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Understand why we become discontented and how Jesus Christ alone can bring the treasure of contentment to our daily lives.
Part of the Good Book Guides series.
We all know what it is to feel discontented with our lives — with what we have, how much we can get, what we do, who we live with, how we are and what the future promises.
The constant hunger for something more may seem like the aches and pains of growing old — something that we must just put up with in this far-from-perfect world. But the Bible shows that discontent is the symptom of a lethal disease that will kill us if we do not find a cure. It was discontent that first led humans into rebellion against God, with the catastrophic consequences that have followed from that decision.
Yet Jesus Christ promises that anyone who believes in Him will never again hunger or thirst. The apostle Paul was able to say that he had learned the secret of being content in any and every situation — in need or in plenty. Discontent is a problem of our hearts not our circumstances. This Good Book Guide can help us to understand why we become discontented, how Jesus Christ alone can help us, and on a practical level, how Christian living can bring the treasure of contentment to our daily lives.
Introduction
1. Our hungry hearts (Ecclesiastes)
2. The only food that satisfies (John 6 v 25-42; 60-69)
3. Content with what we have (1 Timothy 6 v 3-19)
4. Content with where we are (1 Corinthians 7 v 1-24)
5. Content when life is hard (2 Corinthians 1 and 4)
6. The secret of true happiness (Luke 6 v 12-26)
Leaders' Guide
| Contributors | Anne Woodcock |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781905564668 |
| Format | Paperback |
| First published | May 2008 |
| Dimensions | 140mm x 210mm x 4mm |
| Weight | 0.10 kg |
| Print size | 9.0pt |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 72 |
| No. of studies | 6 |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
The Good Book Guides have been developed to ensure that each session not only seeks to uncover the meaning of the passage and see how it fits into the big picture of the Bible, but also leads people to apply what they have learnt to their lives. Flexible and practical, the Good Book Guides are ideal for small groups, or individual study.
"The format is very user-friendly and the content is rich and accessible."
- Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition blogger and Vice-President of Editorial, Crossway
"God-centered, application-oriented, and driven by the text throughout, this resource is a gift to God’s church."
- Matt Smethurst, Gospel Coalition reviewer and Master of Divinity student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Here at Covenant Life Church, we have greatly benefitted from the small group resources from The Good Book Company. Many small groups in our family life ministry have used "Colossians: Confident Christianity" in their study of scripture. Additionally, our youth ministry has used "Romans 1-5: God and You" in their small groups. Both resources were very easy to use, helped the reader engage directly with the scriptures, and had a wonderful pastoral emphasis demonstrated in all the questions.
- Dave Brewer, Youth Pastor at Covenant Life Church, Maryland
We've just worked through this book in our Women's Bible study and have found it Biblical, informative and deeply challenging. Often we think "if only" this was different in our lives we'd be content but the Bible teaches us our contentment is in Jesus regardless of our circumstances.
Plainly put easy for leader but too much to dijest in 1hr which is our time shedule .
Our group has Xlnt facilitators, I trust whatever they recommend. I'm very satisfied with this study. I've studied much in my life but learned more now. Personally, II don't like the format: print too small; like full pages; just me. Also dislike Q&A, prefer discussion; not a problem. Thank you.
We went through this workbook as a women's ministry this summer. Each lesson stands alone, so it was easy for women to come and go without feeling like they were "falling behind." These lessons look at the topic of contentment from a different angle and passage; sometimes with surprising and provocative applications. This was my second time to work through this material and I found it just as fruitful this time, both personally and as a ministry leader.
Very well put together study guide which has worked well for our group of 16 ladies. Questions lead to good, relevant discussion and certainly made us think about contentment in all its aspects. Only suggestion that under Study 4 Explore More Esther would have been a better example, rather than Naaman's servant girl. There is a lot to cover and to complete whole study really needs about one and a quarter hours. Very well structured with some easier, straightforward questions and those that challenge. Leaders notes excellent.
A very challenging book with much food for thought. Our faith our God should always be first in our lives but as a group of women discussing the chapters together we realise that God doesn't always take precedence all of the time. Contentment will develop the closer our walk with God really is. We must examine our hearts and God will reveal His truth to us. We are indiviidual but special to God. Sometimes we found discussion questions deep and difficult to answer but leaders notes were beneficial some of the time.
Have found this quite helpful, each question is clearly written and thought provoking
Very biblically based approach to contentment; so relevant in today's age, learnt a lot from this.
My wife is doing this as a one-to-one exercise with a young lady and it's been very helpful. Apart from the main content, it's opened up some great conversations on broader discipleship issues.
I was impressed with this when looked through this before giving it to our fellowship groups to do. It is good, biblical stuff. I think it deals with all the main challenges to our contentment, and does so through very good bible studies with strong questions. It is good to see application to our hearts not just to our heads (knowledge / thinking) and hands (what we do).
One of our group leaders, who is a very experienced mature godly man wrote of this guide, "Basically, very impressed. I really like the emphasis on Christ and that he alone can satisfy our longings. I think the common view ​is that contentment is all about being happy with what we've got (certainly our group saw it through that lens only) - whereas the Biblical teaching is so much richer. John 6 is great in that regard. Good stuff!"
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is really a minor quibble (more of a personal preference) that it does't explicitly remind us of the overall story of the Bible, namely creation, rebellion, redemption and restoration. However this is really implicit in the material even if not explicit. I would highly recommend this.
