“DEFEATING EVIL”

COMMUNITY GROUP GUIDE

Vision Series: Family · Formation · Frontiers
Scripture: Romans 12:3–21 (with a recap of 12:1–2)

Watch This Week’s Message

BIG IDEA

The gospel doesn’t just give us morals.
It forms a people who live differently under pressure.

Paul’s question in Romans 12 is simple:

If the gospel is true, what kind of people does it create?

In the message, three marks were emphasized:

  • Humble people (secure enough to stop proving)

  • Connected people (members, not consumers)

  • Participating people (grace moving through ordinary gifts)

And then Paul pushes it outward:

Overcome evil with good — don’t escalate it.

OPENING QUESTION (5–10 minutes)

When you feel insecure, criticized, overlooked, or wronged — what’s your instinct?

  • Defend yourself

  • Prove yourself

  • Withdraw

  • Get even

  • Hold bitterness quietly

Follow-up:
What do you think that instinct is protecting?

SCRIPTURE (Read Together)

Romans 12:3–8 (humility, body, gifts)
Romans 12:9–21 (marks of a true Christian; overcoming evil with good)

Leader prompt:
As we read, listen for Paul’s movement: altar → body → world.

TEACHING SUMMARY

Quick recap of last week (Romans 12:1–2)

Paul says transformation begins “in view of God’s mercy.”
You don’t improve yourself first. You offer yourself first.
And renewal isn’t about intensity. It’s about learning to live from a different story.

This week’s move (Romans 12:3–21)

Paul shows what mercy produces:

1) Humility (vv.3)

Humility is not low self-esteem.
It’s “sober judgment” — knowing who you are, and being free from proving.

In the ancient world, humility wasn’t admired. Power was dominance.
The gospel creates people secure enough to be honest and steady.

2) Connection (vv.4–5)

We are “members of one another.”
Not observers. Not consumers. Members.

This is countercultural in a hyper-individualistic world.
We don’t just attend. We belong.

3) Participation (vv.6–8)

Paul lists ordinary gifts — not platform gifts.
The point is: grace is already in your life. Use it.

Participation isn’t busyness. It’s responsibility.
A church becomes durable when people carry shared life together.

Then Paul expands to the world (vv.9–21)

“Let love be genuine… bless those who persecute you… repay no one evil for evil… overcome evil with good.”

This is not soft morality. It’s a gospel-shaped way of being human.
Christianity reframes:

  • Power (strength expressed as self-giving love)

  • Justice (refusing personal vengeance because God judges rightly)

  • Identity (received, not achieved — so we’re less threatened)

  • Future hope (resurrection means evil doesn’t get the last word)

That’s why we can overcome instead of escalate.

DISCUSSION (20–30 minutes)

Humility

  1. Where do you most feel the need to manage how you’re perceived?

  2. When you feel insecure, do you tend to inflate or withdraw? Why?

Connection

  1. Who actually knows you at Frontier right now?

  2. Are you mostly evaluating the church — or carrying it? What would change that?

Participation

  1. What “ordinary grace” do you see in your life (encouragement, service, clarity, generosity, leadership, mercy, truth-telling)?

  2. Where are you waiting to “feel ready” instead of using what you already have?

Overcome vs escalate

  1. Think of one relationship or situation where you’re tempted to “get even” (out loud or quietly).
    What would it look like to overcome evil with good instead?

PRACTICE THIS WEEK (Choose 1–2)

1) Stop proving. Start trusting.

Once this week, notice the moment you feel defensive, comparative, or insecure.
Pause and pray (simple):
“Jesus, my identity is secure in You. I don’t have to prove myself.”

2) Member, not consumer.

Ask: “Who depends on me?”
Then do one concrete action that carries the body:

  • reach out, follow up, show up, help, serve, encourage

3) Overcome instead of escalate.

Pick one situation where you’d normally respond with: sarcasm, silence, resentment, exposure, payback, or bitterness.
Choose one act of “good” instead:

  • a calm response

  • a blessing prayer

  • doing what’s honorable

  • initiating peace (as far as it depends on you)

PRAYER (10–15 minutes)

Prayer prompts:

  • Jesus, where am I still proving instead of trusting?

  • Where do I need deeper connection in the body?

  • What grace have You already given me to use?

  • Where am I tempted to escalate instead of overcome?

Optional closing prayer:
“Holy Spirit, form us into a humble, connected, participating people.
Free us from insecurity. Teach us to carry one another.
And make us the kind of church that overcomes evil with good.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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