TODAY:

After God’s Own Heart – Part 1: God Looks At The Heart

BIG IDEA:

God wants a genuine heart, not a good appearance

SCRIPTURES:

1 Samuel 16:1-13, 1 Samuel 8:7-9,18, 1 Samuel 13:14

1 Samuel 15:28, Acts 13:22, Psalm 139:1-18

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Q: What are some of your biggest strengths? Biggest weaknesses?

Q: How much time & effort do you spend developing your outer appearance

compared to your inner heart & character?

Q: How do the Scriptures/concepts from this week help you grow as a disciple

who loves God, loves people & serves the world (lives on incarnational

mission) in everyday life?

Q: Based on these Scriptures, how can you move from unbelief to belief, from

just knowing to actually doing in your life?

Connect with God (UP)...

Q: Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13. How does this passage help you understand God

better?

Q: People often say “God knows my heart” – how can this be either a good

thing or not good thing for us? (We often think our heartis more pure than it

actually is!)

Q: In what ways do you think God wants to use the seemingly ordinary aspects

of you to do extraordinary things?

Q: God used David’s time of obscurity, unimportance & even rejection in the

“wilderness” to develop him. What kinds of “wilderness” has or could God

use to shape you?

Connect with Others (IN)...

Q: Do you tend to evaluate people around you by external factors, or by

getting to know them at a deeper level (their hearts)?

Q: How we can we as a church develop a “culture of calling”, where we see the

gifts God has given us & we encourage each other to pursue what God is

calling us towards?

Connect with the World (OUT)...

Q: How is the truth that “God wants a genuine heart, not a good appearance”

good news to the world around us? How can we share this?