DECISIONS, First Cut

By the time you read this, the number of decisions you will have made about everything from how much longer to cook your PopTart, to whether to roll through a stop sign, to how much you're going to say about a person not in the room to whether to leave your Christmas tree up one more day numbers in the thousands. No wonder you're tired.

Use this study time to help your group members understand that that living in an interactive relationship with the Spirit of God has everything to do with submitting to Him not just our decisions, but the way we come to our decisions. To tune ourselves in the the "first voice" of our loving Father and to learn how to use and hear the "second voice" differently. What may seem like a daunting mental task at first can actually be kind of fun, when done in the context of a group that wants to take seriously Paul's challenge to be transformed by the renewing of our thinking (Romans 12:2)!

Thaw

Have fun with this decision tree.

• What's one small and one big decision you are facing right now?
• What most stuck with you from the message Sunday?
• What difficulties do you think the message presents?
• How do you suspect it will help you grow?

Read

• John 10:-1-6
• Thoughts?
• What does it mean to hear the voice of Christ?
• What limits or skepticism do we bring to this passage?

Discuss

• In the context of a group of people dedicated to pursuing Christ and each other, there are a few ways to determine if, through prayer, the voice of God is speaking into a decision.

• Read each of the three points, and discuss:

1. God's voice carries the weight of authority. God will never argue or try to convince. He will simply speak.
2. God's voice is consistent with the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus, being God in flesh, never guilts people into things, manipulates, hurries with anxiety or coerces with threats of painful punishment. He invites, with peace, us into the best life imaginable.
3. God's voice will not contradict scripture. The impulse to take action, no matter how seemingly justified, that's in direct opposition to the whole of scripture (not just one or two choice passages) is not from God.

Leader note: Make sure and provide a distinction, if necessary, between the "the scriptures" and "our interpretation" thereof. Many times God is asking us to do something that goes against what we always thought was in the Bible. This is a slippery slope for some- so put on your cleats and make sure the group understands that the Bible being contradicted is far different than our interpretation of it being contradicted. The latter happens everyday! Thus, the DIRE need for decisions to be made in the counsel of trusted friends and within a spiritual community.

Read

• Proverb 3:5-6
• Thoughts?

Leader note: You may want to challenge the group to commit this one to memory!

• What does this passage have to do with tuning into the "first voice"?

Apply

• The decisions that you mentioned earlier: what does the second voice of fear and survival have to say about them?
• Using the decision you are facing, what is the difference between the second voice of self-preservation and the first voice of God's Spirit?

Leader note: Very important: The second, internal, noisy voice of self-preservation sometimes makes us want to not risk anything so as to protect ourselves and our interests, OR risk everything so as to really excel beyond the competition. This voice is about me- me doing too little, or me doing too much. Either way, the point is me. But, the first voice of God may also be about excelling or restraint- but it's based on an eternal Kingdom perspective. Rather than just my own well-managed fears, it includes other people's welfare, my best future, the effect the decision will have on the community, the office, the church. The two voices are in opposition not because one is about deciding to do things and the other is about deciding to not. The two voices are about my own fears being the master, or God being the master. Be sure and help your members understand that it's more than right or wrong (we'll discuss wisdom next week). It's more robust a thought than "the second voice wants to date her, but the first voice says no". It would sound more like "the second voice wants to date her because I don't want to be alone any more and though I don't think she shares my desire for a kingdom life, she's pretty and paying attention to me. Yet, the first voice of God may be saying that my singleness is important right now even though I fear it. My singleness may be key for me and the Kingdom, and I wouldn't ultimately want to use this girl to feel better about myself. I wonder what my friends and time spent listening will show me...". You can see the difference, and apply this thinking to money, the way we speak and respond, how we lean into loving family, forgiving, what we eat, when we rest, etc, etc.

• How can this group be helpful with your current decisions?
• How can the group be helpful outside of group time?
• Are there one or two decisions shared by an individual/couple that can be put up as "listening projects" for the entire group to help with?

Close

• Close quietly in prayer, having the group's shared decisions in mind.