Sermon-Based Small Group Lessons

When God Gets Personal with My Stuff:

Barns & More Barnes

Dr. Les Hughes

March 15, 2009

 

 

Announcement: Life Journals

We’re encouraging every single person to get a Life Journal. It is a notebook that contains a daily bible reading schedule along with sections for message notes and things God is teaching you.  This is a tool to help you make your spiritual growth personal.  You’ll have a record of what God says to you. Life Journals cost just $5.00 and will be available next Sunday, March 22.

 

 

Summary: Life-Changing Lessons

 

            1. 

 

            2.

 

 

Scripture

 

Luke 12:13-21

The Parable of the Rich Fool

 13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

 16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

 20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

 21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Question

 

What is the worst case of struggling over an inheritance that you’ve ever heard?

 

Has your family experienced any turmoil over inheritance?

 

 

Digging for Truth

 

1.  Read the scripture above.  What is a modern day equivalent to this man’s position that would be relevant to your life? 

 

2.  In what ways is life like a monopoly game in regard to finances?  (When the game is over, the stuff isn’t really ours anyway.)

 

3.  Les explained that God has designed a simple plan for funding His work on earth, and that plan is that believers give a tenth of what they earn to His work.  How does considering that it really doesn’t belong to us anyway help us turn lose of it for God’s work?

 

            Our giving also indicates where our hearts are.  Jesus said, “Where you treasure is, there will your heart be also”.

 

4.  One of the lies that we are told is that faster is better.  The media tells us “more and more, faster and faster.” That is the message of advertisers. 

 

            1 Timothy 6:6  “But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 

            a.  How can we practice this truth in our lives? 

            b.  What are the benefits of being content with less?

 

5.  Normally, more is never enough if we’re depending on stuff to fill some void in our lives.  Have you ever found that to be true in your life?  Why is it that we are like that?

 

6.  Les shared that a good starting place for us is to realize “It could be worse.”  That makes us thankful for what we have and where we are in life.  If any of you have been out of the country, particularly on a mission trip, tell what life is like in another country.  Do the people seem content there?

 

7.  Here are some practical tips to apply the principle of contentment.  Listen for which one you most need to work on:

            a.  Slow down.

            b.  Express thanks to God.

            c.  Give some stuff away.

            d.  Practice contentment.

 

8.  How does knowing that life passes by very quickly help us to focus on the most important things?  What are the most important things in life?

 

 

Closing Thought

 

 

What can I do this week to begin to work on contentment?