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. In what ways does a win or a loss (i.e., sports, occupation, relationship, political, school, grades, award) affect you? How long do the emotional results of that outcome last?
2. Create Time for the blessing. Review Matthew 13:4. When we make excuses and overfill our schedules, the blessings planned for our lives are like seeds scattered on the path. How do you prioritize time with God over busyness? How could avoiding a daily quiet time prevent us from understanding God’s messages for us?
3. Passion puts you on the path, people keep you on the path. The rocky ground is an example of someone who hears the word of God, is profoundly impacted, but change doesn’t follow. Can you remember a time you were passionate about a big change, but it didn’t stick? Looking back, how might things have turned out if you had shared your experience and intentions to change with someone who understood and could check in on your progress? If you are comfortable, share what God is teaching you now so that your Life Group can support you in this way.
4. Final Thought: Live IN the World, but FOR the Kingdom. Read John 17:14-15. Talk about possible “thorns” (Matthew 13:7) that prevent us from living for the Kingdom of God. Talk about the ways we can live in the world like Jesus did. List or discuss worldly things that help build the Kingdom, where some worldly things prevent living for the kingdom, and scenarios that take us out of the world entirely.
Deeper
5. Read Matthew 13:3-23. Read the parable followed by Jesus’ explanation to the disciples. How does the parable show that the seed planted in good soil - without thorns, rocks, or unplanted on a path - grows? Why do you think Jesus told the parable without explaining it to the crowds, only to His disciples? How can we be more like the disciples and less like the crowds?