Life Groups // Winter 2025 // Week 4
Posted January 31, 2025 — Lincoln Berean
Called to Tell the Truth // 1 Timothy 1:1-11
Introduction
Welcome to the first week of our new series titled “What Are We Doing Here?” We’ll be examining Paul’s first letter to Timothy, which is packed with wisdom about faith, leadership, and holding to the truth of the Gospel. In these opening verses, Paul greets Timothy and urges him to keep a course of true and faithful instruction in his local community of believers in Ephesus. It’s a great place to begin as we dive into what it means to be God’s people.
We invite you to look over all the questions on the following pages and write your thoughts down before you meet with your group. Some people even use these questions to take notes during the sermon. The questions are meant to stir your thinking and prompt open discussion, and we do not expect you will cover every question each week.
Warm Up (Suggested time: 30 min)
1) What is the best group or team that you’ve ever been a part of (other than your Life Group, of course)?
2) Together with your group, check out the introduction video to the book of 1 Timothy produced by The Bible Project (linked here: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/1-timothy/).
Getting Started
Transition into group discussion.
1. Open group discussion with prayer. Here are a few potential prayer items:
a. For the Spirit of God to lead you in truth
b. For the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated in your lives
c. For grace to hear and apply what the Spirit says to you
2. Choose someone to read the passage aloud for the group.
Study Questions (Suggested time: 40 min)
1) What ideas, questions, or key points stood out in your mind from Bryan’s sermon this past weekend?
2) The “big idea” of the book of 1 Timothy is best outlined by what Paul says later in chapter 3, verse 15: “I write so that you will know how one should act in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” In other words, this book narrows its scope to specifically offer instruction for the local church. Why do you think that our behavior as God’s church is important enough to devote a full book of the Bible to it?
The fundamental issue in this first portion of 1 Timothy is instructing Church leaders to build an ordered environment around God’s Word. How might a church with an environment of chaos or conflict affect someone’s view of God and His kingdom?
3) Paul makes it clear in this week’s passage that the correct teaching of the gospel “from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith” (verse 5) is essential to a thriving church. What are some qualities that you’ve seen displayed by groups of believers who are rooted in that sincere faith?
This past weekend, Bryan said “When the Bible isn’t front and center, opinions rule the day.” In our world today, where individualism is valued over truth, Paul calls the church to be a society ordered around the commonly agreed-upon truth of the Bible. How does knowing the Bible is our ultimate source of order in our community of believers challenge you to engage with the scriptures more or in new and different ways?
What are some non-biblical teachings (or “strange doctrines” as Paul calls it in verse 3) that are shared in some churches or other groups of believers today?
How can you take steps in your everyday life to live aligned to God’s truth rather than being guided by your own opinions?
4) In 1 Timothy 1:7, Paul delivers an indictment against those who want “to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying of the matters about which they make confident assertions.” In other words, he is addressing those who manipulate the Old Testament to say what they want it to say. How does the important practice of using the Bible in its correct context help to put an end to this kind of teaching?
What is the biblical relationship between the Gospel and flourishing?
Personal Spiritual Exercises
Just like physical exercises help strengthen and stretch our bodies for healthy living, these spiritual exercises are meant to move us spiritually in ways that may be new so we might experience inner growth. Since God longs for us to experience Him with our whole selves—mind, body, spirit—we invite you along each week to strengthen your souls with suggestions and prompts.
Scripture Focus: Read Psalm 19, where David connects his awe of God’s creation to his reverence of God’s law. As you read it, open yourself up to connecting with the authority and instruction of the Word of God, and consider how you might praise God for His law and instruction that brings order to your life.
Prayer Focus: As we get started in this new series that’s all about the purpose behind the church, try creating a habit of praying for the community of believers, and adding that to your usual prayer rhythms in your life. Ask God to be present and make His will known in a widening scope starting with your close circle of friends and family, then your Life Group and in our church family at Lincoln Berean, and so on all the way to the worldwide body of Christ.
Prayer (Suggested time: 20 min)
A significant part of “coming together” is being open and honest with our lives. Sitting in a group of people for prayer may be new or it may be familiar to you. If you would rather not pray aloud when it is your turn, feel free to pray silently and then say “Amen” aloud signaling the next person in the group to pray. Whether or not you choose to verbalize your prayer, everyone is a participant in sharing this time before God together.
Take a few moments to prepare a prayer request. What did the message, working through the above questions or the discussion cause you to notice about your own relationship with Jesus? Would you be willing to share your prayer request with the group?