Lead Your Heart--Lesson 2--An Issue of Selfish Leadership--Malachi 2

Discussion Questions:

1.  How do you define faithfulness?  How is $1000 in quarters a good way to live by faith? 

2.  Why is leading one’s heart instead of being led by your heart important in maintaining faithfulness? 

3.  How has God shown His faithfulness to you in the past week?  How have you seen the faithfulness of God echo through the canyons of time like Psalm 136 displays?

4.  How does selfishness hinder the fruit of the Kingdom being strong and healthy?  How does selfishness take away stability and security?  How does selfishness hinder community from being healthy?

5.  Why does God hate divorce?  How has the history preserved in the bible shown us that unfaithfulness and covenant breaking works against, and can even take down a Kingdom?

Lead Your Hearts--Lesson 1--What Kind of God Is This?--Malachi 1

Discussion Questions:

1.  How has God shown that He loves you?  What kinds of things cause you to forget or take for granted what He has provided out of His love?

2.  How do you react when God allows things in your life that don’t seem just or fair (like Jacob being chosen and Esau not)?  Why is being chosen by God important?  What does Ephesians 1:4 teach about our position with God?  Why is it important to wait until things play out completely before determining whether God is just or not?

3.  How does history (your own history with God and the stories we find in the bible) help you to learn and grow?  Why do we often repeat the sinful mistakes of the generations who lived before us?

4.  How are we guilty of bringing God the sick and lame in our own sacrifices?  What are some ways you offer God less than your best?

5.  What difficulty do you find in leading your heart rather than being led by it?

Celebrate!--Lesson 7--Setting the Best Priorities--Luke 2:39-52

Discussion Questions:

1.  How do you determine your priorities for the day or week?  Who is part of your process for determining this?  Does anything need to change?

2.  Luke provides some insight into things Jesus “must do” during His time on the earth (Luke 2:49 & 24:25-26).  How does seeing the things Jesus “must do” affect your own priorities? 

3.  What struggles have you had thinking you need to get Jesus to follow you and bless your agenda instead of following Him and accepting His agenda? 

4.  Luke emphasizes many times how Joseph & Mary fulfilled the will of God, yet they lost sight of Jesus and didn’t understand His agenda.  How is this comforting and/or disturbing to you in your own faith walk?  What kinds of things help you keep Jesus and His agenda in your sights?

5.  How has seeking Jesus led you back to the Father?  How is this a great introduction to Luke’s version of the “Good News”?