DISCUSSION GUIDE 2.20.2022
1 Timothy 2:1-9
Group Discussion Questions:
As you reflect on the sermon this week, how did the Holy Spirit speak to your heart? Was there a verse/passage that stood out to you? Share why the verse or passage struck you. How would you summarize Terry’s message?
Read and discuss verses 1-10
2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. 9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10 but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. [1]
- Paul urges Timothy to ensure that prayer is an essential part of their public worship. We should be praying all kinds of prayers for all kinds of people. This is good and pleasing to God. What does this look like on a practical level?
- In one of Terry’s devotions for the passage, he states, “If it [prayer] were easy and effortless do you think Paul would spend so much time exhorting us to pray? Do the work of prayer. Enjoy the times when it is ‘fun’ and find satisfaction in the times when it feels like work. It is all a part of the privilege of a relationship with God.” Discuss this statement. Can you relate to it? Why or why not? For you personally, what’s difficult about prayer?
What are some barriers to prayer for you personally? What is one thing you could do to move past the barrier?
Have one member read aloud day 5’s devotional listed below and then discuss. After the discussion, have your group use the prayer list as the application for your discussion.
We can breeze through verses 8-10 and touch the surface without plumbing the depths of what Paul is teaching here. He says he wants men to pray with holy hands without anger or disputing. This means that God is interested in what is happening in the hearts of men. He wants women to dress modestly, with good deeds appropriate for those who profess to worship God. This means that God is interested in what is happening in the hearts of women. The bottom line is this, God wants hearts that are pure and fixed on him in worship. Anything less is not really worshiping. Clearly, he doesn’t want women to pray with anger, and he doesn’t want men to focus on their physical appearance. We must not miss the mountain for the molehills here. The molehills are the application. The mountain is true worship of God. God wants us to have hearts that are saying “yes” to him. If we come to worship harboring anger or focused on what we think others think of us… our hearts cannot be in the “yes God” position. Check your heart as you come to God in private or public worship. Are your “holy hands” lifted up in submission to him? If so, you will forgive others. If so, you will consider others and not just what others might be thinking of you. Make this your direction, even if we will never arrive at a place of perfection.
- Pray for Mayor Whipple
- Pray for Governor Kelly
- Pray for President Biden
- Pray for Ukrainian President Zelensky
- Pray for Russian President Putin
- Pray for people you know to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
- Pray with Thanksgiving that God has accepted you and has allowed you to participate in what he is doing in the world. You are not a helpless, hopeless bystander. You are a participant with God in human and cosmic history.
[1] The New International Version. (2011). (1 Ti 2:1–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.