LifeGroup study guide – Week 5: “Speak Truth”

Stepping In: Getting things started!

1-Do you ever see a good time to tell a lie?

2-What benefit, although difficult, have you experienced from telling the truth?

Building Up: What is God Saying?

Read Proverbs 12:13-14. There are benefits to us as well as for those who hear us speak when our lips are filled with good things. (Read Ephesians 4:29) Now, how do all of these verses challenge us?

Read Proverbs 12:15-17. Huge lessons are found in these three verses. What do you see, and how do you see it helping in your life this week?

Read Proverbs 12:18-19. “Muggers and surgeons but cut, but the mugger cuts to hurt and the surgeon cuts to heal.” How does this picture and these proverbs teach the same lesson?

Read Proverbs 12:20-22. What is the wisdom and warning of these verses?

Living Out: How do I obey?

1-Share an area or situation where you are going to work at being more truthful?

2-Discuss how we can be more intentional about blessing others with our words?

LifeGroup study guide – Week 4: “Beautiful Discipline”

Stepping In: Getting things started!

1-In what areas in your life have you seemed to have more self-discipline? In which areas have you had less?

2-Self-discipline requires much of us, but the payoff is substantial. If you could tell a teenager something you wish you would have learned sooner, what would it be?

Building Up: What is God Saying?

Read Proverbs 5:1-6. The following verses will use “adultery” as the case-study, but the lesson is bigger than that one area. What do you see here about temptation in general that would make a difference in many areas of our lives?

Read Proverbs 5:7-11. We’ve got to place boundaries in our life to keep us safe. What boundaries have you placed, or are thinking of placing to protect your life and relationships?

Read Proverbs 5:12-14. As a culture we celebrate the “free spirit”, the one who “colors outside the lines.” What do these verses teach us about the difference between creativity and foolishness?

Read Proverbs 5:15-20 . Maybe you’ve heard this: “The grass is greener, not on the other side of the fence, but on the side you water more.” How is that true in these verses?

Read Proverbs 5:21-23 . What is a powerful reminder in these verses that jumps out to you?

Living Out: How do I obey?

1-What is a new boundary you’re putting in place right now?

2-Got your service project nailed down?

Reading through the Bible each year brings me to passages and stories that I would definitely not go to otherwise. Today, while reading in Hosea, I saw something about our God that stopped me in my tracks.

We may tend to think of God as distant or far above us, but our relationship with Him is very personal to Him. In Hosea we get a sense of just how much the Israelites had broken His heart with this vivid picture/analogy. Israel is the “mother” in this picture and God is the “Father”.

“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, or she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.” (Hosea 2:2 NIV)

God takes the most intimate of relationships to show Israel how far they had gone. Their idolatry is compared to prostitution. They had sold themselves to the highest bidder and left God watching from a distance.

It’s very personal. God wants a relationship with us. He has done everything for us, and yet, we too sometimes turn our backs on Him for our own selfish reasons.

Here’s the really amazing thing about Hosea’s little book. He not only paints a vivid picture of Israel’s adultery, he shows God’s plan to win her back.

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.” (Hosea 2:14 NIV)

God continues to this day to reach out to each of us, lovingly calling us back to Him.

It’s very personal. That’s why God will not give up on YOU.