joined with him … as if a father should say, My house seems empty to me when I do not see my child in it. A husband will say, I seem to be half the man when my wife is not with me. After the same manner God says that he does not consider himself full and perfect, except by gathering us to himself and making us all one with himself." - John Calvin

"As bridegroom he is incomplete without the bride; as vine he cannot be thought of without the branches; as shepherd he is not seen without his sheep; and so also as head he finds his full expression in his body, the church." - William Hendriksen

Table Talk

  1. What is the difference between knowing something with your head and knowing something with your heart?
  2. What are some things you know with all your heart?
  3. Paul first describes the church in the book of Ephesians at 1:22-23 as the body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. How does this description of the church compare with your thought about the church?
  4. How would you describe the riches of the inheritance in Christ?
  5. What difference does it make if one knows these things? Would not knowing these truths make any difference?

For a bonus round of discussion, the ESV translates 1:23 in the active sense ("him who fills") instead of the passive ("who is being filled"). What difference in meaning is brought about by the different translation options to describe the church? For an example of the passive sense of this verse, consider the New Living Translation, which translates 1:23, "And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself."

+ January 28 - God’s Master Plan For Your Life

Ephesians 2:18-22

  1. Experience Redemption
  2. Grow in Christlikeness
  3. Practice the Presence of God

"The practice of the presence of God is an exercise of faith whereby we become increasingly aware of him and respond to him with faith and obedience."

Table Talk

  1. What is your redemption story?
  2. In what ways have you been able to track your spiritual growth?
  3. What circumstances in your life caused the greatest spiritual growth?
  4. What does it mean to practice the presence of God?
  5. How do you practice his presence?

+ February 4 - Praying the Purpose of God

Ephesians 3:14-19

  1. God You Are
  2. God You Have
  3. God Give Me Strength
  4. God Rule in My Heart
  5. God Let Me Walk in Love
  6. God Fill Me with Your Presence

Table Talk

  1. What do you find yourself praying for the most?
  2. When do you find yourself praying the most?
  3. How does your prayer life align with the prayer in Ephesians 3, or does it?
  4. Name five truths about God that help you pray.
  5. What are some ways God can rule in your heart?

+ February 11 - The Path Marked Before Us

Ephesians 4:1-6

What does walking worthy look like?

  1. Not the Path of Least Resistance
  2. Not a Path You Can Walk Alone
  3. A Blazing Path for All to See
    1. What are those markers?
      1. Humility
      2. Gentleness
      3. Patience
      4. Love
  4. A Path of Peace

Table Talk

  1. What do you feel is the most pressing issue in your life?
  2. Are you involved in Christian community? If so, where? If not, what would it take to get you into Christian community?
  3. When the Bible calls us to live or act a certain way, it is always in light of Jesus Christ. In other words, God gives us his Word to show us how he wants to live his life through us. Is this how you usually understand the Bible and its demands?
  4. Some have said Galatians 2:20 summarizes the Christian life. Do you agree? Why or why not?

+ February 18 - The Way God Grows His Church

Ephesians 4:7-16

  1. You Are Saved to Serve
  2. Serving Means Fighting
  3. Growing Means Serving
  4. How Will You Serve?

Table Talk

  1. Ephesians 4:7 says, Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. What do you think the measure of Christ's gift means, and what difference should it make in your daily life?
  2. We often neglect the fact of Christ's ascension. What difference does it make in knowing that Christ is currently seated at the right hand of the Father?
  3. What is Christ doing at the right hand of the Father? (See Romans 8:34)
  4. How do Spiritual gifts and spiritual warfare relate to one another?
  5. As you discern your call, are you called to be an equipper or one who is equipped? All of us serve to build the church, but how will you serve the building of the church? Did you hear your name called when we read Ephesians 4:11-12? If not there, where in Scripture can we go to find your name called?

+ March 3 - The Role of the Spirit in the Life of the Believer

Ephesians 3:16

  1. The Holy Spirit is God's Gift to Us
  2. Why is the Holy Spirit given to us?
    1. To Make Room in Our Hearts for God
    2. To Strengthen Us for His Purpose
    3. To Experience the Love of God
    4. To Fill Us With the Fullness of God

Table Talk

  1. Who is the Holy Spirit?
  2. What role does the Holy Spirit play in your daily life?
  3. When we think of the Holy Spirit, it is important to remember John 15:26, where Scripture says that when the Spirit comes, he will bear witness to Jesus. Remember, Jesus is the Sent Son of the Father. In other words, we are not unitarians of the Spirit. We are Trinitarian. Remember, the Trinity says God is one essence in three persons. So, when we encounter the Spirit, we encounter the Son and Father. The Spirit never works in isolation or alone.

+ April 7 - Discovering Your Destiny

Ephesians 4:7-8

"The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why." - Mark Twain

A Spiritual gift is God communicating his presence through us to others.

  1. God Has a Path For You to Walk - Works Prepared Beforehand
    1. Ephesians 2:8-10
    2. Ephesians 4:8; Hebrews 2:4
  2. God Empowers Your Walk - Spiritual Gifts Overview
    1. Three Types of Gifts
      1. Equipping - Ephesians 4:11
      2. Ministry - Romans 12:6-8
      3. Signs - 1 Corinthians 12:7-10
  3. Start Here - Discover Your Destiny
    1. Awakened
    2. Sensitive
    3. Accepting
      1. 1 Peter 4:10-11
    4. Productive
      1. Galatians 5:22-23

Table Talk

  1. A Spiritual gift can be described as the manifestation of God's power in your life, meant to help you walk in service to him.
  2. What is your spiritual gift?
  3. How do you use your gift to serve God and others?
  4. How do you use your gift at our church?

+ April 14 - The Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

Romans 12:1-11

  1. To Enable our Worship
  2. To Demonstrate the Difference Grace Makes
  3. To Advance God's Agenda
  4. To Leave a Mark on the World

Table Talk

  1. What is a Spiritual Gift?
  2. Why call these gifts "Spiritual?"
  3. What are Spiritual Gifts for?
  4. How do you hope to leave a mark on this world?

+ April 21 - Growing in Christlikeness

Ephesians 4:11-16

Questions to evaluate your spiritual growth:

  1. Is My Life Shaped by the Word of God?
  2. Am I fighting the fight of faith?
  3. Is My Life Held Together by Truth?
  4. Am I choosing to Walk in Love?
    1. Galatians 5:22-25

Table Talk Questions

  1. Where do you need to mature in Christ?
  2. Where does our church need to mature in Christ?
  3. What gifts has God gifted you to help you and our church mature?
  4. Have you been able to identify any false teachings you have heard recently?

+ April 28 - The Believer's Walk With Christ

Ephesians 4:17-24

  1. A New Way
  2. A Way Led by the Holy Spirit
  3. A Way of Constant Surrender
  4. A Way to Know God Deeper
  5. A Way that Responds to God
  6. A Way that Puts Forever in the Present

Table Talk

  1. Are you considering a major change in your life? What is your next step?
  2. What does Jesus mean when he says, "What profit is it if you gain the whole world and lose your soul?"
  3. What difference is Jesus making in your life?