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Group Guide

March 30th, 2025
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This Week's City 7:

6. Is the Bible God’s Word? Jesus proved He is God by rising from the dead and said the Old Testament was God’s Word and gave authority to the Apostles to write the words of the New Testament, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so that all the words of the Bible are God’s Word.
(Matthew 5:18; Luke 24:27, 44; John 14:25-26, 15:27, 16:12-13, 17:20; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 3:5; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21)

Ice-Breaker:

  • What kind of marriages were modeled for you as a child? 

Discussion Questions:

  • Marriage was designed by God. This means He is the one that gets to define it. It is a God-ordained covenant relationship between a man and a woman. Most people seem to view marriage as a contract, not a covenant. What is the difference? A contract is putting in as little as possible while trying to get out as much as possible; it's being committed as long as the terms are being met; it's man-made and man-serving. On the contrary, a covenant is putting in EVERYTHING, no matter what you get back; it's being committed...PERIOD, til death do us part; it's God-ordained and God-honoring. What is YOUR view of marriage? We all know the right answer, but do you tend to behave as if it's a covenant or a contract? Examples?

  • Scripture lays out what God's ideal is for marriage. In Ephesians 5:22-24, Paul writes to wives, "For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything." It's important to note that both genders have equal value and worth. So why submit to your husband? Because God ordained that the husband lead the family. But what if he's not leading? What if he's being a bad husband? Peter says in 1 Peter 3 that the wife will speak into his life with their own godly lives and that this will win her husband over wither her pure and reverent lives. This can be tough to actually live out. Wives, what makes it so hard to submit to your husband the way scripture commands? What is it in our hearts that makes this so difficult?

  • For husbands, God called you to lead your wives and provide for them in every way; physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. Husbands are to love their wives like Christ loves us... namely that He laid down His life for us. Husbands are to sacrifice for their wives, to actively defer to them in love. This even goes a step further than submission. This is giving up everything for them. Spiritual leadership is often where Christian men fall the shortest. Why is it so difficult to be the spiritual leader? Is there any man in your life you've seen do this well? How do we grow in this area?

  • In order to have a healthy, fulfilling marriage, we must all view our relationships through the lens of the gospel. Brandon shared two keys to a gospel marriage. The first was EMBRACE the GRACE. Our relationship with God is dependent on the grace He offers for our sins. In the same way, our marriage relationships only work if we have grace towards each other. The other key was to FIGHT for FORGIVENESS. Forgiveness is a choice we make to unchain ourselves from the hurts of the past. We are to forgive because HE forgave US. Why do we find it so difficult to give our spouses grace? Why are we slow to forgive? How has this damaged your relationship with YOUR spouse?

  • Brandon left us with this question to ponder: What if the purpose of marriage isn't just HAPPINESS, but HOLINESS? Marriage is a mirror; it's a tool God uses to show us our own sinfulness. In order to find our marriage fulfilling, we must first put God on the throne of our lives, only HE can fill the voids within us. We can't love anyone in our lives the right way unless we love God FIRST... then our spouse, then our kids, then everyone else. Do these priorities reflect your own? What do you need to let God do in your own heart that will lead you towards a better relationship with your spouse?

**The 2 challenges were to sign up for Re/Engage (on signups tab) and to start going to counseling. Challenge your group to follow through!**

Prayer Topics:

  • That we would commit to work on our relationships.
  • That God would start with us, working on our hearts first. 
  • That God would fill our hearts with grace towards our spouse this week. 

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