Discussion Guide
Week 2 • April 21/22, 2012 • The Courage to Start Over (Bob Merritt)
INTRODUCTION Learn the story of Rahab in Joshua 2, Joshua 6:22-23, Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25. The choices we make today will affect our lives in the future, but they don’t need to define who we are. In Galatians 6:7-8, we are told that we will “harvest” the results of what our decisions have “planted.” The story of Rahab shows that God is just waiting for people to courageously choose his ways and become the people he designed us to be.
Discussion questions 1. Bob stated that the first reason we should make courageous choices to start over is because God made us to “be more.” Read Ephesians 2:10. Did God create us for a purpose? What is that purpose? What do you think that means? Read Romans 8:29, Romans 12:6-8 and Ephesians 2:6-7. Discuss how this should cause us to live as believers. 2. Read James 2. How was Rahab shown to be “righteous” (right with God)? Read Matthew 7:16-21, Romans 12:33-37, and James 3:13. Since we are created to do “good works,” and “produce good fruit,” discuss how your lifestyle produces good fruit for others and yourself, and how you can improve in this area. 3. Rahab made choices which defined her to the world as a “harlot” or “prostitute.” Her story shows how faith and actions work together to make us right with God (James 2:22). Are there decisions in your past that still mark you today? Read the following verses and talk about the hope God brings for restoration: Psalm 71:20-21, Ezekiel 34:16, Jeremiah 30:17, Psalm 80:3, Isaiah 43:18-19, 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, 1 Peter 5:10. 4. Bob said that “Others need you to be more than you are,” and he asked “Who is counting on you to be more than you are?” Rahab’s choices effected her family deeply because it saved their lives. Who is directly counting on you to become the man or woman Christ called you to be? Who are some of the more obscure people counting on you? 5. Read 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, Luke 16:9, John 13:34, and 1 John 4:14-17. What can you do as a small group, family, or circle of friends to live out these commands? Being othersfocused is hard. Tell a story about the most generous, self-less, and “others-focused” person you have ever met. What is the fruit in their life? 6. This message, “The Courage to Start Over,” encourages us to take hold of our future by making bold decisions because of two reasons: God made us for a higher purpose; and others are depending on us. In 1 Corinthians 13:1, we are shown that nothing matters without love. What part of your life needs a courageous change so that it will be “marked by love”?
think about it God is waiting to forgive us of any sin, he just wants us to confess it, and turn from it (1 John 1:9). So make courageous choices to start over, make your relationship with God your top priority, and work hard to “do good” (Matthew 6:33).
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