Grace South Bay

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Marriage Restoration," from Hosea, chapters one and three.

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Marriage Problems," from Gen. 3.

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Marriage Design," from Gen. 2:15-25.

Matthew 25:31 - 46
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Sermon Questions:

1. Would you say you are a kind person? Why?
2. When have you recently seen someone else's needs? When do you struggle to see others' needs?
3. When have you recently acted to help meet someone else's needs? When do you struggle to act to meet others' needs?
4. Is it easy or hard to identify most closely with the sick, poor, hungry, and needy in the passge? why?
5. What ways can you grow in seeing your need for Jesus?
6. What are some practical ways you can be kind, today/this week?

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” 

Sermon Questions:
1. What is something or some situation that causes you to regularly lose your patience?
2. What do you have that you believe is scarce? How do you attempt to protect or control it?
3. What has God blessed you with?
4. Do you believe your debt to God is really that big? How much has Jesus forgiven you?
5. How can you have patience with your impatience?

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” 3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

4 And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel…
 
6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all…
 
8 When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. 9 And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” 
 
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
 
1 Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.” 

3  And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” 4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

1.      Do you agree that our sin nature makes us all bad marriage prospects?  If you are married, does your marriage live up (or down) to your expectations?

2.     To what degree does your commitment depend on your spouse’s good behavior?

3.     When you communicate in conflict, are you usually communicating to hurt or to heal?

4.     How can you cultivate a habit of honestly sharing hurts and repenting of those shared with you in your marriage, or other relationships?

5.     Are you Gomer or Hosea?

6.     Is it comforting that Jesus is the love of your life? How can that reality impact your marriage?

This conversation is based on a sermon titled, "Marriage Story," from Matt. 19:3-12.

 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”… 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
     cursed are you above all livestock
     and above all beasts of the field…
 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
     and between your offspring and her offspring;
 he shall bruise your head,
     and you shall bruise his heel.”

 16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
     in pain you shall bring forth children.
 Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
     but he shall rule over you.”

 17 And to Adam he said,

“…cursed is the ground because of you;
     in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
     and you shall eat the plants of the field.
 19 By the sweat of your face
     you shall eat bread,
 till you return to the ground,
     for out of it you were taken;
 for you are dust,
     and to dust you shall return.”

 20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

 22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live 

forever--” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

1.     Do you walk around thinking your life ought to work well? Does Genesis 3 challenge that at all for you?

2.     Is a marriage’s

This conversation is based on the sermon titled, "Shalom," from Eph. 2:11-18.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

 “This at last is bone of my bones
     and flesh of my flesh;
 she shall be called Woman,
     because she was taken out of Man.” 

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

1.   If you are married, say something like this to each other this week (in CG or in private, or both!): “You are bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. You are a blessing to me and I receive you as a gift. I will never leave you.”

2.   Have you considered that you cannot fully image God without the opposite sex? Might that change how you pursue community?

3.   For married couples, how can you be priests together?

4.   For married couples, what keeps you from seeing your spouse as your own flesh and blood?

5.   Who are the people you can be most honest and real with? Why? If you are married, what enhances or detracts from feeling safe with your spouse?

6.   Do you really know God will never leave you? What difference does that make in your life?