Read:  Acts 20:17-38

Open

Have you ever participated in a “tearful farewell”?  Were you leaving or being left?  Why was it so hard?

If you were a parent, what three character traits would you most want your children to possess?

Dig

In the sermon, we were told that Paul exemplifies for this young church three keys for their survival: Character, Courage, and Conviction.  What marks of Christian character do you see in Paul’s example here in vs. 18-19?

Read Romans 5:3-5.  It talks about what produces character and what character produces.  Certainly Paul lived the example of suffering and perseverance producing character.  How have you experienced this in your own life, of suffering producing perseverance producing character?  Have you seen this to be true in our life together—as a congregation or a small group or another group that you have been a part of?

How did Paul demonstrate courage in the way he lived with the Ephesians (vs. 21-23)?  How might we engage our world with courage?  How do we love those who disagree with us?

Verse 24 demonstrates the conviction with which Paul lived his life.  Can you express in one sentence the conviction that drives your life?

Reflect

Read v. 24 again.  Do we have a sense of what God has called us to?  Is there a shared conviction that can give us a passion to live similar to Paul’s?  Is there a shared conviction that can center us in a truly shared life of community that is given to God’s calling?  What is it?  What do you think it could be or should be?