Where to Lord? (Guidance)

Where to, Lord? is part of an exciting series of topical Bible studies. Using a mix of Bible investigation, group discussion and video input, Where to, Lord? will help your group interact with what God is saying about the thorny topic of guidance. Guidance can be one of the most frustrating issues for Christians. We know that Jesus has died, and that heaven lies in the future, but still remain unsure about everything in between. We have many questions about guidance, such as:

• Am I missing out on God's personal guidance?
• How does God guide his people today?
• If God speaks, will I hear his voice?
• How do I know God's will for my life?

Perfect for a Bible study group looking for a refreshing change, the studies and video format are specifically designed to work together to enable any group to put together the pieces on this topic. This is an excellent new tool to help you tackle an age-old question.

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Introduction to the studies

How to make the most of these studies

While your Bible might come complete with a topical index, this certainly wasn’t part of the original. In fact, the Bible was written by many different human authors over many hundreds of years. Yet because God is the ultimate author, the Bible makes sense as a whole and has much to say about a vast range of topics. This Bible study is designed to help you examine one of these topics: holiness.

Perhaps the best way to study this topic would be to read the Bible cover to cover and make your own topical index! Having discovered all the parts of the Bible which talk about this topic, you could then put all the pieces of the jigsaw together and summarize what the Bible as a whole says about holiness. However, most of us would benefit from a bit more guidance, and this is where this Bible study and the accompanying video material can help.

The text component will give you the road map for each study, including Bible passages to investigate and questions to think through. At various points you will be prompted to play a section of the accompanying video material, where the Bible’s teaching on holiness will be summarized and explained. Between your own investigation and discussion, and the teaching material presented in the video we trust you will gain greater insight into this topic—seeing for yourself what the Bible has to say.

The format

Each study has up to four different types of material, each having its own symbol.

For starters: Questions to break the ice and get you thinking.

Investigate: Questions to help you investigate key parts of the Bible.

Look and listen: Video segments which summarize the Bible’s teaching on a particular topic, integrating the Bible passages you have read and prompting you to think through the implications for yourself. It is a good idea to make notes during the video in the spaces provided in this workbook.

Think it through: Questions to help you think through the implications of your discoveries and write down your own thoughts and reactions.

Suggestions for individual study

Before you begin, pray that God would open your eyes to what he is saying in his word and give you the spiritual strength to do something about it. You may be spurred to pray again at the end of the study.

Work through the study, following the directions as you go. Write in the spaces provided.

Resist the temptation to skip over the Think it through sections. It is important to think about what is said in the video presentations (rather than just accepting them as true) and to ponder the implications for your life. Writing these things down is a very valuable way to get your thoughts working.

Take what opportunities you can to talk to others about what you’ve learnt.

Suggestions for group study

Much of the above applies to group study as well. The studies are suitable for structured Bible study or home groups, as well as for more informal pairs and threesomes. Each study is designed to take just under an hour to complete, although you may want to allow extra time if you want to discuss the material in more detail.

Everyone will get more out of the studies if each member of the group has done some preparation beforehand. In particular, people should work through the For starters and Investigate sections, making notes in the space provided. If people have worked through these sections then there should be plenty of time to watch the video material and discuss the Think it through questions.

Spend most of the group time discussing the Investigate and Think it through sections. If people have done some homework then you should be able to focus on what the passages mean, rather than on finding and reading them.

The role of the group leader is to direct the course of the discussion and to try to draw the threads together at the end. This will mean a little extra preparation—watching all the video sections for each study, working out which questions are worth concentrating on, and being sure of the main thrust of the study. To help group leaders understand the logic of the course and of each study, appendix 1 contains a course overview. Leaders will also probably want to work out approximately how long they want to spend on each part. See appendix 2 for suggested timing for each study.

Check before the study commences that the video is properly loaded and cued to the right starting point. Make sure that everyone can see and hear the video presentations.

We haven’t included an ‘answers guide’ to the questions in the studies. This is deliberate, for we want to give you a guided tour, not a lecture. However, there is more than enough information on the accompanying video to set you on the right path. The rest is up to you.

If you would like to do some further investigation into guidance, we highly recommend reading Guidance and the Voice of God. It is also the ideal way for group leaders to do some extra preparation, since it provides further information and additional examples and case studies.