LEADERS CG Study Guide JAMES for Oct. 6, 2019 PDF
Leaders Community Group Study Guide
For the week of October 06, 2019
ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS
Welcome to the study of James! We hope that you will use the daily devotional along with the CG Study Guide for a more in-depth experience of this 8 week sermon series. Please encourage the members of your group to be part of the daily study as well. Text/email/or call them when something you read challenges you.
Fall Women’s Conference – November 15 – 16!
The conference will take place at our Ballast Point Campus, kicking off Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. and concluding Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $49. If you have a need for financial assistance, please contact Lauren Cordner at Lauren@stfchurch.com.
Please take attendance. Thanks!
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
1. We learned this week that James called himself a “bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. How do you describe yourself on your social media profile?
2. Have you ever encountered a difficult situation where you thought it was impossible for any good to come out of it, only to realize later that it was an important part of your personal growth? If so, explain.
3. Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything that particularly caught your attention, challenged or confused you?
DIGGING DEEPER
1. Read James 1:1-6. According to James, what should be a Christian’s attitude when facing trials?
(Our attitude should be joy. Faith is tested through trials, not produced by trials. Trials reveal what faith we do have; not because God doesn’t know how much faith we have, but so that our faith will be evident to ourselves and those around us. Counting it all joy is faith’s response to a time of trial. James doesn’t want us to enjoy our trials or to feel it all joy but that the trials are all joy because it helps us to become complete in Him.)
2. Why is “perseverance” important?
(Perseverance is an active endurance. The work of patient endurance comes slowly and must be allowed to have full bloom. Patient endurance is a mark of the person who is perfect and complete, lacking nothing.)
3. What trial or test are you currently facing now?
TAKING IT HOME
1. When have you prayed and received God’s wisdom?
2. What do you do when you pray but still have doubts?
(You know, dear friends, that there is a way of praying in which you ask for nothing, and get it.” – Charles Spurgeon)
3. In the sermon we learned that suffering is a part of the Christian life (James 1:2). We were challenged with how we often respond to good news with, “God is so good”. But what can be our response when things aren’t going good and there is bad news. How do you respond and what can we say then?
(Look at these great examples in Scripture: “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability” (2 Corinthians 8:2-3). “You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). “Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16). “You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions” (Hebrews 10:34). And the best illustration of all, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).)
4. How can your group pray for you this week in light of this passage?
PRAYER REQUESTS