Sermon Response Guide
PRIMARY SCRIPTURE:
Proverbs 19:11; 26:17, 20-21 NLT
11 Sensible people control their temper;
they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.
17 Interfering in someone else’s argument
is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears.
20 Fire goes out without wood,
and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.
21 A quarrelsome person starts fights
as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.
Key Points
- We will encounter some form of conflict each day this side of heaven.
- Wisdom is neither avoiding conflict nor pursuing conflict, rather, wisdom is knowing how to navigate conflict in such a way that honors God and cares for people.
- In the Kingdom of God, the one who shows mercy is the one who truly wins.
- As people of God, sometimes we need to step into conflicts of justice and righteousness, even if it means getting bit in the process.
Memory Verse
Ask God to write this word on your heart this week:
“Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.”
-Proverbs 16:32 NLT
Questions for Reflection
Take time to reflect and respond to these questions on your own in the presence of the Holy Spirit, or with trusted friends or family members:
1: How would you define conflict?
2: What do fire and conflict have in common?
3: How do you tend to fuel the fires of conflict in your own life?
4: What steps could you take to quench the fires of conflict in your life this week?
5: Read Galatians 5:22-26 and answer the questions that follow.
· What can this Scripture teach us about navigating conflict?
· In light of today’s sermon from Proverbs, what good news does God offer us in this passage?
6: Reflect on this week’s memory verse (Proverbs 16:32) and answer the questions that follow.
· What does this verse mean to you?
· How does this verse speak into a conflict you are presently encountering?
7: What primary truth did God reveal to you today?
8: How is God inviting you to respond to the truth he entrusted to you today?
Pray
Lord, thank you for choosing to overlook the ways we have wronged you. It’s not that what we have done doesn’t matter, but that it’s already been paid for by Christ. Just as you nailed all our offenses to the cross of Christ, help us do the same as we encounter conflict in our own lives. Teach us to know when to step back and when to step in, when to speak up and when to stay still. Rather than fixating on the flaming fires of conflict, teach us to fix our eyes on you, our ever-present help in time of need.
