Week 5
Sermon Discussion Guide Good Seed
Grow Series October 13, 2019
John 15:1-5 NIV
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
This series is designed to help you learn a clear, simple, Biblical plan for spiritual growth in your life. This message today centers on the important process of watering the seed. Watering is accomplished in various ways but is necessary for growth.
Open your group with a prayer. This is only a guide – select the points you want to discuss.
John 15:1-2a NIV
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
John 15:2b NIV
…while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
John 15:2b NIV
…while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
Isaiah 40:31 KJV
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Hebrews 12:1 KJV
12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin, which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
1 Corinthians 10:23
23 All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.
1. Have you experienced both growing seasons and pruning seasons?
2. Can you see God’s purpose in your pruning season?
3. How has pruning been a process in your life?
4. Do you trust God as the master gardener in your life?
5. What are your thoughts about the only way to go from fruit to more fruit is by pruning?
Diving Deeper (optional)
1. Discuss any additional Scripture that you may have thought of related to this idea of pruning.
2. Share any personal decisions you may have made in response to this message.
Sermon Discussion Guide Leader Notes
Suggestions for This Week’s Study
· Talk about how God has been a master gardener in your life.
· Discuss how pruning has been beneficial in your life.
· Were you able to sense God’s nearness in your pruning season?
· How did God’s Word help you during your season of pruning?
Preparing to Lead Your Group
- Pray for insight as you begin to prepare for leading your group. Ask for God’s wisdom, that the Holy Spirit will be the teacher and that you will be God’s instrument to lead the group to greater understanding and a willingness to commit to becoming more like God. Prayer should be your primary source of personal preparation for leading your group.
- Plan where you want to take your group in the next 6 weeks. Is your group strong in some areas and weak in others? How can you challenge the members to live more balanced Christian lives? Consider God’s five purposes for the church: Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, Mission and Worship, and make a plan to encourage your group members to growth and commitment in their weak areas.
- Ponder your progress after each session and at the end of a series. Reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Re-evaluation is key to your growth as a leader. Consider whether your plan is being effective in moving the group to greater understanding and commitment. How are you doing with leading the discussion: is it stimulating, challenging, and meaningful? Are you able to keep the group on track? Do you need to make some changes?
Using This Sermon Discussion Guide
- Talk It Over is a tool to aid you in meeting the needs of your group. We’ve designed it so it can be completed easily within 30-45 minutes. As the discussion leader, you should preview and evaluate the questions based on the needs of your group. Decide in advance what is most important to focus on, should time not allow for the entire lesson.
- Feel free to adapt the format to meet the needs of your group. If your group is mature and wants to dig deeper, consider using the Diving Deeper section or add additional Scripture and ask suitable questions. Remember that this is only a guide.
- The questions are designed to be helpful in developing Bible literacy and spiritual maturity in our lives. You can help your group be aware of their needs in these areas by using these questions as a regular part of each discussion.
- Personal applications are essential for growth and should be included in every discussion. When discussing how they will apply principles, group members may state very general goals such as “I need to spend more time in prayer.” It is important for you to help people make goals that are very specific and commit to specific plans of action by asking, for example, “How are you going to begin?” An example is to get up 25 minutes earlier each morning, spending 15 minutes reading the Bible and 10 minutes in prayer. Encourage each group member to be accountable to the group for personal progress at the next meeting.
- Your goal as the leader is to bring the group into a stimulating discussion that helps the members recognize their needs for personal life change. Ultimately you want them to be willing to commit to change with accountability to the group. Accountability helps us to persevere in our commitments and achieve the blessings of success.
- Pray daily for your group by name.
Week Four
Sermon Discussion Guide Good Seed
Grow Series October 6, 2019
1 Corinthians 3:7 NLT
“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed
grow.”
This series is designed to help you learn a clear, simple, Biblical plan for spiritual growth in your life. This message today centers on the important process of watering the seed. Watering is accomplished in various ways but is necessary for growth.
OPEN YOUR GROUP WITH A PRAYER. THIS IS ONLY A GUIDE – SELECT THE POINTS YOU WANT TO DISCUSS.
1 Corinthians 3:4-8 NLT
4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose.
Do you agree that it is God’s plan for you to grow? To have increase?
Discuss why being planted is destiny concealed. Why increase is destiny revealed.
How does planting look similar to burying? Why is watering the distinction between the two?
How does God use the things we go through to water us?
James 1:2-3
2 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
5. How has God used your tears to water your destiny?
Diving Deeper (optional)
Discuss any additional Scripture that you may have thought of related to this idea of watering.
Share any personal decisions you may have made in response to this message.
Sermon Discussion Guide Leader Notes
Suggestions for This Week’s Study
Talk about how God was growing Elisha as he poured water on the hands of Elijah. Discuss how serving is a form of watering.
How has God used the principle of watering to grow your life?
Share how God has used circumstances in your past to grow you for your future.
• • • •
Preparing to Lead Your Group
✓ PRAY for insight as you begin to prepare for leading your group. Ask for God’s wisdom, that the Holy Spirit will be the teacher and that you will be God’s instrument to lead the group to greater understanding and a willingness to commit to becoming more like God. Prayer should be your primary source of personal preparation for leading your group.
✓ PLAN where you want to take your group in the next 6 weeks. Is your group strong in some areas and weak in others? How can you challenge the members to live more balanced Christian lives? Consider God’s five purposes for the church: Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, Mission and Worship, and make a plan to encourage your group members to growth and commitment in their weak areas.
✓ PONDER YOUR PROGRESS after each session and at the end of a series. Reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Re-evaluation is key to your growth as a leader. Consider whether your plan is being effective in moving the group to greater understanding and commitment. How are you doing with leading the discussion: is it stimulating, challenging, and meaningful? Are you able to keep the group on track? Do you need to make some changes?
Using This Sermon Discussion Guide
➢ Talk It Over is a tool to aid you in meeting the needs of your group. We’ve designed it so it can be completed easily within 30-45 minutes. As the discussion leader, you should preview and evaluate the questions based on the needs of your group. Decide in advance what is most important to focus on, should time not allow for the entire lesson.
➢ Feel free to adapt the format to meet the needs of your group. If your group is mature and wants to dig deeper, consider using the Diving Deeper section or add additional Scripture and ask suitable questions. Remember that this is only a guide.
➢ The questions are designed to be helpful in developing Bible literacy and spiritual maturity in our lives. You can help your group be aware of their needs in these areas by using these questions as a regular part of each discussion.
➢ Personal applications are essential for growth and should be included in every discussion. When discussing how they will apply principles, group members may state very general goals such as “I need to spend more time in prayer.” It is important for you to help people make goals that are very specific and commit to specific plans of action by asking, for example, “How are you going to begin?” An example is to get up 25 minutes earlier each morning, spending 15 minutes reading the Bible and 10 minutes in prayer. Encourage each group member to be accountable to the group for personal progress at the next meeting.
➢ Your goal as the leader is to bring the group into a stimulating discussion that helps the members recognize their needs for personal life change. Ultimately you want them to be willing to commit to change with accountability to the group. Accountability helps us to persevere in our commitments and achieve the blessings of success.
➢ Pray daily for your group by name.
Week Two
According to Genesis 8:22
We see that God established the law of seed, time, and harvest.
Genesis 8:22 New International Version (NIV) 22
“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”
In what ways do you see the law of seed, time, and harvest demonstrated in our lives?
We discussed how we can easily measure physical progress, but measuring spiritual growth can be a bit nebulous. What are some indicators in our spiritual life that we are growing?
In today’s message I talked about how we often go to sleep on a bed of answered prayers. We often ask God to answer our prayers in harvest form and often times he answers our needs with seeds. (We often ask for oak trees and God gives us acorns). Discuss some ways that God has answered your biggest prayers in “seed” form.
Today we said that the potential of a seed can only be seen if we “put it in the ground”, and let the dirt do its work. Mark 4:32 says “yet when planted it grows”. Discuss ways that staying planted encourages spiritual growth.
Week One
1 Corinthians 3:7 NLT
“It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.”
This series is designed to help you learn a clear, simple, Biblical plan for spiritual growth in your life. This message today centers on casting good seed in order to produce a good crop of blessing in your life. Good growth comes from good seed.
Open your group with a prayer. This is only a guide – select the points you want to discuss.
1 Corinthians 3:1-7 NLT
“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.”
1. What are some of the indications of immaturity from the scripture above? Why is maturity important? What is our part in the growth process?
Ephesians 4:13
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
2. Christian maturity is measured by the stature of Christ. What does that mean? Describe how that looks in a person’s life.
Genesis 1:26 ESV
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…”
3. How many times have you heard the expression, “Under the circumstances…” What are some of the “circumstances” people live under? Discuss what it means to “have dominion”.
Matthew 13:24-25 NIV
“Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.”
4. How does the enemy work against us to choke out our good seed? What are his tactics? What are some of the weeds?
Matthew 13:26 NIV
“When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.”
5. How do we tell good seed from bad seed? What habits do we need to develop to be able to tell the difference and grow to maturity?
Diving Deeper (optional)
1. Discuss any additional Scripture that you may have thought of related to this idea of good seed.
2. Share any personal decisions you may have made in response to this message.
Sermon Discussion Guide Leader Notes
Suggestions for This Week’s Study
· Talk about growth being inevitable and maturity being optional.
· Discuss how responsibility opens the door to authority.
· What crops are you reaping that you want to change? How are you going to do that?
· What commitments are you making in order to grow?
Preparing to Lead Your Group
√ Pray for insight as you begin to prepare for leading your group. Ask for God’s wisdom, that the Holy Spirit will be the teacher and that you will be God’s instrument to lead the group to greater understanding and a willingness to commit to becoming more like God. Prayer should be your primary source of personal preparation for leading your group.
√ Plan where you want to take your group in the next 6 weeks. Is your group strong in some areas and weak in others? How can you challenge the members to live more balanced Christian lives? Consider God’s five purposes for the church: Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, Mission and Worship, and make a plan to encourage your group members to growth and commitment in their weak areas.
√ Ponder your progress after each session and at the end of a series. Reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Re-evaluation is key to your growth as a leader. Consider whether your plan is being effective in moving the group to greater understanding and commitment. How are you doing with leading the discussion: is it stimulating, challenging, and meaningful? Are you able to keep the group on track? Do you need to make some changes?
Using This Sermon Discussion Guide
-> Talk It Over is a tool to aid you in meeting the needs of your group. We’ve designed it so it can be completed easily within 30-45 minutes. As the discussion leader, you should preview and evaluate the questions based on the needs of your group. Decide in advance what is most important to focus on, should time not allow for the entire lesson.
-> Feel free to adapt the format to meet the needs of your group. If your group is mature and wants to dig deeper, consider using the Diving Deeper section or add additional Scripture and ask suitable questions. Remember that this is only a guide.
-> The questions are designed to be helpful in developing Bible literacy and spiritual maturity in our lives. You can help your group be aware of their needs in these areas by using these questions as a regular part of each discussion.
-> Personal applications are essential for growth and should be included in every discussion. When discussing how they will apply principles, group members may state very general goals such as “I need to spend more time in prayer.” It is important for you to help people make goals that are very specific and commit to specific plans of action by asking, for example, “How are you going to begin?” An example is to get up 25 minutes earlier each morning, spending 15 minutes reading the Bible and 10 minutes in prayer. Encourage each group member to be accountable to the group for personal progress at the next meeting.
-> Your goal as the leader is to bring the group into a stimulating discussion that helps the members recognize their needs for personal life change. Ultimately you want them to be willing to commit to change with accountability to the group. Accountability helps us to persevere in our commitments and achieve the blessings of success.
-> Pray daily for your group by name.