LEADERS CG Study Guide JAMES for Oct. 12, 2019 PDF
Leaders Community Group Study Guide
For the week of October 12, 2019
ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS
We hope that you are using the daily devotional along with the CG Study Guide for a more in-depth experience of this sermon series. Please continue to 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.
AWANA – Community Group Service Project Opportunity!
Each week about 200 children arrive at our church to learn and memorize the Word of God. As a volunteer, you would help them color, play, and help them transition to their rooms for the brief 1.5 hour program. Your entire CG could go in place of a night of meeting or you could plan a social around it. The AWANA program needs our help! Please email karenm@stfchurch.com to schedule your volunteer night!
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!
MY STORY
1. Back during your high school years how did you handle preparing for a test? (pick any that apply)
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2. What is one thing that happens in your world every day that tempts you to trip up?
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. “If it feels good, it can’t be wrong” is a powerful lie the Enemy uses to tempt us. It offers deceptive shortcuts to fulfillment. Below is a short list of temptations we regularly encounter. Next to each temptation write what we consider to be a benefit of giving in to that temptation followed by what we lose.
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2. Read James 1:13-18. If the process of sin is: Thought – Choice – Action – Habit – Stronghold, how can Philippians 4:6-9 change the course we are headed? How can we use this process to win over temptation.
Philippians 4:6-9’s formula is then: Situation, Pray, Think, Put Into Action.
3. How does Galatians 6:1-5 show us how to help those who are asking for help to overcome temptation they have given in to?
(Galatians 6:1 is clear that we are to have the motive of restoration not condemnation and v. 2 begs us to ask the question, “Do I have a relationship with this person that allows me to speak into his life?” When we are called to confront or rebuke a fellow believer, we must always do so in an attitude of humility, knowing that we too are prone to sin. We can follow Jesus’ golden words in this and every other situation: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12).)
4. Confessing a thought/temptation is NOT a sin. Revealing your struggle with a Godly friend could save your life. Who in your life could you safely admit your thoughts/temptations with to help keep you from the rabbit hole of sin?
TAKING IT HOME
1. We need to use spiritual weapons for spiritual battles. In Ephesians 6:10-18 the Apostle Paul uses the analogy of a Roman soldier suited up in full armor to help us understand what it takes to overcome the schemes of Satan. Read the passage carefully; look at each piece of armor, and in your own words, describe how it protects and why it’s important.
Truth (transparency, integrity, both God’s and ours)
Righteousness (progress, not perfection)
Faith (taking God at His word no matter what)
Salvation (eternal life)
God’s Word (the Bible)
2. Looking back, can you think of a time or situation where one or more of these “pieces of armor” protected or equipped you in the midst of a tough spiritual battle, attack, or great temptation?
3. Why do you think Paul ends with such a big emphasis on prayer for one another?
4. Where are you most tempted? With whom, what situations, where are you, when temptation is at its greatest lure? How can your group pray for you?
PRAYER REQUESTS