Out of Fear

1. Read Proverbs 29:25a. Consider ways that you have feared the opinions of man and how they have affected your walk with the Lord. Discuss how you have been trapped by this type of cyclical thinking and how you can change that.

2. Read 1 Samuel 9:21. Saul speaks to his own inferiority complex and explains why he isn’t good enough to be king. Name times in your life where either God or someone God has used tried to speak destiny in your life and you rejected it due to your own personal fear of not being enough.

3. Read 1 Samuel 10:22. Have you ever had an experience like this where you were hiding in your own “baggage”? This could be a list of past failures, lack of security, personal rejections, etc. How can we step past the fear of these things and out of our “baggage” and into destiny?

4. Read 1 Samuel 13:11-12. Saul describes a situation that we often times face. In this passage, he describes being afraid to lose his following. Have you ever found yourself in situations where you didn’t speak up or do what God was asking you to do because you were thought you wouldn’t get support from those who were following you? How can we begin to trust God in these situations and put His opinion first? Discuss this with the group.

5. Read 1 Samuel 18:9-9. In this passage we find Saul’s jealousy being enflamed over a victory David had won for the entire kingdom. Saul becomes suspicious of David from this point on because he fears that David will be loved by the people more than him. How can we personally overcome comparing our victories to others and learn how to celebrate them?

6. Read Galatians 1:10, Hebrews 13:6, & 1 John 4:4. These scriptures teach us the importance of putting God’s opinion first, who we are in Christ, and how we can overcome this trap set for us. How can we learn to apply this to our lives practically and live it out every day? Discuss this with the group.

PREVIOUS WEEK
1. Read Psalm 91:1. David talks about living under the shadow of an almighty God. He was literally faced with hiding from His enemies. How can we, in today’s time dwell in shelter under God’s care?

2. Read John 4:7-30. This passage talks about the Samaritan woman at the well. Before we come to the knowledge of Christ we are in darkness and often cannot see the state of our own sin, much like the Samaritan woman. Think of some people that you may know that are currently in this state. How can you, as a believer help to pull a person like this out of their state of darkness, when they don’t even know that they are in the dark? How can you, as a believer, begin to turn on the light?

3. Read Ephesians 2:1-3. Before we, as believers, could come out of darkness into the light, we had to acknowledge that we were sinners. Try to remember what your life was like before God shed light on your spiritual situation. How are you different today than you were before you acknowledged your sin?

4. Read Matthew 22:37 & Matthew 16:24-27. In order to live in the light, we read in these passages that we must surrender our lives so that we can reflect that light. How can we fully surrender to Christ? Discuss as a group how you live up to and fall short of complete surrender and what holds you back?

5. Read Ephesians 2:4-10. God doesn’t require perfection from us in order to receive His great love, in fact, he’s willing to take us just the way we are because of his grace. How can we communicate this to our friends and loved ones more effectively in order to help bring them into the light? We know that we could never be good enough to earn freedom from sin, but how can you use this passage of scripture to explain that it’s only through grace by faith and NOT by their good deeds that they can live in the light?