One of the most pivotal acts of faith construction is learning to ask great questions. Questions engage our curiosity, help us find truth, and put us in the humble and important role of a learner. But are there questions that are too dangerous to ask God, or questions that are off limits? How does God feel about us when we ask the questions that are truly on our heart? This week we’ll explore how approaching faith with honest questions can help us experience God in incredible ways!

Group Discussion Guide

To see the leader guide for this week CLICK HERE

Introduction

Spend a few minutes discussing with your group how their application of last week’s group discussion went. What were the highs and lows of their last week?

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

Key Verse

Psalm 33:22 
“Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.”

Opening

Building our faith should be done by following Jesus. How we do that is through looking at what we read in the Bible and making sure to refocus our beliefs to be line with how Jesus calls us to live. Sometimes we don’t know where to start or what is and is not true. However, one of the best ways for people to learn is by asking questions and being curious about what the answers to those questions mean in your life. You might be under the impression that it is wrong to question different parts of your faith, but the truth is that God can handle your questions! In fact, part of the journey of constructing your faith is thinking through which pieces of your faith are healthy and unhealthy. God wants to use your questions to mold you into who he wants you to be!

Big idea for the week: We can build our faith by thinking, reasoning, and exploring.

Connect

• What is your typical response when you don’t understand something?
• How do you respond when someone asks you a tough question or challenges you about something you believe?
• What level of importance have you placed on personally learning about your faith?

Unpack

Go around your group and have someone read each of the following verses, then discuss the connected questions.

READ

• James 1:5-6
• 2 Corinthians 13:5
• Philippians 4:6-7
• 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21 

DISCUSS

• How should we approach curiosity about the various subjects of our faith?
• What mindset should you have as you approach exploring what you believe about your faith?
• Why is it beneficial to ask questions about what we don’t understand in our faith?
• What causes us to be nervous about asking tough questions about what we believe?
• In what ways can you test your beliefs according to the teachings of Jesus?

On Sunday, Alex spoke about how faith can be thought of in the shape of a 3-ringed bullseye when deciding how firm we should defend our beliefs. According to this bullseye diagram, the center should be our deepest held beliefs that we should be willing to “die for”, the middle ring should be what we “defend”, and the outside ring should be simply “discussed”.

DISCUSS

• How can this tool be helpful when you have questions about your faith that you don’t fully understand?
• How can we use wisdom in assigning our beliefs to where they belong in this diagram?

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 in order to determine what your personal action steps for the week can be:

• If you are comfortable sharing, what questions do you have about faith?
• What steps could we take as a group to make this a comfortable place to ask tough questions?
• What person could you meet up with this week to discuss your top five questions you have about faith?

Closing

As we build our faith on Jesus and his teachings, we need to feel free to be curious about what we learn. Part of how we can be curious is to go through this growth journey together with other believers. The wonderful thing is that you have a community of people around you right now to go through this process of being curious in the way you construct your faith. Let’s lean on each other to get the most out of this experience together!

Daily Bible Reading

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

Scripture: Read the verses several times out loud.
Observation: As you read the scripture what do you observe.
Application: What is God wanting you to believe, do or feel based on what you have read?
Pray: 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: Psalms 25:4-5
• Day 2: Psalms 32:8
• Day 3: Psalms 131:1-2
• Day 4: 1 Corinthians 16:11
• Day 5: Proverbs 3:5-6
• Day 6: John 14:21