Everyday Radicals: Let the Spirit Burn

Icebreaker: The "Canadian" Assumption

In the sermon, I shared how people often assume all Canadians play hockey or love the snow just because of our passport .

• What is the funniest or most "off-base" assumption someone has ever made about you based on where you're from, your job, or your hobbies?

Discussion Questions

1. Presence Over Performance

We talked about how the New Testament church viewed a Christian without the Holy Spirit as a "contradiction in terms". Unlike the Old Testament, where the Spirit came upon specific people for specific tasks and then left, the promise of Pentecost is that the Spirit is now poured out on all people for all time .

• Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: How does it change your daily perspective to realize you are now the "temple" where God’s presence dwells, rather than needing to go to a specific location to find Him?

2. Experience & Tension — Must Haves vs. Can’t Haves

The sermon named a tension many of us carry: Some traditions say the Spirit must show up in specific ways, while others say the Spirit shouldn’t look like anything at all.

• Where have you personally felt tension, confusion, or even hurt around teachings or experiences of the Holy Spirit—and how does the idea of being “radically open” (without pressure or fear) reframe that for you?

3. Wesley argued three guaranteed experiences of the Spirit:

• The Spirit is Christ with us so the Spirit will always sound, act, and direct like Jesus—He is kind, gentle, and encouraging even when He’s challenging us. He calls us forward rather than shaming or guilt-tripping us.

  • Are you able to discern the Holy Spirit’s “voice” and if so how

  • When you try to discern God's voice, do you tend to hear a voice that "shames and reduces" or one that "calls you forward"?

• The Spirit is Given to Renew/Reform Us: It is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit who makes us like Jesus.

  • How do we balance our discussion last week regarding our discipline (Repent and Believe) and the Spirit’s work in us? (Read 2 Corinthians 3:18 & Galatians 5:19-26)

• The Spirit empowers and energizes us to be partners in God’s restorative mission. Whether it’s healing, words of encouragement, service, or other spiritual gifts, we are all empowered to be salt and light in Quinte.

  • As we look at the needs in our city and our own lives, what is one "gift" or "ability" you feel the Spirit might be prompting you to use more boldly? How can we as a group support you in being "radically open" to partnering with God this week?

Don't Blow Out the Fire

Paul gives a famous warning in 1 Thessalonians: "Do not stifle (extinguish) the Holy Spirit". We often try to control or "put a basket over" the Spirit because fire can be unpredictable and a little scary. Yet, wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom

• What are some ways we—personally or as a church—might accidentally "stifle" or "extinguish" the Spirit’s fire because we are afraid of losing control?

• what might it look like for you—and for us as a community—to be more open to the Spirit’s movement?

Invite the group to sit quietly for a moment and pray:

“Holy Spirit, we are open.
Teach us, renew us, and work through us.
Let Your love burn in us and through us.”