Are You Following the Right Voice · Group Guide

Discussion Questions

1. 1

   Read Matthew 7:15-20. James pointed out that if wolves dressed like wolves nobody would follow them. What test does Jesus actually hand us in these verses — and what tests does he pointedly not give us?

2. 2

   Jesus asks whether grapes are gathered from thornbushes. James said fruit takes time — you do not plant a tree and check it the next morning, and Jeremiah had to wait a year before Hananiah's false word came apart. Where have you had to wait to find out whether something was what it claimed to be?

3. 3

   James read C. S. Lewis on Jesus being either Lord, liar or lunatic, and said the danger is stopping at "great moral teacher." What is appealing about the moral-teacher version of Jesus, and what does it cost you if that is all he is?

4. 4

   Spurgeon's line was that discernment is not telling right from wrong but right from almost right — and James told it with a batch of brownies made with just a little bit of dog poop. Where have you run into something that was mostly right, and how did you finally notice?

5. 5

   James listed the marks of a good shepherd — takes responsibility, tells the truth when it is uncomfortable, stays steady under pressure, builds people up — against a wolf who makes everything about himself and leaves damage behind. Think of a leader you have actually followed. Which column did they sit in, and how did that shape you?

6. 6

   Before we go inspecting anyone else's fruit, James turned the question around: are the people around you flourishing because you are in their life? Pick one person this week and ask them what it is actually like to be on the other side of you.