Most Bible Study lessons are written by people who do something else as their primary occupation. They are pastors who write Bible Study lessons, or professors at Bible colleges that write Bible Study lessons, or housewives that write Bible Study lessons on the side.

In contrast, I have devoted most of my adult life to Bible Study lesson writing. I think I have written more lessons than any human, living or dead. I write four lessons a week and have done so for much of my adult life.

My lessons are called Good Questions Have Groups Talking. Each lesson consists of about twenty ready-to-use questions that are meant to stir a lively discussion. There are probably more questions than you need. This is intentional. I like to have more questions than I need when I teach in case some don’t work out.

Answers are provided in the form of quotes from well-known authors such as Max Lucado and Charles Swindoll.

Lessons correspond with three of Lifeway’s outlines as well as the International Standard Series. I also write lessons that go along with Ken Hemphill’s non-disposable curriculum. Lessons can be used stand-alone or supplemental to these other series. Lessons area available on Amazon, or, on a subscription basis, at www.mybiblestudylessons.com Church subscriptions are around $10 per teacher per year.

Hebrews, Lesson #13

Good Questions Have Small Groups Talking

www.joshhunt.com

Hebrews 13

OPEN

Let’s each share your name and one thing you love about following Christ.

DIG

1. Hebrews 13.1. Do you think the world sees the church as a band of loving brothers?

Love flows among the saints.

The implication linguistically is that this love is not something you have to work at, pump up, or rally around. It’s already there.

A man gave the following account.…

I was walking across the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw a man about to jump off. I tried to dissuade him from committing suicide and told him simply that God loved him. I noticed a tear came to his eye. “Are you a Christian?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Me too! What a small world. Protestant or Catholic?”

“Protestant.”

“Me too! What denomination?”

“Baptist.”

“Me too!” I said. “Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

“Northern Baptist.”

“Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”

“Northern Conservative Baptist.”

“Amazing!” I said, “Call Ripley. This is incredible! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist or Northern Conservative Reformed Baptist?”

“Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist.”

“Remarkable! Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Eastern Region?”

“Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region.”

“This is a miracle!” I said. “Are you Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or are you Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”

“Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.”

“Die, you heretic,” I said—and pushed him over the rail.

Rather than dividing the body of Christ with labels and factions, we are to let brotherly love flow to the person sitting next to us, to our Baptist brothers, to our Episcopalian sisters, to the entire scope of Christianity. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 1508.

2. Why are people so hard to love?

I had been talking all evening at a conference in Oklahoma about using hospitality to grow groups. Afterward, a man came up to me and reflected, “Some people here in Oklahoma are kind of hard to love.” Indeed. In fact, it’s not just true in Oklahoma; it’s true of people everywhere.

Sometimes we’ll say we want to win our world for God. But what we often mean is: We want to win nice people, funny people, interesting people. But that’s not the world God sends us into. God has called us to reach all kinds of people and sometimes they are hard to love.

Rick Warren talks about this. God wants to make us into loving people. To make us into loving people, he puts into every church and every group someone who’s an “Extra Grace Required” kind of person—someone who’s a little odd. Someone who’s not that interesting, not that funny, not that fun to be with. Every group has one. Every church has a few, if not a lot. If you’re thinking, “That’s not true of our group; everyone in our group is easy to love,” I have some bad news—that person might be you!

My favorite speaker is John Ortberg, and my favorite story that he shares on the road relates to this point. John tells about a time when he was traveling by plane with his family from coast to coast. It’s a five-hour trip, and they were crowded in the seats they were in. I’m picturing some lap children squirming and jabbering.

John noticed that there was quite a bit of room at the very back of the plane. So, they gathered their belongings and went to the back of the plane where they could spread out. An hour later, there was stuff strewn everywhere. The kids were crawling over the seats and under the seats. There were toys and blankets and rattles and snacks and and pacifiers and stuff everywhere. You know you’re in trouble when the flight attendant comes by and says, “Can these kids play outside?”

After while another guy came by. He surveyed the damage and says to John, “Hey. Are these your kids?” Startled, John replies, “Yeah.”

The man gets real serious and says, “I would do anything if I just had two kids.”

John didn’t know what to say. “I guess you and your wife are not able to have kids?”

“No, no. We have five kids. I would do anything if we just had two kids. Any two. Two would be plenty. I know this looks like a mess to you, but to me, it is a walk in the park.”

Sometimes we feel that way about our kids. Sometimes we feel that way about the people in our group. Sometimes we’ll have someone over for a party and we’ll feel that way about them. Some people are hard to love. But it’s our job to love them anyway.

Jesus taught us, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT). Note that he didn’t say people will know you are my disciples because you are so disciplined or you go to church all the time or are so spiritual. Our ability to love one another—including hard-to-love people—is the proof that we’re walking with Jesus. — Josh Hunt, Make Your Group Grow, 2010.

3. Why is hospitality so important to the Christian faith?

I believe one of the best ways to study the Bible (and to teach the Bible) is by bombarding the text with a number of questions. So, let’s try this text on for size: “Get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner” (Romans 12:13, TLB).

What’s the nature of the language of this verse? Let’s make this multiple choice. Is this…

___ a prophecy

___ a proverb

___ a parable

___ a command

You know the answer: It’s a command. As surely as God commanded us to pray or give or serve, God has commanded us to get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner.

In the Greek this entire passage is actually only two words: pursue hospitality. Pursue means to chase or hunt. It’s an active word. It’s often used in the sense of pursue or persecute. It’s an aggressive word. There’s nothing passive about the way were to go about being hospitable. Hospitality comes from two words—phileo, “to love” and xenia, “strangers.” Thus, hospitality is to love strangers. If it’s just your friends, it’s not fully biblical hospitality. So be sure invite people you don’t know, too.

The tense used in this passage is gradual, linear tense. That’s why the Living Bible says, “get into the habit.” It’s not a one-time event—it’s a way of life. Christian living is, in part, about getting into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner. The NLT puts it, “Always be eager to practice hospitality.” Practice. Like a doctor practices medicine. He keeps practicing for his whole career.

Success in almost any arena of life is a result of habits. If we are constantly having to remind ourselves and force ourselves to do something, we’re probably not doing it regularly. We need to get to the point where it’s a reflex action. We need to make it the normal thing to do on a Friday night or Sunday lunch or whenever it is we’d like to regularly practice hospitality.

Someone asked me one time, “What if I don’t like inviting guests home for dinner? Could I take them to Applebee’s instead?” I thought it was a silly question, but he was dead serious. After having talked to quite a number of Christians about this, I find it’s an issue over which some in the body of Christ are truly divided. Some see it this way: “The Bible says, ‘home,’ I believe it means, ‘home,’ that settles it, it is ‘home.’”

Others see it differently. I spoke with a widowed man whose wife had passed away six months earlier. In those six months, he told me he hadn’t eaten a single home-cooked meal. Not one. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d want to go to his house for dinner! I think Applebee’s might fit within the spirit of the law, in this case.

Still, the Bible does say “home,” so let’s use that as our default for this chapter. In one of my follow-up surveys, I asked, “When was the last time you had guests to your home for dinner or dessert?” Eighty-five percent of the respondents were in one of two categories—they had either had someone over within the last three months, or it had been a year or more. Most people either do hospitality regularly or they don’t do it at all. The Bible says to make it a habit. — Josh Hunt, Make Your Group Grow, 2010.

4. What other verses can you find or think of that speak of the importance of hospitality?

Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13 (NIV)

Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. Romans 16:23 (NIV)

and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. 1 Timothy 5:10 (NIV)

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9 (NIV)

We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. 3 John 1:8 (NIV)

5. What can we expect to happen when we offer hospitality?

If you haven’t done this much, you might first of all expect that they’ll show up. I’ve invited guests over quite often, and I can tell you that sometimes they’ll come and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll say they’ll come and they won’t. Sometimes they’ll come and you’ll have a grand time. Sometimes they’ll come and they’ll be boring. Sometimes they’ll come and be obnoxious. And sometimes they’ll come and won’t leave.

Once we had a house full of people and everyone had a good time, staying until 10 or 11. Everyone except one guy. He stayed and stayed and stayed. I stopped putting wood on the fire about midnight. I pretty much stopped talking about 1:00 a.m. I think he left sometime after 2:00 a.m. This brings us to the next verse I’d like us to consider. — Josh Hunt, Make Your Group Grow, 2010.

6. 1 Peter 4.9. What does this verse teach us about hospitality?

“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9, NIV).

Again, let’s start with the same question we did for our last passage: What’s the nature of the language here?

And again: It’s a command. It’s not an isolated command, either; it’s an often-repeated command. Our sovereign, holy Lord, Boss and God commanded us to offer hospitality. And to not grumble about it.

Someone asked me once, “What if I don’t like inviting guests home for dinner?” My response: “Repent, sinner! God said to do it!” Not in that exact language, of course. But I do make the point that this is something we’re commanded to do. Christian living is done together, in each other’s lives and in each other’s homes.

What if I were to describe a best friend to you, tell you all about him and then say, “But, funny thing, he’s never been to my home”? It’s impossible for me to imagine a best friend who had not been to my home dozens of times. There’s something about sharing each other’s space that draws us closer together. — Josh Hunt, Make Your Group Grow, 2010.

7. Why without grumbling?

We’re to offer hospitality without grumbling because all good ideas can degenerate into work. When we have people over, my wife is pretty dialed up about having the house clean. And, when I say she likes having the house clean, I mean she likes having the whole house clean. She likes having the living room clean, the kitchen clean, the bedroom clean, the bedroom bathroom clean, the bedroom bathroom shower clean….

I’ve tried explaining to her, “Sweetie, I don’t think they’re going to take a shower.”

“I know, I know,” she says, “It just makes my soul feel at peace when the house is clean.”

I’ve never quite understood this. But I understand this: When Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. So when we have people over, I always make a point to help clean up. I’ll clean the shower or mow the lawn or buy the Diet Coke or make the coffee cake.

One week after service, I invited four new couples to join our group on a Friday evening. I called them on Monday, and called back on Thursday to confirm. Friday afternoon I was doing what I always do—vacuuming the floor, taking out the trash, running to the store, cleaning up the shower (yes, I know). Seven o’clock rolled around. Our friends showed up, but none of the four couples I had invited came. Around 7:30 I got on the phone and called one of them.

“Ron, this is Josh from the church. We talked last night. . .”

“Oh yeah, Josh, sorry we didn’t make it. I had a hectic day at the office. I was all stressed out and just felt like chillin’ at the house tonight. Sorry.”

“Ron. You need to come look at my bathroom. I have been shining this thing up just for you.” That was what I was tempted to say. But I needed to remember what the Bible says, “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” We need to remember that hospitality is hospitality, not just a task we have to complete. — Josh Hunt, Make Your Group Grow, 2010.

8. Hebrews 13.1. Do you think you have ever seen an angel?

The angels of God are nearer than you may think. Even though we’re rarely aware of their presence, they’re around us all the time, caring for us and ministering to us. Working in secret is fine with them, because essentially they are God’s secret agents, doing His bidding and the work He has called them to do. Many, many times they have intervened in our lives, and we didn’t even know they were doing so.

According to Psalm 91 and other passages of Scripture, angels are actively involved in the life of the believer. Hebrews 1:14 says that they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation. Hebrews 13:2 tells us not to be forgetful to entertain strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without even knowing it. There are so many stories in the Bible of angels who delivered the people of God—we read about Jacob, Lot, Daniel, Peter, and Paul, among others.

But as wonderful as the promise of angelic involvement in our lives is, we must first recognize what the conditions are for this promise to be activated in our lives: “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). Recognize the fact that the phrase “to keep you in all your ways” is not referring to whatever path you choose, but to God’s ways.

There is the difference between trusting the Lord and testing Him by taking unnecessary chances with your life or even endangering your spiritual safety by doing stupid things, expecting God to bail you out. God will keep you in all your ways—but your ways must be His ways.

And where do you discover His ways? You go back to that “secret place” spoken of in Psalm 91:1, where you open the Bible, meditate on its teachings, and ask the Holy Spirit to bring those truths home to your heart. — Greg Laurie, Daily Hope for Hurting Hearts: a Devotional (Dana Point, CA: Kerygma Publishing—Allen David Books, 2011).

9. Verse 5. What is God’s cure for loneliness?

What is loneliness? I don’t know how to define it; all I can do is describe it. It’s an underlying anxiety at having no one close, a sharp ache in a moment of grief, and an empty feeling in the pit of the stomach when we know we have no one to whom we can turn. There is no anguish like loneliness.

But God has a cure for loneliness. In our walk with Him, He offers friendship, a family, and a peace that passes all understanding. When we meet Him, we are not guaranteed never to feel lonely, but we are promised that we will never be alone.

After all, He is the one who said, “I will never leave You nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). — David Jeremiah, Sanctuary: Finding Moments of Refuge in the Presence of God (Nashville, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2002), 23.

10. Verse 4. No one plans to dishonor their marriage. No one plans to have an affair. Yet, it happens all the time. How can we insure that it won’t happen to us?

I think it is a good idea for every teacher to share a meal with every student at least once a year. There is one exception. Because sexual temptation is such a problem, I recommend you follow what I call the Andy Stanley rule: I am never alone with a woman. I don’t share a meal with a woman. I don’t take a trip alone with a woman. I don’t counsel a woman. I never talk about anything personal with a woman.

With this exception, I recommend you make it a habit to share a meal with each of your students on a regular basis. Have them in your home. Do things together. Spend time with them. Effective Bible Teachers always do. — Josh Hunt, The Effective Bible Teacher, 2013.

11. Why do you think affairs are so common?

It never ceases to amaze me how common it is for pastors and other church leaders to have affairs. It seems it is a rare week for me when I don’t hear of some church leader having an affair. I talk to a staff member the other day who has served four churches. All four of them had a pastor who ended a career with an affair.

Affairs always start innocently. They start with a counseling session, a lunch, a brush of the hands or eyes that linger too long at each other in a meeting.

“It is just a touch, what could that hurt?”

“We are just talking–and out in public and everything.”

“It didn’t make any sense to take two separate cars.” — Josh and Missy Hunt and Chris and Cindy Watkins, What Divorce Taught Us About Marriage, 2010.

12. Hebrews 13.5. How does loving money harm us?

WALK WITH G. CAMPBELL MORGAN

“Love of money. Perhaps the word which best conveys the thought is the word avarice.

“‘Love of money’ hoards and holds.

“It is indeed a root of all evil. It dries up the springs of compassion in the soul. It lowers the whole standard of morality. It is the inspiration of all the basest things, even covetousness; for if there may be covetousness without love of money, there is never love of money without covetousness.

“Avarice is often created by prosperity and the consequent possession of money. It is often powerfully present in the lives of those who are devoid of wealth.

“It is wholly material, the result of a wrong conception of life, due to forgetfulness of the fact that ‘life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’ (Luke 12:15).” — John Hoover Paula Kirk Mickey Hodges with Zondervan, Once-a-Day Walk with Jesus Devotional: 365 Days in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

13. Can you think of other verses that speak to the importance of contentment?

As you begin to know God’s love and purpose for you, you can live a life that overflows with purpose, peace, and joy. This is life as He intends you to live it, and this is exactly what David meant when he said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).

Have you been able to say that? Have you been able to say, “Lord, if You want to give me more, fine. If You don’t want to, fine. I shall not want, because I have found my contentment in You.”

The apostle Paul found that contentment. Listen to his amazing words as he sat in Roman dungeon, in chains, for telling others about salvation in Jesus Christ: “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want; for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power” (Philippians 4:11-14, TLB).

Paul expressed contentment regardless of his circumstances. But how many of us have thought, I would be content if I just had a little more money…if I could just land that promotion… if I could get married… if I could only afford that BMW. But somehow, we never quite reach that place of contentment. We’re always looking for something just a little beyond what we have.

There are certain things that only God can give. And when you are in a relationship with Him in which you say, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” you can say with David, “I shall not want.”

Our contentment doesn’t come from what we have. It comes from Whom we know. Hebrews 13:5 tells us, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”

So when you get down to it, everything you need in life is found in a relationship with God. — Greg Laurie, Daily Hope for Hurting Hearts: a Devotional (Dana Point, CA: Kerygma Publishing—Allen David Books, 2011).

14. Do you think you would be happier if you had more money?

On a deeper level, we fundamentally misunderstand the relationship between happiness and wealth. We greatly exaggerate in our thinking the effect that money has on happiness. It does have an effect, but the effect is subtle. Ask the average person what change they would make in their lives for them to be happier and the average person will say, “More money.” There is a wealth of research that indicates that this is, in fact, not true.

Stated more broadly, we are not very good at predicting what will make us happy in general. We don’t predict the effect of money on our happiness, and we don’t predict the effect of anything else very well either. Daniel Nettle writes, “People are really not very good at predicting what the effect of their choices on their happiness will be.”

Psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Tim Wilson conducted a study in which they asked young professors to predict how obtaining tenure or not might affect them emotionally. As you might expect, the young professors reported that they would feel elated if they were awarded tenure and would feel crushed if it were
denied to them. Interestingly, this is not what Gilbert and Wilson found to be true once tenure decisions were actually made. Those who received tenure felt relieved and excited for a short time, but they soon adjusted and it was business as usual. Those unfortunate professors who did not receive tenure felt a stab of emotional pain, but it was much less painful than they expected. Thus, they were able to predict in the correct direction – receiving tenure would be pleasant and being denied tenure would be unpleasant – but they incorrectly predicted the duration and intensity of these feelings.

It is true of money and it is true of lots of other things: we are bad at predicting what will make us happy. As it relates to money, we predict that having more and spending more on ourselves will tend to make us happy. Generally speaking, this turns out to not be the case. Generosity more reliably predicts happiness than does hoarding or indulgent spending.

What scientific research has recently contributed to this age long principle is evidence that practicing acts of kindness is not only good for the recipient but also good for the doer. It may be ironic, but being kind and good, even when it’s unpleasant or when one expects or receives nothing in return, may also be in the doer’s self-interest. This is because being generous and willing to share makes people happy.

Science and the Bible agree: the generous prosper. It is good to be generous. Generous people are happier. — Josh Hunt, Obedience, 2013.

15. Verse 7. What Christian leaders have influenced your life and made you a better Christian?

I once heard Warren Wiersbe say he loved reading because of the joy of meeting people he has always wanted to know. “If it were announced that Hudson Taylor or Charles Spurgeon was speaking at a particular church,” he quipped, “Christians from all over the world would show up. But when I open my book, Hudson Taylor opens his mouth. We have a great time together, and these people are my friends.”

“Through a book,” added Haddon Robinson, “we can wrestle with the thoughts of Augustine, rub shoulders with Calvin, make progress with Bunyan’s pilgrim, enjoy the wit of C. S. Lewis, and hear the sermons of John Chrysostom.”

Christian biographies have often proved hand-held time bombs which, when detonated through reading, can divert the course of a person’s life. For example, God has used Elizabeth Elliot’s biography of her husband Jim, martyr of the Ecuadorian Aucas, to direct many young people into missionary service.

Interestingly, Jim’s own interest in missions was whetted while reading a biography. In Shadow of the Almighty, Elizabeth quotes from his journal, dated October 24, 1949: I see the value of Christian biography tonight, as I have been reading Brainerd’s Diary much today. It stirs me up much to pray and wonder at my nonchalance while I have not power from God. I have considered Hebrews 13:7 just now, regarding the remembrance of certain ones who spake the word of God, “consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith.” I recall now the challenge of Goforth’s Life, read in the summer of 1947, the encouragement of Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. There are incidents which instruct me from the reading of J. G. Paton’s biography last winter. And now this fresh Spirit-quickened history of Brainerd. O Lord, let me be granted grace to “imitate their faith.” — Robert J. Morgan, From This Verse: 365 Scriptures That Changed the World, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000).

16. Verse 16. What is the application of this verse to our day to day lives?

Sometimes we spend years waiting for guidance from God for the real big things—a really important job, maybe, or the right marriage, or a big, financial deal. We get so preoccupied with “me.” Sometimes we’re willing to spend a fair amount of energy and time and effort to do something that will look big, or impressive, or splashy. But how do you respond when God asks you to do something small? What would it be like if we just served each other in small ways?

Mostly God calls people just to do small things: listen to a child, help somebody at work, pray for somebody in trouble, do an errand for somebody at home, encourage somebody who’s a little discouraged, be patient when we’re standing in line, or notice the person who busses our table and say a little prayer of blessing for them.

Mother Teresa once said, “God doesn’t ask us to do great things. He asks us to do small things with great love.” — John Ortberg, Now What? God’s Guide to Life for Graduates (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).

17. Verse 17. Have you ever heard a believer say, “I am doing this because my pastor told me to”?

What is the writer saying? Have a submissive attitude toward those in the church who have been put in a place of leadership. Why? Because they’ve got a big job to do. They’re going to have to stand before the Lord of the universe and give an account of how they watched over your soul. Besides that, they care about you. (Why else would they be in ministry?) Don’t make their job hard by being rebellious. But make their job easy, knowing that their heart for you is that you will be what God wants you to be.

Peter offers this word of insight to some of the younger men within a flock: “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” (1 Peter 5:5–6, NIV).

And what if that kind of submission causes stress in a young man’s heart? Peter has the answer for that in the next verse. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”(1 Peter 5:7, NIV). — David Jeremiah, God in You: Releasing the Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1998), 232–233.

18. What if a pastor asked us to do something we disagree with? What are we to do then?

Think of ways to encourage your minister or leader. Pray often for him. Model gratitude and love. Demonstrate your affection with acts of generosity. Defend the shepherd whenever possible. And when you can’t, tell him face to face, and tell no one else. Do it briefly, graciously, then forgive quickly. Try to imagine being in the shoes of the one who lives with the burden of the whole flock and is never free of that. And one more thought . . . think of how it would be if everyone else in the flock were just like you. C’mon, have a heart! The guy’s not Spurgeon . . . and even if he were, you wouldn’t agree with him either.

If you will do these things for your shepherd-leader, not only will you be rewarded, you will give him and yourself new hope . . . hope to press on, hope for the second mile, and everyone in the flock will enjoy hope beyond religion. —Charles R. Swindoll, Laugh Again & Hope Again (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009).

19. Is it possible to follow a leader too closely? Is it possible to think too much of a leader? Has it ever happened to you or anyone you know?

After I had announced my resignation from a church I had been pastoring for several years, one of the members said to me, “I don’t see how I’m going to make it without you! I depend so much on you for my spiritual help!”

My reply shocked him. “Then the sooner I leave, the sooner you can start depending on the Lord. Never build your life on any servant of God. Build your life on Jesus Christ. He never changes.” — Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 328.

20. What do you want to recall from today’s conversation?

21. How can we support one another in prayer this week?