I Never Said That Series Discussion Questions

 

April 12, 2026 - Who Does God Help?

  1. Have you ever heard or used the phrase "God helps those who help themselves"?

  2. What does this phrases origins teach us about what we naturally feel about God's involvement in our lives?

  3. What pattern do we see in the Old and New Testament? Who has God shown himself to help?

  4. The foundation of our life of faith is that we are a people who are saved by grace. How does the Gospel teach us this? Read Romans 5:6-8 and share the gospel with each other. How did you come to respond to the Gospel?

  5. This foundation expands into our life in how we grow spiritually. Who does God help grow and how? Have you ever struggled with having a "by works sanctification" in life?

  6. What does it mean to sow the Spirit in life?

  7. Notice the pattern God is revealing to us. He saves the humble who in repentance respond to grace, follow Jesus, and desire to obey in trust and love. He grows those who remain humble and continue to follow Jesus in His grace and obey more and more as we give Him room to change us in life. If we are learning to daily live humbly before Him and everyday we are growing in a desire to follow Him in obedience then where can we trust that will lead us in all our future decisions in life? Can we trust God to help us in the places He leads us to go?

  8. Read Ephesians 2:8-10 and Galatians 2:20. Unpack the pattern that Paul is laying out for us. What future anxieties creep into your life? If you are living abiding in His love everyday, then what can you trust God to do with your future?

April 19, 2026 - Is Life More Than You Can Handle?

  1. Have you ever faced a season where it felt like God was allowing you to go through something far beyond what you could handle?

  2. How did you respond during that time, and what did it reveal about your "thorns" or current areas of weakness?

  3. How are you intentionally looking to Jesus and a godly, biblical community to support you in the midst of those struggles?

  4. Thinking back, have you ever opened up about a struggle to a Christian or non-Christian and found that they were actually encouraged by your honesty?

  5. How did that experience change your perspective on sharing your burdens, and how can you better treasure Christ this week?

April 26, 2026 - Jesus Said Marriage is Very Good

  1. Read Matthew 19 together. Often times we use this to try and find the prescription for divorce. But that misses Jesus’ heart. How was Jesus trying to get us back to a higher appreciation for what He designed from the beginning?

  2. Jesus' hope was to raise the value and sanctity of what He created so that we wouldn't need a prescription for divorce.

  3. How does Proverbs 31 build a liberating and flourishing view for a wife being fully used to bring life to all of life?

  4. How does Jesus and the gospel movement bolster that life?

  5. Resources for recent studies on trends:

    -“Wired For Intimacy” William Struthers

    -Louise Perry “A new guide for sex in the 21st century” “The case against the sexual revolution”

    -Impact 360 (Podcast) March 17 2026. “Is LGBTQ Identification Declining?” Dr. Jean Twangy San Diego State; non-heterosexual identification is on the decline. Professor Eric Kaufmann, (Canadian professor) non-heterosexual and transgender identification among U.S. young adults, particularly college students, has declined significantly since peaking in 2022.

    -Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance system by CDC (200,000 people); 18-24 ID as LGBT Peaked in 2022 but then fell by a 21% by 2025

    -Lisa Lipman 2018 Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria

    -Institute for family studies: Study of fulfillment and loneliness in women

  6. How do these studies show that creation flourishes when it agrees with God's good design?

  7. Read Mark 7. Discuss how Jesus was looking at external things we take into the body. These things used to be part of a holiness code that helped the people of God look different from the world around them. Jesus was saying that "life in Him" would create the new distinction of holiness from the world. He emphasized this by looking at the internal evil found in a heart and mind not aligned with God's heart and mind. In His list of evil immorality, Jesus list three words that speak directly to His heart for aligning with His design for marriage relationships. What were the three words and how are they connected to misaligning with God's heart morally?

  8. Resource: Centerforfaith.com Pastoral Paper number 7. "Did adult same sex consensual relationships exist in biblical times?"

  9. These three words are part of a total of 13 words Jesus used to reveal our tendency to give into immorality that disagrees with the heart and mind of God. What is at the core of all of these words when it comes to the intent of our fallen heart and mind?

  10. Read Matthew 5:27-29. If you wanted to focus on one thing that would take care of every aspect of sexual brokenness what would Jesus encourage you to focus on?

  11. What does it mean to move from having a "lustful eye to the world" to having a "gospel eye of hope to the world"?

  12. Read John 4. This is one example of how Jesus interacted with someone who was broken deeply in this area. What principles do we see with how Jesus would have us interact with broken people in our world?

  13. Resources:

    -Tom Holland "Dominion"

    -Rodney Stark "The Rise of Christianity" "The Triumph of Christianity"