Topic: Pride
Topic Name: The PERILS of PRIDE
[Brice Williams]
Opening Question:
- If I were on “who wants to be a millionaire?” and I used my phone a friend Life-Line to call you, what subject matter would I be calling you on? (And why?)
Alternate Question:
- What topic are you most knowledgeable on (specifically).
Verse 1; Proverbs 3;5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
Questions:
- What is “leaning on your own understanding?”
- What instances should we lean on God’s word? When is it not necessary?
- Why do you think the Bible tells us He will straighten our paths if we acknowledge Him?
Thoughts:
- *As the book of Jeremiah teaches, God has plans for our lives but sometimes we think OUR plan is better. Many times the Bible warns of this type of prideful thinking*
- *Many other times in the Bible it is reinforced such as;
- Prov: “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding” or in
- Rom: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools”
- *I want to review a brief instance where someone followed Godly advice and his true path was revealed.
Verse 2: Jonah 1:1-3
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Questions:
- Why do you think Jonah ran away from the Lord?
- What can a person hope to accomplish by running from God?
- What are the consequences of trying to run from God?
Summarized Chapter 2:
- -Storm came
- -Passengers blamed Jonah
- -Threw him overboard
- -Swallowed by “big fish”
- -He repents and is thrown up onto beach.
- -The lord told him once more to preach in Nineveh and he did.
Verse 3: Jonah 3:10
“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”
Questions:
- So why did God not just say, okay, I’ll find someone else?
- So what would’ve happened if Jonah never would’ve repented?
- So what do you think will happen to us as individuals if we fail to repent FULLY from our path to walk God’s intended path through Him?
Challenge:
- To avoid being prideful or content in our own knowledge it’s critical that we have God’s advice, and direction in our lives. Where can we find this? [group: The Bible] Right, so I encourage you to speak with whoever invited you out and find a time to get together and study the word together to discover God’s path for you.
And that’s Bible talk…