Good With Money (part 1): The Object of My Affection

TO START

Let’s take a trip back in time. How did you spend your very first paycheck? What’s the first big purchase you remember making with your own hard-earned money? How did it make you feel?

TO DISCUSS

For the next few weeks we’ll be talking money. People aren’t always eager to talk about their money (their lack of it or their excess of it). Encourage your group to be vulnerable and remind them group is a safe place to be honest (both in our struggles and in our victories).

How would you describe your family’s relationship to money when you were growing up? Were you struggling? Did you have lots of extra?

Did your parents talk to you about how to handle money when you were a kid? If so, what did they say? If not, what effect did that have on you?

Justin offered a list on Sunday of ways you feel when hear the word money. Which of the following best describes your gut reaction? Why that word? Take some time to share your journey with money. How do you and money get along? What defines your relationship?

  • Frustration

  • Hope

  • Guilt

  • Betrayal

  • Longing

  • Confusion

  • Fear

  • Pride

  • Shame

  • Happiness

  • Sadness

  • Anger

We said on Sunday that the big question when it comes to being blessed by your money or cursed by it is this:  Do you love money, or do you love God? Justin shared four ways love behaves:

  • Devotion

  • Enthusiastic desire

  • Sacrifice

  • Fear associated with losing

Work through those four behaviors offering practical and personal examples. What would it look like to be devoted to money? How might an enthusiastic desire for money manifest in your life? What have you/would you sacrifice for money? Have you ever been afraid of losing money (or particularly shaken by the loss of money)? Share an example.

TO READ

Read Luke 12:22-31.

This isn’t a passage about money, but also it definitely is. Are you tempted to worry about money? What does God say we should remember if we’re tempted to worry about our clothes or food (or other things money buys)? What does He say we should DO?

TO PRAY

Tonight might be a good time for some confession and intercession. Do you think maybe you do love money? Tell the group and let them pray for you.


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