Believers Should Embrace Godly Wisdom Because Obedience to God S Word Is the Path of True Life

Session 1

The Path

Believers should embrace godly wisdom because obedience to God’s Word is the path of true life.

Psalm 1:1-6

Memory Verse: Psalm 1:6

Prepare to lead the Group Time

READ Psalm 1, First Thoughts, and Understand the Context. View the video introduction by Robert Smith, Jr. at Blog.LifeWay.com/ExploretheBible or on the Leader Pack CD-ROM.

Study Psalm 1:1-6, using Explore the Text. Review the Introduction to Psalms to gain insight into the context for this new study. Pay close attention to the contrasting illustrations of the righteous and the wicked person.

Plan the group time using ideas under Lead Group Bible Study. Tailor the plans for your group using the ideas included online at Blog.LifeWay.com/ExploretheBible. If you choose to use either of the testimony suggestions under More Ideas, enlist your volunteers ahead of time.

Grow from expert insights on weekly studies through the Ministry Grid (MinistryGrid.com/Web/ExploretheBible).

Gather the following items: Personal Study Guides (PSG); a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard and markers; and prepared index cards for the icebreaker. Make copies of: PACK ITEMs 2A,B(Handouts: Types of Psalms); and PACK ITEM 5(Bookmark: Memory Verses). Prepare to display the following Pack Items: PACK ITEM 2(Poster: Types of Psalms);PACK ITEM 3(Poster: Summer 2017); PACK ITEM 9(Poster: Authorship of the Psalms); andPACK ITEM 10(Poster: Psalm 1:6).

LEAD Group Bible Study

Focus Attention (First Thoughts)

Icebreaker: In advance, write several pairs of opposite items on index cards—one on each card (for example, winter/summer; college football/professional football; romantic movie/action movie). Mix up the cards and give one to each person as they enter. Lead group members to find their opposite and learn which of the two each prefers. Invite volunteers to share any fun fact they learned about their partner. Explain: All of these opposites require someone choosing one thing over another—you can’t have winter and summer at the same time. Ask: How do you decide which to choose in any of these areas? Say: While none of these were matters of life and death, today we will discuss how we make decisions when the consequences of making the wrong decision are much greater.

Explain: Direct attention to First Thoughts (PSG, pp. 12-13). Emphasize that Psalm 1 describes two paths that people can select. One leads to life; the other leads to death.

Transition:Psalm 1 functions as an introduction to the entire Book of Psalms. Call attention to Pack Item 3(Poster: Summer 2017) and Pack Item 2(Poster: Types of Psalms). Give copies of Pack Items 2A,B(Handouts: Types of Psalms) to each person in the group to use as a reference throughout this study of Psalms. Point out that Pack Item 9(Poster: Authorship of the Psalms) shows the authors of each of the psalms.

Explore the Text

Chart: On a whiteboard or large sheet of paper, create a chart with two columns: “The Path of Life” and “The Path of Death.”

Read: Invite a volunteer to read Psalm 1:1-3, directing the group to listen for phrases that explain the state of being for the two paths on the chart.

Ask:What does the first line of the psalm tell us about the state of being for the person on the path of life? Share from the PSG the paragraph that begins, “The righteous person, according to biblical standards ...” (p. 14).

Discuss: Lead the group to call out any actions or behaviors identified in these verses that the righteous do and don’t do. Record responses on the chart. Discuss how delighting in God’s law helps keep us from the negative behaviors described in verse 1.

Ask:What is the godly fruit that God desires for His followers to produce? How can worldly wisdom hinder growth? How does reading the Bible nurture the development of this godly fruit? (PSG, p. 17)

Transition: We’ve filled out most of the chart for “The Path of Life.” Now let’s look at the rest of the psalm to fill out the other side of the chart.

Read: Direct someone to read Psalm 1:4 as the group listens to identify the state of being for the person on “The Path of Death.” Record the answer on the chart.

Highlight: Invite a volunteer to explain what chaff is, using details from the PSG (p. 17).

Ask:What contemporary images might convey the same biblical truth as the metaphor of the chaff?

Summarize: The wicked are the opposite of everything that is said about the righteous in verses 1-2. We can assume that if the happy person does not follow the advice of the wicked, the wicked person does, and so on for the other descriptions from verse 1. However, there are specific details about what the wicked won’t do in verse 5.

Read: Direct the group to read Psalm 1:5, looking for what the wicked will not do. Lead the group to call out responses for you to fill in on the chart.

Ask:How should God’s warning about the future of the wicked affect you? How should you feel? What should you do? (PSG, p. 18)

Read: Call on a volunteer to read Psalm 1:6, and encourage the group to call out additional items to include on the chart. Then, using Pack Item 10(Poster: Psalm 1:6), point out that verse 6 is this week’s memory verse. Distribute copies of Pack Item 5(Bookmark: Memory Verses), and encourage everyone to use it as a reminder to memorize Scripture.

Highlight:Verse 6 emphasizes God’s protection over the way of the righteous. But because He doesn’t watch over the way of the wicked as He does the way of the righteous, they are led to ruin.

Mini-Lecture: Emphasize that the righteous aren’t right with God because of the good things they do: We don’t become righteous because we avoid following the advice of the wicked, taking the path of sinners, or joining with mockers. We are righteous because we have been saved by faith in Christ Jesus. Our actions and behaviors reflect our salvation. They don’t contribute to it.

Ask:What does this verse teach about the security of those who follow God? How does this security impact our behavior? (PSG, p. 19)

Summarize and Challenge (In My Context)

Review: Using the chart, lead group members to reflect on which illustration from nature would best describe their spiritual life right now: If you have felt more like a tree planted by streams of water, is it because you have maintained the spiritual disciplines of delighting in God’s Word and meditating on it? On the other hand, if your spiritual life has been more like chaff, is it because you haven’t been avoiding the behaviors of verse 1? Lead the group to quietly reflect on these questions: What might you need to change in your life? Or what good things are you doing that you need to make sure you keep doing?

Review: Lead the group through the second question set under In My Context in the PSG (p. 20): As a group, list ways ungodliness is promoted in our world today. How can your Bible study group help one another not be influenced by this misinformation? You may choose to play music during this time (see Suggested Music Ideas).

Remind: Encourage everyone to read through Psalm 78 and study Session 2 in the PSG in preparation for the next group time.

Pray: Thank God for watching over the way of the righteous, and ask Him for the strength to continue on the path of life.

Practice

Review your group list, looking for people whose attendance may have dropped off recently. Encourage them this week, emphasizing that the start of a new unit of study is a great time to get back into the habit of group life.
Contact group members who were not present. Remind them they can stay current with the group by using their Personal Study Guide. Allow them to share prayer requests, asking for permission to share the requests with others in the group.

More Ideas

focus attention (first thoughts)

Display two pots, one with moist potting soil and one with dry sand and gravel. Open up a package of seeds, and ask group members to decide in which pot the seeds would most likely take root and grow. Emphasize that Psalm 1 will present two contrasting images from nature that will help us evaluate what kind of “soil” we’re producing in our lives.

explore the text

To supplement the discussion of Psalm 1:1, enlist a volunteer with a testimony about how following wicked advice or the wrong crowd got him or her off the path of life, what the consequences have been, and how he or she got back on the right path. You may also choose to use a current news story about a public figure who showed a lot of promise early in his or her career, but who fell as a result of poor choices.
To enhance the study of Psalm 1:2, identify a senior adult from outside your group whom you respect for his or her commitment to Bible reading and Scripture memory. Invite this person to share with your group how he or she has developed this discipline in his or her personal life.
To further support the discussion of verse 5, lead the group to complete the Bible Skill activity (PSG, p. 18).

Summarize and challenge (in my context)

Lead the group to quietly reflect on the first question set under In My Context in the PSG (p. 20): What is the role of the Bible in your life? How much time would you say you spend reading and studying the Bible on a weekly basis? What actions can you take to increase that time?

SUGGESTED music ideas

Play a recording of the hymn “Trust and Obey,” by John H. Sammis. Lead the group in singing the chorus together.

Many of the psalms were intended to be sung! Go to the Leader Helps at LifeWay.com/ExploretheBible to hear some of these psalms put to music and to download free worship arrangements of them.