Bible Talk
By: Brice Williams
Topic: Love
Lesson Title: Carelessness or Carefulness
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Opening Question:
What is something you rushed into with little thought or advice and it backfired?
Verse #1.) Haggai 1:5-7
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
Question#1 What are some ideas that we constantly hear in society but we rarely act on it?
Question#2 What are some things in life we do that no matter how much we get, it’s never enough.
Additional thoughts:
Eat-> never enough (insatiable)
Drink-> still thirsty (ineffective)
Clothed-> not warm (lacking)
Verse#2.) John 14:23-24
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.”
- Question #1, What is love? …..(reference 1 Cor 13:4-7 & John 13:34-35 to get the group like minded if the answers do not lead into these type of thoughts.)
- Question #2 (Pointed intentionally) So when Jesus says obey my teachings if you love me, which teaching is he referring to?
- Question #3, What are ways we can follow those definitions of love through the things he commanded?
Verse#3) Acts 2:42-46
(Preface) this is the reaction of those who love what Jesus taught:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,”
- Question #1, What do the apostles teachings look like?
- Question #2, what does it look like to have devotion to the fellowship?
- Question#3, what does it mean to break bread?
- Question#4, what does it mean to be devoted to prayer?
- Question#5, what is the frequency of these things should occur?, (intentionally pointed question)
Conclusion: Throughout our lives we have made decisions on the spot. Countless times they weren’t carefully thought out nor were noble. Thinking carefully is a critical ingredient to loving Jesus. Being a daily part of the fellowship, devotion to prayer, studying of the word and even eating together are all things that the early church did out of their love for Christ and his teachings. If you are interested in being the “careful thinking” Christian who Jesus will tell God the Father he loves, I challenge you to study the Bible with whoever invited you out this evening.
…… And that’s Bible talk……