Tag: wisdom

Proverbs 6:6-11 // I Can’t, God Can: You Make The Call Wk 4

Lean In // 5 minutes

 What would you be willing to camp out all night for?

Sample answers may include…

  • IPhone
  • Movie premier
  • Concert
  • Black Friday
  • To meet a famous celebrity
  • Restaurant grand opening (IE- Chic-Fil-A)

Look Down // 10 minutes

Read Proverbs 6:6-11; 26:13-16 (NLT)

What are the lessons from the ants?

Sample answers may include…

  • Ants work hard and are diligent
  • Take initiative—no supervisor to make them work
  • Plan ahead—gather food for the winter
  • They understand the seasons by working in the summer
  • The ways of the ants can teach wisdom

What are the contrasts of the “lazybones” person?

Sample answers may include…

  • The lazy person is opposite of the ants
  • Complacent—waiting to take action
  • Lack understanding of seasons and time
  • Think they are smarter than everyone else
  • Complain and give excuses

Leader Note: In this week’s lesson, we are learning about what it takes to persevere.  As you study this passage, see what your group can learn about perseverance from the ant and lazy person.

Look Out // 10 minutes

Where have you seen someone persevere and what did it look like?

What are some of the characteristics involved when a person does not persevere?

Look In // 15 minutes

When was a time you wanted to quit but pushed through anyways?

Where are you currently struggling to persevere?

Leader Note:This is a good opportunity to take notes and listen to where group members are struggling to persevere so that you can pray with and for them.  Be careful to not necessarily jump in and rescue them but rather listen and encourage where it is appropriate.

Live It Out // 5 minutes

Who might be impacted if you made it through your struggle?

PRAY: Pray that God would strengthen your group in the areas where they are struggling to persevere.  Ask God to help your group experience His presence through it all.  And, pray that group members would find the understanding that they can’t persevere on their own strength but they can persevere in and through God’s strength.

Key Verse(s): I can do all this through him who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

Key Step: Take the prayer challenge.  In the morning for the next 7 days, pray this prayer: I can’t.  God can.  He can through me.  Then in the evening, pray: Teach me the mystery of Christ in Me.

Click here for Life Group Serve Opportunities

Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.

Acts 2:42-47 // Don’t Go It Alone: You Make The Call Wk 2

Lean In // 5 minutes

What are some things you can’t do alone?

Sample answers may include… 

  • Have a party
  • Play catch
  • Get engaged/married
  • Play in a band
  • Have a conversation
  • Water ski

Leader Note: The goal of the question is to get your group to engage.  As the leader, be prepared to share a few lighthearted things you’ve tried to do alone but ended up having a hard time.  Allow some space for group members to share stories around their answers.

Look Down // 10 minutes

Read Acts 2:42-47

What are some of the activities the early believers practiced as a group?

Sample answers may include…

  • They gathered regularly together
  • They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching—studying Scripture
  • They committed themselves to doing life together and sharing meals (including communion)
  • They were devoted to prayer
  • They were in a deep sense of awe and they performed miracles and wonders
  • They were generous and met people’s needs
  • They worshiped together at the Temple
  • They met in homes
  • They shared their meals with great joy and celebration
  • They praised God and enjoyed the goodwill of all the people
  • God grew their group and added new people

Look Out // 10 minutes

Where are some of the places that people look to for community?

What are some of the key ingredients that hold a community together?

Leader Note: In every human there is a desire to belong and we all look for people and places where we can be in community.  Today, there are many ways to find it.  For example, sports teams, fitness clubs, and even online platforms are all ways we can find community.  Help your group identify the different places we look for community and what holds it together.  As the leader, be prepared to share your own observations.

Look In // 15 minutes

Where have you experienced “Acts 2” activities in your life group?

What are some activities you are hoping to experience?

Leader Note: Encourage your group to be honest about their life group experience and what they feel might be missing.  Perhaps you can share first about an aspect you feel is missing from the group.  How would you and your group like to do things the same or differently in this next season?  Also, it may be helpful to read off the list of observations you found in the Acts 2 passage and compare it with your life group experience.

Live It Out // 5 minutes

Who might be impacted by your group doing life together and being for your community?

PRAY: End your group time together thanking God for bringing you all together to form a group as described in Scripture.  Pray specifically for those areas your group highlighted that they wish were better within the group, and for opportunities to make the group stronger and to live out all aspects of Acts 2:42-47.

Key Verse(s): Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.  – Proverbs 13:20

Life Group Connect Event Sign-Ups: Tuesday, Sept. 23, 6:30-8p, Upper Room

Click here for Life Group Serve Opportunities

Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.

Proverbs 14:1-16 // Right Things, Wrong Way: You Make The call Wk 1

Lean In // 5 minutes

What are some things you’re looking forward to this fall? What are some things that you have reservations about?

Leader Note: Pay good attention to the answers here as they may help you guide the rest of your discussion and shape your group’s prayer time.

 

Look Down // 10 minutes

Ready Proverbs 14:1-16

What does Solomon say in the passage about wise living and it’s benefits?

Sample answers may include…

  • A wise woman builds her home
  • Fears the Lord
  • Does not lie
  • Understands where they are going
  • The godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation
  • The prudent carefully consider their steps
  • The wise are cautious and avoid danger
  • Knowledge comes easily to those with understanding
  • Words of the wise keep them safe
  • Tent of the godly flourish

What does he say about foolish living and it’s consequences?

Sample answers may include…

  • A foolish woman tears her house down with her own hands
  • Those who take the wrong path despise him
    Proud talk becomes a rod that beats him
  • False witness breathes lies
  • Mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it
  • Fools make fun of guilt
  • The house of the wicked will be destroyed
  • The path before each person that seems right, often ends in death
  • Simpletons believe everything they’re told
  • Fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence

 

Look Out // 10 minutes

When people live wisely, how does it affect those close to them?

When people live foolishly, how does it affect those close to them?

Leader Note: This question may be a bit harder for people to answer as they may have been affected by someone’s poor choice and foolish living. Direct your group to not use names – they can talk about personal experiences, but steer them away from naming names.

 

Look In // 15 minutes

Where are you currently in need of wisdom?

What verse from the passage can you hold onto as you pursue wise living this week?

Leader Note: As your group answers the second question ask them what it is about that verse that stands out to them, and what it would look like to not only hold onto that verse but live it out in the coming weeks.

 

Live It Out // 5 minutes

How would those around you be affected if you lived wisely in the area you identify in the look in question?

Key Verse(s): “The wise fear the Lord and shun evil. but a fool is hothead and yet feels secure.” Proverbs 14:16

Click here for Life Group Serve Opportunities

Life Group Leaders, have you rsvp’d for the Leader Vision Night on September 14th? Get more information and rsvp here.

Learn More About Flow Questions: Check out Kenton Beshore’s book Ask in the Irvine Campus Bookstore for more on the Flow Question model.

Proverbs 1:5-33 // A Word To The Wise

This week’s questions are taken from Kenton Beshore’s book, A Father’s Wisdom. This 5-week flow question based study on the book Proverbs is an excellent option for your group to use in the shortened summer session. A Father’s Wisdom includes a participant guide as well as leader notes and can be purchased in the Global Bookstore.

Lean In // 5 minutes

What is one piece of wise advice you’ve been given that paid off (or didn’t pan out)?

Sample answers may include…

  • Marriage advice
  • Job advice
  • Parenting advice

Look Down // 10 minutes

Read Proverbs 1:5-33

What do you learn about the wise?

Sample answers may include…

  • Listen to the proverbs and become wiser
  • Those with understanding receive guidance
  • Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge
  • Listen to mother and father
  • Will have honor
  • Turn their backs on sinners
  • Stay away from traps
  • Will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm

What do you learn about the unwise?

Sample answers may include…

  • Despise wisdom and discipline
  • Insist on being simpleminded
  • Are mocked
  • Hate knowledge
  • Would not come when God called
  • Paid no attention when God reached out
  • Rejected the correction God offered
  • God will laugh at them when they are in trouble and mock when overtaken by disaster
  • God will not answer when they cry for help
  • Will search for God, but not find Him
  • Hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord
  • Rejected God’s advice
  • Paid no attention when God corrected them
  • Eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes
  • Turn away from God to death, destroyed by their own complacency

Look Out // 15 minutes

Think of a person you know who seems wise and describe his/her life.

Leader Note: Allow 5-7 minutes for these questions. They will get your group to look at those around them that seem to take wise counsel, make wise choices and have lived lives that, although not necessarily charmed, have proven to be successful. Your group may think of parents, bosses, teachers or public figures. You may have group members who think of godly men or women who, although may not be successful as the world defines it, have led rich lives because of biblical wisdom.

Think of a person you know who seems foolish and describe his/her life.

Leader Note: Caution your group to not name names on this question. It is worthwhile to look at lives, whether from our personal life or in the public eye, who seem to have made unwise choices and are therefore paying the consequences.

You may want to lead your group as this may be a difficult question for members to answer. Possibly you know someone who has not been living within their means and paying the price in indebtedness or even bankruptcy, or possibly even someone who relishes in rage and has paid the price of broken relationships. Again, what we want to come out here is the difference between wide and unwise choices in our lives.

Look In // 20 minutes

What is a lesson from the passage that you will apply this week? What will that look like?

Leader Note: Take as much time as necessary to reflect on the passage that describes wise living and let each person choose a verse and explain how that verse will impact his or her choices this week. Some examples of answers could be from verse 5 that says “Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.”

Live It Out // 5 minutes

Who could you impact by living out the truth of the passage?

Prayer: Spend the end of your time together in prayer. First thank God for the gift of wisdom and for the promise He will generously give it when you ask. Pray for one another to hear God’s voice when you need help with making choices.