~Open in prayer~
Icebreaker
• Do you enjoy life group?
• Do you feel like you’re growing in this season?
• What is a pet peeve that you secretly have?
Message Review
You are not a product of your mom and dad or your family life. You are a product of decisions that were made, and they usually come from a mindset. First, we adopt a mind set and out of that mind set we have our value systems and there we make our decisions and decisions determine future outcomes.
Psalm 19:12-14
12 Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.
Let’s Talk About It!
It is human nature to find what we love, and it usually has something to do with your strength. Armies will study each other, and they study the place of weakness and that is the place where they will send their assault. Jesus was tempted with food after he had been fasting for 40 days! We usually are blind to our weakness; Pastor Ron says it’s difficult to see your own stink. It’s easy to see things on others but you do not see it in your own life. Presumptuous sins, to presume an assume that things are true that are not. there are times when we do not want to listen to correction from someone with wisdom. We do not want to face our weaknesses, and this leaves an open door for the enemy to come in. Where we are weak, God wants to show that He is strong. Are there things that you need to expose so that the Lord can help you?
Proverbs 28:13
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and
forsakes them will have mercy.
He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. There is a great cover up and until we deal with it, we will not be able to get the breakthrough. The enemy knows that as long he can keep using the place where you are weak. WE are not to hide our weakness from God but run to God with it. If we acknowledge that weakness exists, we will confess it to God and turn away from it, God will show mercy on you.
Do you have a time you can share when you confessed your sin and God showed you mercy?
Proverbs 7:1-5
1 My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your nearest kin,
5 That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words.
Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge and understanding is the ability to fully possess something. Understanding is knowing what information you are standing under. Do you know when you need to seek wisdom? From God’s word, from the Holy Spirit or from godly counsel? Do you do it when you know you should?
Proverbs 7:21-26
21 With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.
24 Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
26 For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
Man was created in the image of God. God must be praised and men that were made in God’s image is weakened and vulnerable by compliments. Examine the places in your life that you don’t like to examine. Take inventory of the places that you hide and things that you struggle with privately is it able to sabotage the future that God has for you publicly.
Hebrews 12:1 -2
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the [a]author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Every weight is not a sin, but every sin is most definitely a weight. You cannot run with weight on you. God knows that we can shed 99 quickly but then there’s that one and it’s the one that always entangles you. We sometimes do not know what we used to entertain us was used to bind us.
1John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The world is not defined as possessions but three fleshly motivations (Iust of the eye, lust of the flesh & Pride of life). Worldliness is what drives your decisions. Discuss a time in life when worldly desires drove your decisions and what was the outcome?
Prayer Focus and Requests
Ask your members if they have any prayer requests or praise reports. Encourage one another to seek the Lord and allow Him to search your hearts. Is there hidden sin or struggles that you have not given to God? He’s waiting with open arms to take it from you. HE’S A GOOD FATHER!