Discovery Bible Study
Honor and Shame
Contents
- How a Discovery Bible Study works
- 1Created with honor, without shame Genesis 1:26-31 · Genesis 2:15-25
- 2Shame enters, and we hide Genesis 3:1-13
- 3God covers what we cannot Genesis 3:14-24
- 4A name greater than a tower Genesis 11:1-9 · Genesis 12:1-9
- 5From shame to splendor Ezekiel 16:1-14
- 6David honors his enemy 1 Samuel 24:1-22
- 7Jesus honors the woman everyone avoided Mark 5:25-34
- 8Jesus takes the lowest place John 13:1-17
- 9The shame of the cross, the name above all Philippians 2:5-11
- 10Brought near, made one household Ephesians 2:11-22
How a Discovery Bible Study works
This page is for whoever leads the study. Everyone else only needs the passage.
A Discovery Bible Study has no teacher. The person leading only asks the questions; the Bible does the teaching. That is what makes it simple enough for anyone to lead — no title, no training, no materials, no money.
Eat, digest, grow
- Eat the WordRead the passage aloud, read it again, then close the Bible and have someone retell it in their own words. Reading is the bite, re-reading the chewing, the retelling the swallow. If the group can't retell it, read it once more before going on.
- DigestWork through the four questions. This is where the passage turns into faith and obedience — answered from what the text actually says, not from what someone already knew.
- GrowGrowth is God's part, not yours. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6–7). Do the cycle faithfully and leave the growing to Him.
The four questions
Answer from what the passage actually says — stay in the text.
- What does this passage show me about God?
- What does it show me about people — and about myself?
- What will I obey this week? (a concrete step, with a day)
- Who will I tell?
The shape of a meeting
- Look backWhat are you thankful for? What is hard right now? How did you obey what we found last time, and who did you tell? Pray briefly for each other.
- Look upRead, re-read, retell — then the four questions.
- Look forwardEach person says out loud one concrete commitment — a sentence that starts “I will…” — and names one person they will tell. Next time, the group asks about both. Asking is what turns a discussion into obedience.
The one rule: don't teach
The moment you start explaining, the group stops discovering. If someone says something that is not in the passage, do not correct them — ask, kindly, “Where do you see that in this passage?” and let them look. The text and the group sort it out. This is the rule that lets someone who has been in two studies lead the third.
Four to fifteen people. About an hour, once a week. Nothing else required.