Lead Your Hearts--Lesson 3--Questioning God's Timing & Goodness--Malachi 2:17-3:12

Discussion Questions:

1.  Are there times when you weary God with your words?  What kinds of situations do you find yourself trying to justify yourself with your words?

2.  How have you seen too much focus on one thing lead to an accident?  What kinds of things help you to stay alert to other possibilities or matters happening beyond your focus?  How might being too focused on God’s perceived injustice lead to a crash?

3.  How have you seen the balance in God’s nature of mercy amd grace with justice and a set holy standard in your experience with Him?  How does a mediator offer help to balance these two sides?

4.  Why does God’s justice begin with pruning instead of ripping the plant out by the roots?  How is God’s justice satisfied by pruning?  Are there some areas God is trying to prune in your life?

5.  How does one rob from God?  Why is giving at least a tithe (10 percent) an important discipline for a follower of Jesus to practice?

Lead Your Heart--Lesson 2--An Issue of Selfish Leadership--Malachi 2

Discussion Questions:

1.  How do you define faithfulness?  How is $1000 in quarters a good way to live by faith? 

2.  Why is leading one’s heart instead of being led by your heart important in maintaining faithfulness? 

3.  How has God shown His faithfulness to you in the past week?  How have you seen the faithfulness of God echo through the canyons of time like Psalm 136 displays?

4.  How does selfishness hinder the fruit of the Kingdom being strong and healthy?  How does selfishness take away stability and security?  How does selfishness hinder community from being healthy?

5.  Why does God hate divorce?  How has the history preserved in the bible shown us that unfaithfulness and covenant breaking works against, and can even take down a Kingdom?

Lead Your Hearts--Lesson 1--What Kind of God Is This?--Malachi 1

Discussion Questions:

1.  How has God shown that He loves you?  What kinds of things cause you to forget or take for granted what He has provided out of His love?

2.  How do you react when God allows things in your life that don’t seem just or fair (like Jacob being chosen and Esau not)?  Why is being chosen by God important?  What does Ephesians 1:4 teach about our position with God?  Why is it important to wait until things play out completely before determining whether God is just or not?

3.  How does history (your own history with God and the stories we find in the bible) help you to learn and grow?  Why do we often repeat the sinful mistakes of the generations who lived before us?

4.  How are we guilty of bringing God the sick and lame in our own sacrifices?  What are some ways you offer God less than your best?

5.  What difficulty do you find in leading your heart rather than being led by it?