Introduction: Over the course of a month, I want to help you appreciate the Bible more by helping you get a better understanding of the story the Bible tells. As Tim Keller has written, “We usually read the Bible as a … Continue reading True Story Day #1: One month of Bible readings to help you understand what the Bible is about!
Opening Questions: Have you ever been in a situation where you thought someone was in the wrong only to find out later that you had misread the situation? Does that mean we should never evaluate what other people do and … Continue reading Charitable Corrections: A Small Group Study Guide
Lesson 1 When Life Hurts Summary This lesson shows what the Bible teaches about how to respond to the difficult experiences of life. Outline 1. Getting Started 5 minutes 2. Responding to Trials 45 minutes Goals To teach students why it is important to respond to trials in a biblical manner, to show them how to respond to trials in a biblical manner, and to help them understand why they should respond to trials in a biblical manner. Lesson Preparation As you prepare this lesson think about the difficult experiences God’s brought you through, what you’ve learned from them, the … Continue reading Handling Trials Worksheet
Selfishness can cause you to become angry. It also can keep you from becoming angry. Sometimes we become angry because we are overly concerned with ourselves, but there are other times when we do not become angry because we are overly concerned with ourselves. This is part of what I think is behind the statement Paul makes in Ephesians 4:26 and 27. He writes, “Be angry and do not sin.” There are times when we need to become angry. God is glorious. Sin is awful. Injustice is real. And we are supposed to feel something about all of this. Anger … Continue reading On Not Sinning When You Become Angry
There’s no question we have to fight for sexual purity. If we are going to experience the maximum amount of joy that God intends for our lives, we are going to have to fight for it. But how? It’s one thing to be told that we need to strive to be holy and it’s another to have a strategy for doing so. Fortunately the Scripture is loaded with resources we can use in this war for joy and holiness. We have been looking at some of the counsel Paul gives us in this regard in Ephesians 5:3-6. So far we’ve … Continue reading Ten Helps for Fighting Sexual Temptation part three
God doesn’t only tell us to fight against sexual temptation, He also helps us understand how. In a previous post, we began looking at Ephesians 5:3-6 and saw the first two of ten helps that Paul gives us. 1. Pursue a self-sacrificial lifestyle. 2. Commit to a radical approach. Today, let’s look at three and four. 3. Develop a deeper appreciation for your new identity in Christ. Paul tells us that sexual immorality must not even be named among us, as is proper among the saints. Actually there is no the there. It is just among saints. He’s reminding us … Continue reading Ten Helps for Fighting Sexual Temptation part two
Over the next several days I want to share ten pieces of counsel from Ephesians 5:3-6 for those struggling with sexual temptation and greed. 1. Sexual sins are often the fruit of a self-centered lifestyle. Paul begins this passage which calls us to put off sexual sins with the word but which tells us he is making a contrast. The contrast is with the self-sacrificial lifestyle he has called us to in verses 1 and 2. When you are struggling with sexual temptation it can act like a warning bell in your mind that perhaps you are at the same … Continue reading Ten Helps for Overcoming Sexual Temptation
Ephesians 4:25 “Speak the truth to one another” There is more to being holy in your speech than simply stopping lying. We need to develop a whole other way of speaking to one another. It is important we think carefully about what it means to speak the truth. 1. Think for a moment about reasons why a follower of Jesus must be known as a truth speaker. What is the connection between Jesus and truth? 2. What does it mean to speak the truth to one another? What would this look like in a church or small group or family? … Continue reading Speaking the Truth Worksheet: Leader’s Guide
On Lying Read Ephesians 4:25 1. How important is speaking the truth to most people in our world? I guess there might be some people who say they think speaking the truth is important but if you look carefully at how they live you find even most of those people are lying. There are some things people do that they still feel guilty about, but lying is becoming so common, that there are many people who lie and they barely even think about it, it is almost like breathing to them, they value the truth so little. 2. What are … Continue reading Putting Off Lying Worksheet: Leader’s Guide
I have been thinking a lot about helping others disciple others. What do I want to do as we plant this church? I want to make disciples. Bottom line. Glorify God by making disciples. I don’t want to simply gather a crowd, I want to make disciples. It’s easy to go at this the wrong way round, for sure, trying to gather a crowd who show up on Sundays, but if I focus first on that, I don’t think I am going to be very effective in making disciples. On the other hand, if I work on making disciples, I … Continue reading Making Disciples from Ephesians
