sermon series
I know It When I See It
Sermon title
Faithfulness
Weekend in review
There are certain things you can try to define, describe, or explain. You can use metaphors and illustrations. You can wordsmith and try to paint a verbal picture. But some things are just better seen. For the next few weeks we’re going to look at the kind of character traits the Holy Spirit wants to produce in all of us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. When these traits are visible and tangible in our lives, people stand back and say, “Oh, so THAT’S what it looks like.”
Warm up
Begin with some conversation, checking in on how people are doing. You can talk about whatever you’d like, but here are potential questions to get the conversation going.
- Did you play practical jokes on people as a kid?
- What is the most significant promise you have made? Were you able to keep that promise? Why or why not?
Discussion
Select 5-6 questions from the list below to guide your discussion time.
Mike summed up the overall story of the Bible saying, “God longs for a relationship with people like us. People like us broke the relationship. So, God moved throughout history to restore the broken relationship with people like us.”
- Read Ephesians 1:4-6. How does understanding God’s intentions described here affect your worldview? Your view of yourself?
- Mike noted that when we’ve been hurt by broken promises, scams, betrayals and such, we learn to be wary, maybe even skeptical of trusting other people. How much do you think our experiences with other humans affect the ease or difficulty we have in learning to fully trust God?
- Read Romans 4:3, 17-20. How did Abraham respond to God as a result of his faith (v. 20)? What is the lesson for us today?
- Mike said, “I’m learning that there is a big difference in believing in God versus actually believing God.” Can you describe an instance when you graduated from the former to the latter?
- Read Genesis 18:12-13. Sarah laughed when she heard God say they would have a child. Share a time you doubted that God would be faithful in your life.
- Read Hebrews 11:11-12. We read in Genesis 21:1 that God kept his promise and Sarah gave birth at the age of 91. How have you experienced the power of God operating in your life to make possible what appeared to be impossible or very unlikely?
- Read Hebrews 13-16. What does it mean to you that not all these people of faith met with “success” in that the promise they were looking ahead to did not occur in their lifetimes. What does this tell you about the life of faith? Do you find this encouraging or discouraging? Why?
- Mike said, “God’s faithfulness is his gift to us, and our trust is our gift back to him.” Discuss how trust, trustworthiness, faith, and faithfulness are intertwined.
- How does our being faithful to trust God through the ups and downs in our lives relate to the fruit of the spirit? Do you see yourself as growing in faithfulness? In trustworthiness? What does that look like to you?
Application
- What are the areas in your life where you need to lean in and put further trust, further confidence in God? Remind yourself that God loves you and is FOR you. Find and write out scriptures that remind you of his love and faithfulness to you and read them every day this week.
Wrap up & prayer
Share prayer requests and spend time praying for each other.
As we look toward Easter, spend time in prayer expressing your gratitude to Jesus, for choosing to be faithful to his purpose, to sacrifice his life on the cross so that we may be offered the gift of salvation.