Inside Out
Goals for this Week’s Study:
Review Sunday Morning’s Message.
- Help group members better understand how what’s in us will come out of us.
Getting Started:
Open your group with prayer.
SHARE: Has there ever been a time where you seemed calm, cool, and collected on the outside but the exact opposite on the inside? Tell us about it.
Scripture
Matthew 12:33-37 (ESV)
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matt 23:27-28 (NLT)
27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
“Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.”
Acts 15:25-26 (NLT)
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!
Recap
Pastor Trevor talked about how our level of gratitude will be determined by our level of grace, and how we have to stop living our lives as white washed tombs and start living our lives as tombs washed white! He had three points that can help us:
1. What’s in you will come out of you
2. Change your input, Change your output
3. If you know what’s in you, you can get through what’s around you
Study Questions:
1. The Pharisees thought that cleaning up the outer man would take care of the inner man. What’s wrong with this idea and how can we practice cleaning up the inside first?
2. What does it truly mean to guard your heart? (Proverbs 4:23)
3. Why do you think initially guarding your heart may not rank as high as other things on a ranking of spiritual disciplines (worship, prayer, Bible study, etc.)?
4. Pastor Trevor used the analogy of the jar and rocks/dirt to cover up God’s grace in our heart. What is one thing you can do this week to allow God’s grace to become the abundance of our hearts?
5. Is there any way your group can help you with anything?
Final Thoughts:
1. The Gospel is not about how much you can do but how much has already been done!
2. Although guarding your heart may not always be the first thing on our list of spiritual disciplines, we don’t need to feel bad about it!
3. Out of the ABUNDANCE of the heart, the mouth speaks. What if you were the abundance that someone else needs?
PRAY over your group at the end! Pray that the abundance of our heart will be grace and unconditional love rather than pride, insecurity, or things that steal our gratitude.