What keeps the world from spiraling out of control? Laws! From the laws of nature to the laws we create, the purpose of law is to help us live well in God’s good world. As we begin our series looking at different genres of the Bible, we start where the Bible starts. God gave a specific set of laws to the Jewish people to help them live in a unique way. We’ll see how the laws God gave them encouraged freedom, not legalism, and reflected God’s concern for all areas of life! And we’ll also see how, through Jesus, we can honor the principles of those laws by loving God and loving others!

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

Isaiah 54:10
“’For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you.”

Opening

Sometimes the world can seem chaotic. Events around us seem to not always make sense, which can lead us to worry that everything is meaningless at times. The good news is that God has given us a way to see how he has worked in the past with his people so we can see how he can work in the future. This comes through reading and studying the stories we find in the genre of “historical narratives”, which is found in the books of Joshua-Nehemiah. These books have stories that can teach us about the God’s mission to take care of his people, despite their faults. This genre can help us see God’s faithfulness and how he continued to use his people to bring about the good news of redeeming the earth. God is the main character and we are just pieces of his story.

Big Idea For The Week
Through the lens of story, we can see God’s grand narrative.

Connect

• What kind of stories have you heard that stuck with you the most? Why do you think this was such an effective way to communicate information?
• Who is the best storyteller you know? What makes them a good storyteller?
• Why do you think humans interpret themselves into stories that may not be about them? How could this practice be problematic?

Unpack

As a group, decide on one of the following stories to read. Think of it as a “choose your own adventure” game. Each one of these stories will be a longer section of verses than normally provided each week so take turns reading. Make observations along the way of what stands out to you as your group reads. After finishing the stories, discuss the questions provided.

Choose one of the following to read:

• Elijah and the Widow: 1 Kings 17
• The Fall of Jericho: Joshua 5:13-6:20 
• David and Bathsheba: 2 Samuel 11:1-12:15 
• King Hezekiah: 2 Chronicles 32:1-26

DISCUSS

• Summarize together what you have read. What happened?
• What are your first thoughts when you read this story? Share any observations you made.
• What do you think is the point of this story? What is the author trying to explain about God and his character?
• What is the author trying to communicate about how God works in the lives of his people? How can this story and what it communicates about God affect your life?
• How can this story point you to Jesus and his teachings?

Apply

Take a moment to discuss this section as a group to decide what your action steps for the week can be:

• What steps can you take to view your life as a part of God’s grand story this week?
• How can we continue to point ourselves to Jesus and his teachings as we live out the story of our lives?
• How can we encourage each other to live like Jesus over the course of this week?

Closing

The law was made to show people their need to rely on God and to worship him because of it. As we learn more together about this law given, we can see God’s goodness better because we know all it was fulfilled and summed up in the teachings of Jesus: Love God and Love People. Jesus then modeled what a life devoted to loving God and people looks like. This week let’s try to do our best to be actively taking steps to live like Jesus.

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: Psalm 103:2
• Day 2: Psalm 115:1
• Day 3: Exodus 15:2
• Day 4: Psalm 145:3
• Day 5: Ephesians 1:3
• Day 6: 1 Chronicles 16:34