Series: Strapped
Delivered by: Pastor Julian
Passages Used: 1 Timothy 6:6, Proverbs 22:7, Romans 12:2, Proverbs 27:23
Today’s Question: How does financial responsibility increase our freedom?
As a group, open up by reading together.
Person 1: 1 Timothy 6:6
Person 2: Proverbs 22:7
Person 3: Romans 12:2
Person 4: Proverbs 27:23
Pray for God to guide your conversation together, & for the Holy Spirit to give wisdom & insight.
Leader: Before starting these questions, remember that you don’t have to “complete the list.” There are more questions listed than you have time to answer. Every major question has several smaller questions on the same idea/topic that you can use to keep things moving. They don’t have to all be individually answered. You know your group best, choose the ones that work best for your unique needs.
Q1: Let’s talk about contentment
- When have you felt the most content in life?
- What elements went into you feeling that level of contentment?
Go to http://www.globalrichlist.com and follow the instructions. Have everyone put in $40,000 and see what comes up.
- Why do _we_ struggle with contentment when we have so much already?
- Why do we look at other people’s income and try to gauge our contentment by what they have?
Q2: The slavery of debt
Pastor Julian reminded us of Proverbs 22:7 that says the borrower is slave to the lender.
- Why do you think we step voluntarily into slavery so often?
- What other forms of slavery do we choose in life?
Q3: Living weird
The apostle Paul wrote the letter to the church in Rome, and he was teaching them all the fundamentals of living as a Christian. In chapter 12, he gets to this pivotal statement:
- Read Romans 12:1-8
- What do you hear in this passage that makes our life as Jesus-followers different from the lives of people around us?
- How does living this way reorder our lives?
Q4: We need to be responsible
Pastor Julian’s message was capped by Proverbs 27:23, which is a simple, but very wise, encouragement to know the condition of our “flocks.”
- What are you responsible for this coming week? What are the “sheep” in your flock?
- How can you honor God with those responsibilities?
- How does responsibility lighten your load?
Q5: We love generosity
We love hearing stories about people who plan to be generous. How have you seen people prepare for generosity & then share blessings with others?
- What stories of generosity have impacted your life?
- How do you want to be generous?
- How would you like to practically bless people?
- How could you use the funds in your debt load to bless others around you?
- How does living beneath our means bring us freedom?
