Connect How can you grow in your appreciation of God’s holiness and your confidence in approaching God?
Warm-Up
- How do you define “holiness”?
- On a scale of 1 (evil) to 100 (the Lord’s holiness) - where would you place yourself?
Read Leviticus 11:1-47
- Which animals are unclean? Is there anything specifically about them that makes them unclean?
- Read a selection of verses in Leviticus 12:1; 13:1-3, 13:47-51, 15:1-6, 15:19-23. What other things can make someone unclean?
- Are there any patterns you can identify? How are some laws related to avoiding things that relate to, or can lead to death?
- Which of the laws make sense to you? Which of the laws are perplexing? Who makes the laws?
- What is the purpose of the clean and unclean laws? How do they relate to holiness?
- Why does only the Lord have the right to determine what is holy and what is unclean?
Read Leviticus 15:31
- Why is it important to avoid being made unclean? What is the consequence?Why was this a relevant issue for Israelites?
- How common was it to be unclean or defiled? How much care would you need to be clean?
- Why does being defiled prevent us from being in God’s presence?
Read Mark 7:14-23
- What is the true source of defilement? How does that relate to us today?
- Which kinds of evil thoughts have you had before? How do you try to deal with them?
- Why do we need the Lord to make us holy?
- Read Hebrews 13:12. Who makes us holy? How does he make us holy? How is this permanent?
- How does Jesus’ death give you confidence to approach the Lord?
- How should your holiness found in Christ change how you live on your frontlines this coming week?
- What is our responsibility today to live as holy people? How can we support others to do that?
Apply Is there anything in your life that causes you to doubt God’s acceptance of you? Bring them before the Lord, and spend time meditating on the good news that Jesus has made us permanently holy, in him.
