Take Back Your Life | Week 1
Series Big Idea: This Series will help you recognize what’s holding you back and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself.
Discussion Guide 1
This is Your Wakeup Call!
Sermon Big Idea: What are you doing with what you have been given?
Opening:
One of the best things about being a kid and the worst about an adult is responsibility.
When was the first time you discovered you were responsible for something?
How is responsibility viewed in society today? Does the view change the value or weight of responsibility?
Read: 1 Kings 20: 39-40
As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Sir, I was in the thick of battle, and suddenly a man brought me a prisoner. He said, ‘Guard this man; if for any reason he gets away, you will either die or pay a fine of seventy-five pounds[c] of silver!’ But while I was busy doing something else, the prisoner disappeared!” “Well, it’s your own fault,” the king replied. “You have brought the judgment on yourself.”
Discuss:
This story has a lot of twist and turn that really aren’t relevant to our discussion.
However, when we insert ourselves into the story as the soldier what are some truths we can gleam?
Read Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of our lives.
What was the soldiers excuse for allowing the prisoner to escape?
Distractions are everywhere.
What are some of the things that tend to distract you away from focusing on what matters most?
Have you ever noticed that the trap of busyness is something you are never looking for but it always finds you?
How does that lack of focus affect your life and relationships?
According to the message who are we most responsible to guard?
Read Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
If we are to guard our hearts, what are some threats we trying to keep out?
Should our focus be keeping things out or keeping our hearts full?
How do we keep our hearts full?
What are some specific thing you and I can do to guard ourselves from the things that have taken our lives away from us?
Matthew 6:33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
To take back our lives we must take back responsibility of protecting our hearts. That means we open ourselves to God’s working in our lives and set boundaries on those things that would distract us from our purpose.
NextStep: Pray that God will show you things that have snuck into your life and taken you captive. Ask him to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to center your focus on Him keep you teachable and strength to guard your heart to protect you from those threats to your heart.