LAUNCH

Picture this scene: You’re relaxing in your home on a comfortable couch with a fire burning brightly in the fireplace on a cold, winter night. Now picture this scene: You’re standing in the street in front of your home as a fire burns brightly throughout your home on a cold, winter night and destroys it. There’s a fire in both scenes, but what’s the difference between the two scenes?

EXPLORE

1. Just as a fire is amazing in the right setting, sex is amazing when we experience it as God designed it. Read Genesis 2:18-25. What did God say wasn’t good after he created the first man (verse 18)?

2. What did God do about this based on verse 18?

3. 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?

4. Read Genesis 1:27-28. What do these verses suggest about God’s design for sex?

5. Read Proverbs 5:18-19. What do these verses say about God’s purpose for sex in marriage?

APPLY

6. Summarize what you’ve learned about God’s design for sex from these passages.

7. What are some of the ways that you or people you know have struggled because of making sexual choices outside of God’s design?

8. How does it help to understand God’s design for sex as you make choices that have to do with relationships and sex?

9. Think back to what we talked about with the two scenes and the fire. How does this apply to the way we experience sex?

10. What choices or decisions do you need to make in order to see your life line up with God’s design for sex?  Remember that God’s Spirit will give you the power to follow through on obeying whatever is his will for you.

LAUNCH

When we see a “Danger” sign, we know we’re supposed to be careful and stay away. But sometimes the sign can have the opposite effect: it can make us curious and draw us in. Why do you think that is?

EXPLORE

1. Read Proverbs 7:6-27, which describes how an unwise person responds to a “Danger” sign warning against sexual immorality. How do verses 6-7 describe this person?

2. How does the unwise person handle it when he realizes where the sexually immoral person’s house is?

3. What stands out to you about the sexually immoral person from verses 10-21?

4. How do verses 22-23 describe what happens when he goes along with her?

5. What advice is given in verses 24-27?  What do you think of this advice?

6. According to what we just read, we know that engaging in sexual immorality is unwise, but is it a sin?   What does 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 tell us about this?

APPLY

7. In what ways can you relate to the unwise person in this story (or to the person enticing others to sex)?

8. If you could rewrite this story to give it a happy ending, what changes would you make?

9. The man’s main problem is his lack of wisdom. How do you get wisdom?

10. 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?

LAUNCH

Imagine you did something hurtful to a close friend. To your surprise, your friend doesn’t respond with anger and judgment. Instead your friend extends you undeserved love by giving you a beautifully wrapped gift. How would you feel about that?

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.

EXPLORE

1. Read 1 Corinthians 7:32. If we’re unmarried, what should be our attitude toward life, relationships, and sex?

2. Read Ephesians 5:22-24. What do these verses say about how a wife should relate to her husband?

3. Read Ephesians 5:25-30. What do these verses say about how a husband should relate to his wife?

4. Read Ephesians 5:31. 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?

5. Read Ephesians 5:32. When a man and woman experience marriage and sex as God designed it, what greater thing does it point to?

APPLY

6. God wants unmarried people’s focus to be on pleasing the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 7:32). How is that approach to life and sex a beautiful gift from God? (as opposed to being consumed with sex and relationships, caught up in comparisons, and feeling like you always need to “have” someone)

7. God also wants married people’s focus to be on pleasing the Lord by showing each other love and respect.  Out of this love and respect comes beautifully intimate sex and pictures the love and intimacy God wants to have with us. How is this kind of relationship a gift from God?

8. 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)?

9. Read Joel 2:25. 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?

10. What step is God calling you to take (in his power) to live in line with his design for you in sex and relationships?

LAUNCH

Imagine you’re doing hard, outside work on a hot, sunny day. You’re dirty, sweaty, and smelly. How do you feel after taking a shower and getting clean?

Our bad sexual choices can make us feel dirty and smelly spiritually. Jesus wants to bring healing to our brokenness and make us clean.

EXPLORE

1. Read John 8:1-11. What happens when Jesus is teaching the people (verses 1-4)?

2. How do you think you would have felt if you were this woman having done something wrong, being caught, and being exposed in front of Jesus and all the people?

3. What do the religious leaders want to know from Jesus and why (verses 5-6)?

4. How does Jesus respond (verses 7-8)?

5. What happens next (verse 9)?

6. What does Jesus say to the woman (verses 10-11)?

APPLY

7. Just like the woman, what do we deserve from God for our bad sexual choices?

8. 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?

9. 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?

10. As you think about your own bad sexual choices and this story, what do you think Jesus is saying to you?

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