What you will need: A Bible or your Bible app, a notebook, pen, and highlighter. The verses highlighted below are linked so that you can easily access them during your study time.
Jump Start
1. Do you find it awkward to talk about sex? Why or why not? Why should we talk about it? Why should the Church talk about it?
2. Read Matthew 19:5-6. We often hear this passage at wedding ceremonies, but we forget to apply it to our daily lives. If you are a couple, have you successfully left your family and become one? Name some practical ways you worked at this. Name some obstacles you had to overcome.
3. Read Song of Songs 1:2-4, 4:7. List some of the specific ways found in these verses (or in the message) about how to strengthen your marriage relationship. What obstacles do you experience to getting away with your spouse? Do you have any tips to share about overcoming these? What issues or situations cause you to neglect your marriage or take it for granted?
4. Read Matthew 5:28 and Proverbs 4:23. In the Ten Commandments, God forbid adultery (Exodus 20:14). How does Jesus expand the Law and raise the bar? What does this Proverb have to do with the Matthew verse? In what practical ways can you protect your heart and mind?
5. In order to flourish in your marriage, you must communicate. You must commit to each other and give compliments to each other. Learn to talk about your needs and desires. What are the benefits of this long-term commitment? Read Proverbs 5:18. Also read Mark 9:35 and discuss how the attitude of a servant would bless you, whether in your marriage or other types of relationships.
6. Final Point: What do you hope to get out of this message and discussion? Do you have healing that needs to happen in some area? Do you hope it will help you prepare for marriage or improve your marriage? Discuss and pray for these things, with your friend, your spouse, or your group.
Deeper
7. Read 1 Corinthians 6:15-17. This passage is a very clear picture that sex is more than physical; it makes us members of another body. What evidence do you see in Scripture and in your own life that sex is more than physical? How does sex demonstrate the “oneness” of a marriage relationship?
8. Read 1 Corinthians 6:18. What do you think it means that when we commit sexual sin it is a sin against our own body? How and why is sexual sin different from other sins?
9. Read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Do you think about the fact that the Holy Spirit resides within you when you think about sexuality? How can an understanding of being the temple of God change how we approach sex?