WEEK 6 – Spring 2026
LIFE GROUPS – WEEK 6
ICE BREAKER:
Where in your life are you more focused on staying out of trouble than actively helping more?
SCRIPTURE:
James 1:27 NLT
John 2:13-17
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”
UNDISCIPLING goodness - The Performance of Righteousness
Lie #1: Goodness lives in the heart and remains mostly invisible.
Truth: Goodness is revealed by what it restored in public.
Lie #2: Goodness keeps the peace.
Truth: Goodness fights for peace.
Lie #3: Goodness is a random act of kindness.
Truth: Goodness reorders our lives so others are not last.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- When you think about being a “good Christian,” do you instinctively think about avoiding sin or actively helping people? What does that reveal about how you have been discipled?
- Where in your life are you protecting your comfort, schedule, or reputation instead of stepping into someone else’s need?
- Who are the widows and orphans in your world right now, the people who are vulnerable, overlooked, or struggling, that God may be putting in front of you?
- If someone examined your calendar and your bank statement, would they see evidence of goodness that is actively helping people, or mostly a life organized around your own comfort?
Challenge
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James says pure religion is caring for widows and orphans in their distress. That means real goodness always has a face attached to it. This week identify the widow or orphan you have been neglecting. Not in theory. A real person. It might be the single parent who is overwhelmed. The teenager who has no father figure. The person battling addiction who needs someone to walk with them. The lonely neighbor. The struggling family at church. The person everyone else quietly avoids. Ask yourself honestly, who is the person God has placed in front of me that I have been stepping over? Then do something concrete. Call them. Help them. Show up. Invest time. Rearrange your schedule. Goodness is not proven by how clean your life looks. It is proven by whether you are willing to love the people God has placed in your path.
Life Journal Reading Plan
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Day 1: Acts 15
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Day 2: Acts 16
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Day 3: Acts 17
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Day 4: Acts 18
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Day 5: Acts 19
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Day 6: Acts 20
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Day 7: Acts 21
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