The world seems to be falling apart all around us… and our personal struggles seem worse than ever. This doesn’t seem to be what God intended life to be like. In this second of our four-week series, IN THE BEGINNING, we’ll journey to the ancient Garden of Eden and discover how we are like Adam and Eve – crossing boundaries that lead to destruction, but thankfully, never outside God’s forgiving love.  

Groups Discussion Guide

To view the Leader Guide for this week, click here.

To view a .docx version of this guide, click here.

Introduction

Last week, we began the Story Project where we will be going through the overarching narrative story of the Bible for about a year and a half; to do this we started at the most logical place to do so: the beginning! The Bible’s begins with the story of God creating the world. The main idea we took from this story in order to apply to our lives was that we can celebrate God’s goodness in the Creation story.   

Start this week’s discussion by explaining what action steps you decided to take since last week. How are you doing with them? 

After your time of connecting, begin your meeting with prayer.  

Key Verse for the Week  

*Read this verse, then encourage the practice of memorization through the week. 

Psalm 25:4 

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.” 

**When practiced consistently, memorizing Bible verses can be an important spiritual practice that centers your mind around the truth that God has given us. 

Connect  

• If something you have breaks, would you rather fix it or get a new one? What factors contribute to how much effort you put into this choice? 
• Are you someone who likes boundaries or someone who likes to cross them? What makes you feel this way?  

Opening Thought  

When we know there are lines of what we should and shouldn’t do and cross them, it can be easy to justify and rationalize our reasons for doing so. While we can sometimes want to believe everything is alright in these situations, we also have an innate understanding that there is something wrong with the situation as well. This is where God tries to meet us to not only see what the results of our actions are but to trust him to move past them. This is one way we learn to follow God better, by moving from sin and shame to his forgiveness and life with him.  

This leads us to our big idea for this week:  

Big idea for the week
Even in this broken world, we can experience a
life-giving connection to God. 

Unpack 

To be able to know the story of God, we have to read the story! This week, we will be unpacking the story of how sin came into the world sequentially. Read each set of verses as a group then discuss the connected questions before moving on.  

**Context: Immediately before the verses you are about to read, God has placed humans in a Garden called Eden where they had everything they needed to live, there was no sin or shame, and they were safe. God said that they can enjoy everything in the garden except for the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  

Read 

Genesis 3:1-6 

Unpack 

• Why do you think God put boundaries in place around what the man and woman were allowed to do in the garden? 
  • What do you think the serpent is supposed to represent to the reader?  
    • If you feel comfortable sharing, what in your life is the thing that usually tempts you to disobey God? What boundary is hardest to resist for you?

Read 

Genesis 3:7-13 

Unpack 

• Why did the man and woman hide after eating the fruit? Why is this significant in the story? 
  • Have you had a moment of realization like this in your life? How did this change you?  
• How often do you take personal responsibility when you have done something wrong? How do you react when you know you’ve done wrong?
  • What do you think God wants us to do in these times? 

Read 

Genesis 3:14-24 

Unpack 

• How do you feel about the consequences God gave the man, woman, and serpent? Were they too harsh? 
• Why do you think God gave the man and woman clothing in verse 21?  
  • When was a time you deserved greater consequences for something you did wrong, but were shown compassion and mercy instead? 
• What does this section of verses show the reader about God and his character? 

Apply 

Based on the verses we just read, there are some things that we can do in response. Take a moment to discuss these questions as a group to decide what your personal action steps for the week can be: 

• How will you thank God for the good boundaries that God has put in your life this summer? 
• What is one way that you will try to turn from sin to experience God’s forgiveness this summer? 
• How will we as a group do our best to hold each other accountable in these action steps?  
• What is one way we will each be diligent to continue to be a part of learning the story of God during the summer break from life groups? 

Closing 

Read the first section to your group, then read the verse out loud to the group, and finally, move to the Prayer and Verses section: 

Despite our tendency to try to cross the healthy boundaries that God has given to us for our own protection, he still loves us and forgives us when we do. This doesn’t mean God wants it this way; he invites us instead to follow his guidance, choosing him rather than sinning because sin only leads to death and destruction of our bodies, minds, and soul. This week, as you go through each day, choose to accept his goodness, forgiveness, and invitation to life with him. This will allow you to have, as Jesus said in the book of John, “a rich and satisfying life”.  

Prayer and Verses 

Ask for prayer requests and conclude your time with prayer then share the Key Verse for the Week and Daily Devotional Verses with the group. 

Daily Devotional Verses  

Use the S.O.A.P. method to reflect on the verses below. 

Scripture: Read the verses several times. Reading out loud can be helpful as well. 
Observation: What can you see about the scripture you read? 
Application: What is God wanting you to believe, do, or feel, based on what you have read? 
Prayer: This is a chance to talk to God about what you have read and ask him for help in living out what you’ve learned. 

Day 1: Colossians 3:2 

Day 2: Proverbs 14:27 

Day 3: Genesis 2 

Day 4: Genesis 3 

Day 5: Genesis 4 

Day 6: Genesis 5 

Key Verse for the Week 

Psalm 25:4 

“Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow.”