These Bible studies are designed for use in small groups. They may provide a useful introduction to a meeting where different topics from the Guide are being discussed. Choose a study that will be linked to the topic you plan to study or that is relevant to your situation. During the studies, encourage people to think about what they read, to discuss the meaning and how to act on what they learn, and finally to pray together about what they have learnt.
BIBLE STUDY 1 Attitudes towards disease
Read Luke 8:42b-48. Since Old Testament times, women were believed to be unclean at the time of their monthly bleeding. As a result they stayed away from the temple during this time. According to the law of Moses (Leviticus 15), if Jesus was touched by a woman with bleeding it would make him unclean.
- Why did Jesus not tell the woman off for touching him?
- Imagine the scene! Consider Jesus’s words, ‘I know power has gone out of me’. Have any of us experienced the power of healing prayer?
- This woman would have felt unclean for 12 years. How did Jesus respond to her?
- Do we sometimes make people living with HIV feel ‘unclean’ or rejected from our worship? Why? How can we change this?
- Why did Jesus make the woman come forward and admit she had touched him? What can we learn from this?
Pray for people living with HIV to experience God’s love and peace and to trust in him for their health and future.
BIBLE STUDY 2 Jesus’s response to sin
Read John 8:1-11. The teachers of the law brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught committing adultery. The accusers wanted to shame the woman and to trap Jesus. The man, who had also committed adultery, was not brought to be judged (usually it was seen as the fault of the woman). They brought the woman out in public, ready to be stoned.
- How did Jesus respond to their accusations?
- How did Jesus remain in control of the situation and his own feelings?
- How did he judge the woman’s sin?
- What can we learn from Jesus’s example in judging others?
Jesus did not defend the woman’s actions, but he was willing to stand up to the powerful. His actions showed love and the desire to restore relationships. He taught forgiveness, rather than condemnation.
BIBLE STUDY 3 Wisdom in sexual behaviour
Read Genesis 39:5-20. The story of Joseph shows us a young man who feared God and decided to live in obedience to God’s laws.
- What shows us that this was true? (verses 8, 9, 12)
- How did Joseph resist temptation?
If we consider Joseph’s position as a slave in Potiphar’s house at this time of temptation, we can only admire him for his courage.
- Why did Potiphar’s wife react as she did?
- How did Joseph suffer for his beliefs?
Joseph chose to live in sexual purity because he knew this was God’s teaching. It made life very difficult for him and he suffered for a long time.
- How is this story an encouragement to us?
BIBLE STUDY 4 God’s plan for sex is good!
Church leaders so often find it embarrassing to talk about sexual issues. This means that our children often learn about sex from rumours, other children and the media. They miss out on understanding God’s plan for sex.
Read Song of Songs 4:9-16. This is a part of the Bible that is not often read in public. The whole book describes the joy of two people enjoying their love for each other.
- How does the man describe his bride in verses 10 and 11? What words do we use to describe our love for our partners?
- What do you understand by verse 12?
- Discussing with young people about the benefits of waiting to enjoy sexual relations until they marry can often seem very difficult to them, and sometimes negative in today’s world. How do the words of verses 12-15 paint a very different picture?
- What does the bride say to welcome her husband in verse 16? How does she show her pride in offering the gift of her love?
Read Matthew 19:3-9. Jesus’s teaching on the wonder and sanctity of marriage in verse 5 is very clear. A man and a woman become ‘one flesh’ – a bond that should not be broken.
- What does Jesus’s teaching mean for people who enter into casual sexual relationships?
- What are the consequences of ignoring God’s plan for sex?
BIBLE STUDY 5 The body of Christ
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. The body of Christ has HIV and AIDS! The body of Christ is starving. The body of Christ has no proper home. This is because when one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers (verse 26). There is no ‘them’ and ‘us’. We are all affected.
Sometimes the church denies the existence of HIV and AIDS among its members and leaders. Why might this be? What is the result?
- How can the people of God act as a body in their response to HIV and AIDS?
- How can we act as the hands and the feet of Christ?
- What would be the response if the wider church always responded as ‘one body’ to those in need?
BIBLE STUDY 6 Amazing love
While on earth, Jesus demonstrated His love in the most challenging way possible. He was filled with compassion as he looked at the people around him. Read Matthew 9:35-36.
- How did Jesus show his love to those he met?
- How can we show love to those around us?
Read Luke 15:1-7. Jesus often annoyed the Church authorities by spending much of his time with, and showing love to, people the Church felt were unacceptable.
- Why did Jesus choose to spend so much time with rejected people?
- How does Jesus deal with the criticism of the Pharisees and teachers of the law?
- How can we show love to those who are rejected by our society?
God calls us to stop judging others and instead to love them with the same challenging love that he showed. We are saved by his grace alone. We all continue to fail God, and therefore have nothing to boast about.
BIBLE STUDY 7 Holiness in practice
Read Leviticus 19:1-18. The command to ‘love your neighbour’ first appears in Leviticus 19:18. It summarises verses 1-18, which contain various Old Testament rules and regulations. Look at this passage in Leviticus. Divide the commands (verses 3, 4, 9, 12, 14, 16 and 18) into those concerned with:
• worshipping God
• personal holiness
• holy living standards in relation to other people.
These commands are given with a note of authority. Whose authority is this? Note the general nature of some commands (verses 2, 3 and 11) and the precise detail of others (verses 5-8, 9, 13 and 14). God wants us to be holy, both in large matters and in the small details of our daily lives.
- How does God’s law make provision for the poor and for ‘outsiders’? (see verses 9 and 14)
- How can we care for the disadvantaged as individuals, within our family, and within our church?
- How can we express love and care for those living with AIDS in our community?
BIBLE STUDY 8 HIV and AIDS and the glory of God
By the time of Jesus, many of the teachings of the Old Testament had been over-simplified, resulting in beliefs such as: ‘If you are suffering, it must be because you have sinned’.
Read John 9:1-7. The disciples realised the problem that this passage raised. Surely this man had not sinned before he was even born?
- Consider Jesus’s answer when the disciples asked about whose sin was responsible. What did he mean? What does this mean for us?
Jesus encouraged his followers to pray for more of God’s love and glory to be seen – even in the suffering that you and I see today. And so this blind man was not only healed but revealed God’s glory in Jesus the saviour.
So our attitude to AIDS should not be ‘Whose fault?’ but rather, ‘God’s opportunity to do what?’ The light of Jesus is seen best when there is suffering or doubt. May his light in us shine as we support those living with HIV and AIDS.
- What do people in our area say about people living with HIV and AIDS?
- How can we be practical in our love?
- How do we get the spiritual strength from the Lord to be positive about difficulties which we and others face?
- How can we pray for and support all those living with HIV and AIDS and those who care for them?
BIBLE STUDY 9 Why suffering?
Read Genesis 1:31, 2:15. Disasters and suffering were never part of God’s original plan for us. He created all things and formed a partnership with us. However, this partnership was broken (Genesis 3) and we suffer the consequences.
- How much is suffering part of these consequences?
Read Romans 8:18-25. Today there is suffering – but it is temporary, and will one day give way to something eternally glorious.
- How does God offer us a way back to the partnership?
Knowing God, the prospect of suffering should not terrify us – we learn here that we are safe in his hands and that this world will one day be transformed into a new world. Until that glorious day, God requires that we act justly, love kindness and walk humbly with him (Micah 6:8).
BIBLE STUDY 10 Caring for orphans and widows?
Read Deuteronomy 10:12-22. Verses 12-13 echo the great commandment of Deuteronomy 6:5 that Israel should love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and strength. In verses 14-19 this passage continues to remind Israel about who God is, what he does and what he wants those who believe in him to do. This is repeated twice – each time in a beautifully balanced series of three verses. Verses 14 and 17 remind us who God is, verses 15 and 18 tell us what God does and verses 16 and 19 tell us what he wants us to do.
- What does verse 17 say about how great God is? What does it mean to say that God ‘is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty and the awesome God?’
- In the second part of verse 17 we read that God is ‘not partial and takes no bribes.’ What does this say about God and how he uses his great power?
- What does verse 18 tell us about what this great God does?
- Why is God so interested in seeing justice done for orphans, widows and immigrants? How can we care for the orphans and widows in our community?
Orphans, widows and immigrants are usually the weakest people in any society and the people most in need of care and protection. If the God we love cares about them so much, so should we.
BIBLE STUDY 11 Caring for children?
It is very easy to value children more for what they can become, rather than for what they are in themselves. Children may be seen as a bit of a burden from the time they are born, until the time when they can be useful. This is how children were viewed in the time of Jesus. What Jesus said about children and his attitude to them was, therefore, very revolutionary in his time.
Read Mark 9:33-37 The Greek word used in the New Testament for ‘child’ is also used for ‘servant’ or even ‘slave’. Children were, therefore, seen as similar to servants or slaves. In this story, Jesus uses a child as a visual aid to teach his disciples.
- How did Jesus treat the child that he used as a visual aid? What would the child have felt when Jesus took him in his arms?
- The disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest. What did Jesus mean them to understand by receiving a child in his name?
- Who did Jesus say would be the greatest servant in his kingdom? How can we respond to this in a world where so many are in need?
- What does it mean to ‘receive’ a child in the name of Jesus? How can we receive children in the name of Jesus in our community?