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SERMON DISCUSSION GUIDE

CONVERSATION STARTER
Share with the group at least one way you’ve experienced God’s providence (provision, guidance, protection) in your life recently.

DEEPER

Read Genesis 1:28-29, 2:3, 2:15-18, and 3:8.
After creating mankind, God established a Covenant of Life with Adam and Eve, providing them with essential blessings: work, food, marriage, fellowship with him, and rest. These provisions, blessings, reflect his care for humanity and remain relevant to us today. Take time to discuss each of these areas of God’s providence and how you currently relate to them in your own life:
- Work: Consider your work life — what is your attitude toward work, and how do you view it as part of God’s provision?
- Food: Reflect on how you interact with the food and resources God provides and what gratitude or stewardship looks like in this area.
- Marriage: If you’re married (or not), what is your perception of God’s blessing of marriage? How do you view the marriage covenant in light of Christ’s relationship with his bride, the church? For those who are married, how does your marriage currently reflect that covenant relationship?
- Fellowship with him: What does your fellowship with God currently look like? How is your time in the Word, in prayer, and in solitude hearing from God?
- Rest: How do you approach rest? Is it something you truly embrace as a gift from God, or do you struggle to prioritize it?

Despite the fall of mankind when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God had a plan from the beginning to redeem his people and give them life (Genesis 3:15). How does the story of Adam and Eve foreshadow the need for Christ as the second Adam?

Matt Heft emphasized in his sermon that even after we respond to Christ in faith, “We need to be reminded of God’s plan for us on a daily basis. We need to be reminded of the simple truth of the Gospel. We also know that we need to be on guard.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 says, “This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.” Matt showed us three schemes we are all tempted by as we seek to follow God: blame-shifting, complicating the simple, and giving up.
- Blame-shifting (Genesis 3:9-13): Reflect on the story of Adam and Eve and their response to God. How do you see “blame-shifting” show up in your own life? Do you have any examples to share? How can you take ownership of them?
- Complicating the Simple (2 Corinthians 11:3): What does “simple and pure devotion to Christ” mean to you? Are there ways you’ve overcomplicated your devotion lately?
- Giving Up (Story of Jonah): Have you ever felt like giving up in your walk with God? Are there areas of your life where you need to stop running and respond to God’s call?

What stood out to you from this week’s sermon? What were your biggest takeaways?

NOTES

DISCIPLINES
Pray: Thank God for his providence in your life. Ask the Spirit to keep you from the schemes of the devil.

Read: Romans 5:12-21

Write: Write down any questions you might have from the sermon and submit them to the website to be answered in a future podcast.

Sing: Listen to the worship songs from Sunday throughout the week. Look up the lyrics to each song and spend some time reading them.

Memorize: Genesis 3:15