The Bible wasn’t given to us to be restrictive or limiting. It was given to so that we can see and experience true freedom and rest. As we spend time in the Scriptures, spiritual life reawakens, spiritual vitality restores, spiritual callouses soften, spiritual weaknesses firm, and spiritual struggles get exposed…all of which leads to freedom and rest.
Open: Describe a time when obedience initially felt restrictive and limiting but in the end actually led you to experience freedom.
Read: Hebrews 4; Acts 20; 2 Peter 1; James 1:22-25
Discuss:
1. Why do you believe so many people see the Bible as stale and lifeless? How does our infatuation with trivial things hurt our pursuit of the Truth found in Scripture? Why do we, believers, need the Bible?
2. In Hebrews 4 the author is using an illustration of Israel in the wilderness to demonstrate obedience to the word. He connects obedience to faith and rest. Describe the illustration being made: In what ways did Israel fail to enter “the rest” (Promised Land) because they failed to obey God’s Word? How is this true in our lives today?
3. Read Hebrews 4:12-13. What description of God’s Word stands out to you? Why? Describe how these verses are both a warning and a promise. Can both conflict and comfort us?
4. What are some areas where you need spiritual life awakened, spiritual vitality restored, spiritual callouses softened, spiritual weaknesses firmed, and spiritual struggles exposed? How does God’s Word aid us in these moments? How does this drive us to a High Priest, Jesus, in those moments of great struggle and weakness?
Pray: Pray for that your heart would be exposed as you study God’s Word and that whatever the Scripture is saying that you would apply, trust, and obey.
Memorize/Meditate: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
