Life Groups // Winter 2025 // Week 5

Posted February 7, 2025 — Lincoln Berean

Why We Must Fight for the Truth // 1 Timothy 1:12-20

Introduction

This week Pastor Bryan finished 1 Timothy chapter 1 in which Paul uses his own life story to show evidence of the patient mercy of God. We can be confident that his instruction to the early church in Ephesus provides a foundation of faith for us to land on as well.

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 something from this last week that you are proud of?
 

 
2) Describe a time when you were a kid and you did something you knew was wrong, but you still decided to do it anyway.

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. In our passage this week, we saw that Paul was blinded to the truth about Jesus by his religious legalism. Pastor Clark said there are two ways to avoid Jesus, one is by being very bad and the other is by being very good. How do you see either/both of these lived out in our midwestern context?

2) In verses 12-17, Paul gives a short version of his personal testimony. What do you see as being some of the themes of his testimony?

Are there any parts of his faith journey that you relate to in your relationship with Jesus?

Set aside some time to write down your personal testimony in a few sentences (similar to Paul’s example). If you’d like, share it with your group when you meet.

3) Paul’s story shows us that we can be well-meaning and still be completely wrong. Reflect a bit on a time when you needed correction for a wrong attitude or action. How did you know you needed to make a change?

How does truth and a good conscience bring about change in behavior?

4) In verse 18, what does Paul mean when he says to “fight the good fight?” (hint: look in 1 Timothy 1:5 from last week)

Pastor Bryan has mentioned that guarding the truth and obeying the truth go hand in hand in keeping us on the right track of faith. How do we as believers today make sure that we are guarding and obeying the Truth in a world that doesn’t recognize objective truth?

5) A phrase, “delivered over to Satan” is used in verse 20 that may be unfamiliar to us today. How did Pastor Bryan describe that in relation to a church community?

What can we learn from this about the importance of faithfully teaching God’s Word in our own church?

In what ways does your Life Group help you uphold the Truth of God’s Word?

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: In our passage this week, Paul extolls the glory of God (1 Tim 1:17). Likewise, Isaiah 40:13-31 is a richly woven praise of our Almighty God. Read through it a few times this week, and jot down all the attributes of God it describes.

Prayer Focus: Paul demonstrated his gratitude for the saving mercy of Jesus he enjoyed. Consider how Jesus has met you in your journey of faith and write your own prayer of gratitude this week. You may even want to share it in your Life Group to encourage them as well.

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?