Habits of Grace//Hear His Voice (WORD)

Introduction

Do you want more grace in your life? Things like kindness, beauty, generosity, forgiveness? Author David Mathis explains that tapping into grace is like getting a refreshing drink of water. We can turn on the faucet, but we’re not the source of the water. Similarly, God has designed rhythms and habits of life that can connect us to the flow of His grace, but we’re not the source of the grace.

In Mathis's (very readable!) book “Habits of Grace,” he groups these practices/disciplines into three categories: Hear His Voice (Word), Have His Ear (prayer), and Belong to His Body (fellowship, or community). This week we will be exploring Hear His Voice (Word).

To get the most out of your group time, we invite you to look over the questions below and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group.

Ice Breaker Questions

Here are some possible ways to get a conversation started:

1. Would you rather only be able to whisper or only be able to shout?

2. Would you rather it be 10 degrees every day for the next month or 100 degrees every day?

Getting Started

1. Open up with some prayer, some possible prayer topics:

   • God would lead your time of discussion.

   • That this study would help our understanding of who God is and who we are in light of that.

   • We would have a rich love for His Word.

   • That His Word would bring joy and conviction to our lives.

2. Read 2 Tim. 3:19 and 2 Pet. 1:21
   

Discussion Questions

1. What do these two passages tell us about Scripture? How does this impact how we view Scripture? Is that different than how the world views Scripture?

2. On Sunday we talked about how a specific author wrote Scripture to specific people at a specific time. How does that impact how we should read Scripture? Does it change how we should approach it? What are some of the biases that we bring when we are reading the Bible? How do we combat them?

3. Read Psalm 1. What image does the writer give for someone who delights in the Law? Seeing that a person is like a tree planted by streams of water, what does that mean? What does it mean that he will bear fruit? How does that connect with what being in Scripture will be like for us?

4. A study was done in 2021 and revealed that 11% of Christians read their Bible daily and so there are many who struggle with being consistent in the Word. Why do you think people struggle being in the Word? If we are being honest, how do we do at spending time in Scripture? What stops us from spending the time?

5. There were many tools given on Sunday from reading aloud, to reading big, to reading repeatedly, etc. What tools did you find the most helpful? What tools do you use in your reading to help be consistent or help your overall time with the Word?

Closing Prayer

Prayer can often be somewhat of a weird time, and we understand it can be awkward to pray out loud, but as your group grows in comfortability ask people to pray out loud. Prayer is a very effective tool the Holy Spirit uses to draw our hearts closer to God. It is also a time you as a group can come together and come before the throne of God and make requests and just experience Him.

Some suggestions:

• Ask if there are any prayer requests.

• Pray that Jesus would use the week to reaffirm the truths discussed here.

• If time allows pray through Psalm 1.

Personal Spiritual Practice

This section is for anyone that wants some practical steps to try throughout their week. they are not required, but maybe a great way to reinforce what has been discussed during group. Maybe this could even be a way to check in either during the week or the next time you meet as a group.

Read Big: Often when reading Scripture, we read a chapter at a time and there is nothing wrong with that, but it can also cause us to miss the context of a book of the Bible. Much of the NT was written as letters to be read in one sitting and so this week it would be good to try that. You can pick any book you want, but some suggestion would be Philippians (~14 minutes), Ephesians (~20 minutes), or 1-3 John (~20 minutes).

Read Repeatedly: Take a passage like Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Ephesians 2, Psalm 1, or any other passage you like and read it every day this week. Try and note the different things you notice each day and what stood out in the beginning of the week and at the end. You can also expand this idea to a whole month and work through a book of the Bible.