God gives sex for a married man and woman to enjoy, to multiply the human race, and to point to the love he provides in a relationship with him.
The PROBLEM We don’t understand that sex is God’s gift to us, so we experience brokenness from using it in harmful ways.
Our RESPONSE Understand God’s design for sex and trust his power to experience it as he designed.
Why THIS MATTERS Most people think sex is amazing, but not many people stop to think that God created it.
KNOW: Sex is a gift that God wants to give us in the right setting.
EXPERIENCE: Gratitude to God for the gift of sex and hopefulness about experiencing it as he intends.
DO: Trust in God’s power to experience sex in a way that lines up with his will.
The idea box is a place where you can find some creative ideas for leading this study.
The ideas come from small group leaders like you, so if you have an idea that isn’t in there, click below to share it with the community!
Just as a fire is amazing in the right setting, sex is amazing when we experience it as God designed it.
Verses 24-25 explain God’s plan for marriage and the sexuality that’s part of that relationship.
What do the phrases “hold fast (joined) to his wife,” “become one flesh,” and “naked and not ashamed” (verses 24-25) suggest about God’s plan for sex?
These phrases suggest that God designed sex to happen in a life-long marriage commitment between a man and a woman and to grow great intimacy between them.
Science confirms this: the hormone oxytocin creates a pleasurable bond for those who have sex in marriage, but this hormone heightens our disappointment when we experience sex outside of God’s design.
What do these verses suggest about God’s design for sex?
They suggest that God designed sex in marriage to reproduce people to rule God’s creation and multiply his image, so everyone can see who God is and what he’s like.
What do these verses say about God’s purpose for sex in marriage?
God wants sex in marriage to bring pleasure and satisfaction.
Summarize what you’ve learned about God’s design for sex from these passages.
God designed sex to happen as part of a lifelong marriage commitment between a husband and wife.
He designed sex to grow intimacy in marriage, reproduce people to show who God is and what he’s like, and give satisfaction and pleasure to the husband and wife.
What are some of the ways that you or people you know have struggled because of making sexual choices outside of God’s design?
How does it help to understand God’s design for sex as you make choices that have to do with relationships and sex?
Understanding God’s design for sex serves as a powerful guide to experiencing the blessings of sex instead of having sex become a source of brokenness in our lives.
Experiencing sex in God’s design makes it beautiful and satisfying.
Experiencing sex outside of God’s design brings pain and destruction.
What choices or decisions do you need to make in order to see your life line up with God’s design for sex?
A good launch for the SEX SERIES : GOD’S DESIGN series is “Would you say sex is good or bad?
Sex brings brokenness when it happens outside of God’s design.
The PROBLEM Sex is so attractive that it tempts us to experience it outside of God’s will.
Our RESPONSE Ask God for the power to line up our lives with his word about sex.
Why THIS MATTERS Sex within God’s will brings freedom from guilt, regret, and heartache.
Yet many don’t know about or pay attention to God’s design and experience brokenness in the sexual area of their lives.
KNOW: Sex has the power to destroy our lives when we depart from God’s design.
EXPERIENCE: The joy and safety that come from experiencing sex within God’s design.
DO: Trust God for the power of his Spirit to listen to his word and not let our hearts turn away from his design for sex.
The idea box is a place where you can find some creative ideas for leading this study.
The ideas come from small group leaders like you, so if you have an idea that isn’t in there, click below to share it with the community!
God wants us to avoid sexual immorality, which means any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage between a husband and his wife.
As you look to Jesus for wisdom in light of this study, what is one step you think God wants you to take to pay attention to his “Danger” sign and be a sexually wise person?
Realizing that God sees all my sexual choices, even when I think no one else does.
God brings beauty from the brokenness of our poor sexual choices when we turn to him and approach sex according to his design.
The PROBLEM We treat sex like a god, so we make it an idol.
Our RESPONSE Realize that God wants to make something beautiful of the sexual brokenness in our lives as we submit to his design.
Why THIS MATTERS If sex is not a god in your life, you’re free to live for the one true God and experience his good will.
KNOW: God makes this part of our lives beautiful when we trust him to avoid sexual activity outside marriage.
EXPERIENCE: Excitement about God’s design for sex in a way that brings joy and freedom.
DO: Receive Christ’s forgiveness and healing for past choices and embrace God’s design for sex.
The idea box is a place where you can find some creative ideas for leading this study.
The ideas come from small group leaders like you, so if you have an idea that isn’t in there, click below to share it with the community!
Many of us have hurt our close friend, God, by making unwise sexual choices: doing things we shouldn’t do, thinking sexual thoughts that dishonor God and others, or giving sex and relationships too much of a place in our lives.
Sex according to God’s design is like that beautifully wrapped gift that we don’t deserve.
What gift does God give to a husband and wife sexually when they come to their relationship with a heart to give and sacrifice, not just to satisfy their own needs?
When a man and woman experience marriage and sex as God designed it, what greater thing does it point to?
It points to the beautiful love relationship that God wants to have with people through faith in Jesus Christ.
How is that approach to life and sex a beautiful gift from God?
Out of this love and respect comes beautifully intimate sex and pictures the love and intimacy God wants to have with us.
How does it make a difference in your life to know that sex is bigger than sex (that for unmarried people the “bigger thing” is abstaining from sex to please God and that for married people the “bigger thing” is loving each other in a way that pictures Jesus’ love for his people)?
How does it help to know that God’s forgiveness in Christ is bigger than any failure to live in line with God’s design for your sexuality and relationships?
What step is God calling you to take (in his power) to live in line with his design for you in sex and relationships?
God’s forgiveness through Jesus is bigger than our poor sexual choices and the brokenness they’ve created.
The PROBLEM We remain in the guilt and shame of poor choices we’ve made in the sexual part of our lives because we don’t realize the love, forgiveness, and healing Jesus has for us.
Our RESPONSE Receive Christ’s forgiveness for mistakes we’ve made sexually, and trust him for the power to live out his design for our sexuality.
KNOW: God offers forgiveness, healing, and freedom despite any choices we’ve made or any sexual brokenness we’ve experienced.
EXPERIENCE: Forgiveness for poor sexual choices and hope because God is bigger than the past and the present.
The idea box is a place where you can find some creative ideas for leading this study.
The ideas come from small group leaders like you, so if you have an idea that isn’t in there, click below to share it with the community!
The religious leaders bring a woman caught in adultery—having sex with a man other than her husband—before Jesus and all the people.
Just like the woman, what do we deserve from God for our bad sexual choices?
Based on what Jesus said to the woman, what do you think Jesus wants for you in the face of the bad sexual choices you’ve made?
What difference does it make to know that Jesus doesn’t condemn us, but that he also calls us to trust in the power of his Spirit to head in a new direction away from bad sexual choices?
It sets the stage for God to change us and heal us from the brokenness our bad sexual choices have caused.
Look for opportunities to lead your group to experience the joy of Jesus’ forgiveness and the hope of his healing as we follow him in a new direction that’s based on his design for sex and relationships.
CHUKA KEN MINISTRY 