Be Rich: Protecting your Wealth
I Timothy 6:17-19
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Discuss how resolutions made last week in “growing more like Jesus” worked themselves out— what did God do in and through you (Phil 2:13)? Celebrate those together!
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Read:
Review: Remind the group of the focus of this series:
o This series is focused on stewardship and the mindset/habits/perspective that Scripture calls us to have toward finances.
o We first looked at awareness of how God has blessed us (to whatever degree), and the following week we looked at trust (locating our trust in God, not stuff/money, power, etc) and ‘maximizing our margins’ (being rich in good deeds).
o The focal passage is in Timothy, and this past week we looked at how time and eternity affect our being “rich toward God”.
Read the passage together: I Timothy 6:17-19
Reflect:
Discuss the statement from the message this weekend, “If we will begin to view our wealth through the lens of eternity, we will begin to loosen our grip on our wealth…and our wealth will begin to loosen its grip on US.”:
o What does “lens of eternity” refer to? (I Timothy 6:6-7, Matt 10:37-39, Mark 10:29-30, John 6:27, Col 3:23-24)
o What does it mean to loosen our grip on wealth so it loosens it’s grip on us? (John 12:24-25, 1 Cor 9:24-27, Matt 6:19-21)
Read Luke 12:15-21. Discuss this passage.
o Greed is an appetite that lies to us about what life is all about. Why does that lie have so much power?
o Is there a connection here between “Storing more and more excess”, “Take life easy” and God’s statement, “You fool”? If so, how would you explain the connection to a 12 year-old?
o Is this story saying we should not save for retirement, kids college fees, etc.? Discuss the priorities Jesus is talking about here.
Pastor Scott made the statement, “If we are not rich toward God, we run the risk of TOTAL loss… the only way to protect your wealth is to invest it in the life to come”..
o Why does it make sense NOW to be “rich toward God”? (Acts 2:44-47; 2 Cor 5:6-9, 14-16)
o What does the fact of our ETERNITY add to our rationale of being “rich toward God”? (Luke 12:33, I Timothy 6:19, 1 Peter 1:13-15)
Respond: (Divide the group into pairs)
o The Final verse of our message this weekend was, “In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” 1 Timothy 6:19
Pray together for the life of God, which is truly life.
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