1 John Study Questions Week #11
Fruits of Faithful Abiding
1 John 5:13-17
INTRODUCTION: One of the clear realities in John’s mind about the Christian life is that of a responsibility to love other Christian brothers and sisters. What is a tangible way to love our brothers and sisters in the faith? Pray for them. Prayer is not a secondary or lesser option to action. Prayer, bold prayer, expectant prayer is to be a primary response of a faithful Christian. Why is prayer to be a primary and powerful response? Because confidence in God is a normal posture for a Christian.
GETTING STARTED – Share about a time in your life that God answered your prayers in unexpected ways. This could be a time that He did something different than you expected or even asked for but then realized that His answer was better than your request. Or, it could be a time that He answered with unexpected abundance. How has answered prayer built and reaffirmed your confidence in God?
IN THE WORD – Let’s dig back into the passage. It is important to strengthen our muscles in reading God’s Word. On Sunday, we walked through the passage in the sermon. Hopefully, that helped you to see the landmarks of the passage with fresh eyes. Now, with your group, go back through it and see what God is saying to you specifically.
First, before you read the passage, take a moment to ask God’s Spirit to quiet your mind and heart and to illuminate the text to you. Second, read the passage aloud to the group. Then, follow the simple method below. (O.P.A)
Observe: Make 8-10 observations from the passage. Pay close attention to observe and note repeated words and phrases, names, places, and themes.
Principles: From your list of observations, what patterns or big ideas do you see emerging? Can you distill it down into 2-4 big idea truths?
Apply: Moving from your list of principles, it is time to apply God’s Word. Remember, we believe that God’s Word is living and active and that it can change the way we live Monday- Friday. What is one tangible way to apply a truth from your list above?