2025
Devoted
Passage: Ezra 7:1-10; Psalm 1:1-3
“Are you sifting through (the Bible), deciding what you like and what you don’t like, or are you letting it sift through you, deciding what it doesn’t like and what it does like? Which is it? …Either it’s an authority over you, or you are an authority over it. If there’s anything you dislike about it, it means you’ve put yourself in a position to judge any verse.” —Tim Keller
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
When did you first experience the Bible? What has encouraged you to delight in God’s word since then?
Read Ezra 7:1-10 and Psalm 1. What do these passages show you about God’s character and about being his follower? What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in these passages?
So far in Ezra we’ve seen the restoration of worship and the reformation of community in the face of opposition. Here we meet Ezra, a priest and teacher. Who is someone God has provided to help you know, understand, and delight in the relation of God in the Bible?
In 1 Peter 2:9, the apostle Peter described God’s people this way: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” In the Old Testament, priests were responsible for connecting people to God. How does this responsibility shape your identity and mission in light of Peter’s description?
Ezra was a teacher “well versed” in God’s word and he deeply desired to learn, do, and teach the law of the Lord. Psalm 1 invites us to delight in the word of God and Ezra shows us a wonderful picture of this delight. What actions are taken by Ezra or referenced in Psalm 1 for how we can receive, being transformed by, and share God’s word with others?
How did Jesus show us a picture of Psalm 1 during his ministry on earth?
How are you teaching God’s word in this season of life? Who are you teaching and how are you being equipped to continue teaching? (Consider your are listening, meditating, praying, and living)
PRAYER
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14