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Small Group Guide
KNOWING GOD IN SCRIPTURE
The Church at Brook Hills
Matt Mason
January 3, 2016
Hebrews 11:1-12:2
MAIN TRUTH
Message Outline
To download the outline for this week’s sermon, visit brookhills.org/media.
Message Summary
As Christians, we are called to grow in faith toward God and in love toward others. The most direct route to
knowing God is through knowing His Word. Hebrews 11 answers the question, “What are some things that
God repeatedly talks about in His Word, which, if we hear them, will strengthen our trust in Him?” Our faith
comes, grows, and deepens by hearing what God says about Himself, about life in this world, about what is
valuable, and about salvation.
The Bible primarily teaches what man must believe about God and what God requires of man. God wants us
to know His Word because He wants us to know Him. All truth about God is meant to lead to the worship of
God. Our relationship with God grows as we let His Word shape our minds and values. To know God in
Scripture is to grasp where we are in the story of redemption history, which is exile. We come to know God
through Scripture, and we never fully arrive this side of heaven. We will always be learning more about God’s
glory and power and grace. When we come to the place where it seems that Christ is all we have, it is there,
by God’s grace, that we realize Christ is all we need.
WHY IT MATTERS
Digging Deeper
John Jefferson Davis is the Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at Gordon Conwell
Seminary. Read this quote to the group from Davis’ book, Meditation and Communion with God:
Contemplating Scripture in an Age of Distraction:
“One student at an evangelical seminary in the United States stated in an interview that at times the
seminary’s … ‘emphasis on academic excellence … creates a campus climate where attaining spiritual
depth is difficult … Professors encourage students to have an intimate relationship with God, but the
amount of work assigned is so great and the other commitments required of students are so numerous,
this becomes a virtual impossibility… [this person went on to say] I get the sense that many of my fellow
students are going into ministry equipped to parse, translate, and exegete, but spiritually dead or distant
from the God who speaks in and through the text.’” (Greg L. Hawkins, quoted in J.J. Davis, Meditation
and Communion with God, 12)
Now read the kind of faith that Hebrews 11:6 says pleases God: “Without faith it is impossible to please him,
for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
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How is the faith described in Hebrews 11:6 different from the general acknowledgement of the
existence of God?
What is dangerous or even deadening about living a detached, academic kind of faith?
How can true faith find evidence of itself by the pursuit of God?
“Knowing God in Scripture,” January 3, 2016 | Page 1
Small Group Guide
KNOWING GOD IN SCRIPTURE
The Church at Brook Hills
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Matt Mason
January 3, 2016
Hebrews 11:1-12:2
How can we read Scripture with an eye to seeing more of the glory of God and to growing and
deepening our faith?
In what ways can we read Scripture with a heart to worship the God who reveals Himself in His
Word?
Read Hebrews 12:1-2. While it is not bad to be academic or pursue excellence in studying God’s
Word, how can we keep “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”?
Spend some time praying as a group for a desire to grow in the intimate knowledge of God and to deepen
your relationship with Him.
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NOW WHAT DO WE DO?
Group Discussion & Application
Use the following questions to examine what the sermon and its text mean, to apply the Word to your life, and
to guide how you pray.
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Read 2 Peter 1:5-8. Why did the Apostle Peter inspired by the Holy Spirit start this list of graces that
we are called to cultivate as Christians with faith and end the list with love? How can works of love
we show one another flow from a genuine faith in God? Why does faith in God have to come first
before we can genuinely love others?
Read Ephesians 1:15-17. How can we go deeper in the knowledge of God this year? Discuss
practical and specific examples as a small group, as a family, as a couple, and as an individual.
Romans 10:17 states, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” How is
faith connected to hearing the Word of Christ? Discuss ways that our faith can grow as we continue
to hear the Word of Christ.
Read Philippians 3:10. How can we agree with the Apostle Paul and say with him that all we want in
2016 is to grow in the knowledge of Jesus? What needs to change this year to go deeper in our
faith and knowledge of God? How do we make knowing God and being known by Him through His
Word and Spirit a first priority this year?
Read Hebrews 11:6. What does this verse teach about faith in God and what He requires of us?
Why is it so important to place what we believe about God and what He requires of us before
anything else when reading and studying the Bible?
If it is true that one of the ways we demonstrate love for someone is by studying them, how can we
apply that truth to grow in our love for God and to deepen our relationship with Him? How can that
truth affect our attitude towards studying the Bible
How is the Bible like a telescope that points to Christ? What is the difference between looking at the
Word verses looking through the Word at God, at the world, and at ourselves?
Read Exodus 34:6-8. When Moses asked God to reveal His glory, what did God do in this passage
in a unique and glorious way to reveal Himself to Moses?
Read Hebrews 11:37-38. The first thing each of these individuals have in common is they all have
faith. The second is that they are all dead. Trials are a normal part of living in a fallen world.
Knowing Jesus does not change that reality. How can knowing that Jesus promised trials and
tribulation give us strength for today to endure hardship as well as hope for tomorrow?
Pastor Matt argued that "the great problem with faith/prosperity teaching isn’t that it tells people that
God will heal all of their sicknesses and will make them perfectly happy. The problem is that it tells
people God will do that now, if they only have enough faith." Why is it so important to distinguish
the differences between what Scripture says of what believers will experience living in this fallen
world and what we hope for in heaven to come?
Read Hebrews 11:13-16. What does this passage say about believers being in exile on this earth?
How can that truth deepen our knowledge of God and what He promises in His Word?
What are examples of things that God applauds that our culture hates, and things our culture
commends that God hates? How do we keep our focus on those things that please God?
“Knowing God in Scripture,” January 3, 2016 | Page 2
Small Group Guide
KNOWING GOD IN SCRIPTURE
The Church at Brook Hills
14.
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Matt Mason
January 3, 2016
Hebrews 11:1-12:2
Read Psalm 119: 9-11. How can we guard our minds and hearts by the Word? How can we seek
God wholeheartedly this year and not wander from His commandments? What are you most
tempted to store in your heart rather than in the Word of God? Discuss practical ways you can store
the Word in your heart so that you may not sin against God.
Hebrew 12:2 says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the
founder and perfecter of our faith”. How is the Christian life like a race that is run on two legs of
repentance and faith? What are some examples of ways we can daily look to Christ believing in His
promises striving for obedience as we lean on His finished work?
Resources for Small Group Leaders
Weekly Prayer Focus (from Our Worship Guide)
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Pray for Our Church:
o Praise God for sending Jesus as our mediator and model.
o Thank God for revealing His character to us through His Son.
o Pray for a willingness to obey and submit to God’s leading.
o Ask God to align our hearts with His, so His desires will be our desires.
o Thank God for His goodness and sovereign lordship in our lives and in the world.
o Ask for us as a faith family to be marked by God’s love and a deep desire to make Him known
to those here and around the world.
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Pray for Our City:
o Pray for King’s Home, a Christ-centered organization serving hundreds of women and children
seeking refuge, hope, and help from abuse, neglect, abandonment, homelessness, and other
difficult circumstances.
o Pray for Immanuel Church and Pastor Andy Adkison.
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Pray for Our World:
o Pray for Brook Hills Long-Term Missionaries, Steve and Daria Mayotte. Almost six years ago
our faith family had the privilege of sending out their family to start a prison ministry at
Pollsmoor Prison in South Africa.
o Pray the Lord will continue to open up many doors for the Mayottes to share the gospel and
disciple juvenile prisoners.
“Knowing God in Scripture,” January 3, 2016 | Page 3