WELCOME ICEBREAKER What was the highlight of your past week? WORSHIP One of the keys to overcoming the temptation to envy is to live in an attitude of gratitude. Start your session with a time of giving thanks either in song or word. It will set the stage for a great time of receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit. WORD Boundaries are personal property lines that define who you are and who you are not, and influence all areas of your life. We are created in the image of a God of love. God has given us clear boundaries that keep us from crossing over into a life of destruction. One of these fences we must not cross over is to move out of love into a world of envy. If we stay within God’s parameters of love, we will never fail; if we move into the arena of envy, we are taking in a poison that will slowly kill us. Begin by asking the group, “How would you define envy?” Have the group take turns reading the following verses on envy. Some of the translations may read jealousy or covet instead of envy: Titus 3:3; James 3:16-17; 1 Peter 2:1-3; Mark 7:21-22; Galatians 5:19-21; Proverbs 27:4; Exodus 20:17. Discuss the following: - Why is envy such a deadly sin?
- What are the signs of someone who has crossed the boundary into a world of envy? (Please record some of the best answers in your report. It is great to get insight from your group for future reference.)
- How does it affect our lives?
- How can we deal with envy?
- How should we treat someone who is envious?
WORK This is a sensitive topic and there will be those in your group who are dealing with it. We don’t like to admit it, but we need to come clean to be healed. Gently encourage those who are dealing with it to ask for prayer. If there is an example in your life as a leader where we struggle with envy, share it and ask for prayer and in this way open it up for others. Your humility will encourage them. Please pray for Police Appreciation Sunday and have EACH ONE BRING ONE. WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!! Has this lesson helped you? Please let us know! Email home group testimonies with this form! It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time...a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness...uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. Galatians 5:19-21 — MSG
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