Reality Check: Tested and Tried
James 1:1-12
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 God did in and through you (Phil. 2:13) Celebrate and thank God for those together and pray with those who experienced some “Lows” this week, for God’s encouragement for them.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
We are launching into a new series on the book of James! Our first section is looking at God’s presence in our lives in the midst of trials and temptations in James 1:1-12
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflect:
Describe a time when God gave you His joy in a situation that was ‘not fun’ at all. How did that feel, and how did it affect your perspective on the situation you were/are facing?
Read Ephesians 1:1-4
o What is the source of “joy” as James describes it here?
o Talk about the journey James is describing here: Testing > Perseverance > Maturity:
o Trials force us to find an anchor, a source for our faith— One that holds independent of the storms around us! Why does it take a trial/hardship/temptation to do that?
o We often talk about faith as the SOLUTION to our problems, not as a way to ENDURE a problem! How does this teaching deepen our understanding of faith and what God is doing in molding our faith?
o Scott said, “We have to care more about getting something FROM the trial than getting THROUGH the trial.” Talk about that— how does that help us endure/ mature?
Read James 1:5-8
o How does “wisdom” help us navigate a trial in the way James is calling for here— a way that produces maturity?
o Scott talked about trials forcing choices in life— share about a trial you have been through that led to a choice in your Christian Life (staying in a difficult relationship, choosing not to be dishonest in business, choosing to forgive…)
o James says that when we ask AND doubt, it is an evidence that we are “double minded” and “unstable in all our ways”. How is faith in God linked to stability in our approach to life?
Read James 1:9-12
o Scott brought out that trials “level the playing field— they hit all people whether rich or poor! At the same time, what they can rejoice in is distinct in this verse- talk about that: What’s the same and what’s different?
o Scott said, “There is a reward in the next life for those who persevere in this life.” How does ‘faith’ connect those two?
Respond:
o Our closing prayer: “God give me wisdom to see what you see so I will do as you say
and persevere in the trial that comes my way.” Spend some time praying that out in your own words, entrusting yourself to God in whatever trials/ temptations may come your way, asking Him to give you eyes to see what He sees!
____________________________________
Get more resources to go deeper through Commentaries and Bible Study helps HERE