Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (vv. 4–9): Deborah said to Barak, “Hasn’t the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded”; Barak said, “If you will go with me, then I will go”; Deborah said, “I will surely go with you.” Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 6–7 and verses 3–4 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one thing they need someone to go with them for, or of someone who might need company, and asks this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Verse 4 says Deborah was ‘a prophetess’ who “judged Israel at that time”. If someone in the group uses this lesson to talk about whether women can lead or preach, the leader can say: this lesson only reads what the passage records; that question is not discussed here. Don’t call her ‘an exception’, and don’t use her to support either side. Read Barak’s words in verse 8 as the passage gives them: don’t say he was afraid or lacked faith, and don’t say he was humble or wise — the passage does not say why he said this. Read “won’t be for your honor” in verse 9 as the passage gives it; don’t make it ‘God used a woman because the man was weak’, and don’t call it Barak’s punishment; who ‘the woman’ is waits for the next lesson. There is no need to explain ‘the wife of Lappidoth’. Verses 1–3 — Israel doing evil, being oppressed, crying out — record what happened to Israel then; don’t make them ‘you are suffering because you sinned’. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Lesson 2 · Hasn’t the LORD Gone Out Before You?Judg 4:11-24
Focus 1 (vv. 13–15): Sisera came to the river Kishon with nine hundred chariots of iron; Deborah said, “Hasn’t the LORD gone out before you?”; Barak went down from the mountain; the passage says it was the LORD who threw Sisera’s army into confusion. Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verse 14, and 4:9 beside verse 22 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone copies out the question in verse 14, reads it every day this week, and tells God about their own ‘nine hundred chariots’. This does not need to be shared in the group.
Leader tip: Read Jael’s part (vv. 17–22) as the passage gives it, without judging it. Don’t discuss whether inviting Sisera in, giving him milk, or telling him “don’t be afraid” was deception, and don’t discuss the customs of hospitality; don’t say God approved of what she did, and don’t say God disapproved; don’t guess at her reasons (verse 17 says only that “there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite”). Read verse 21 once and move on; there is no need to stop on the details — someone in the group may have lived through violence, or harm at home. Read verse 16, “There was not a man left”, as the passage gives it; don’t discuss the rights and wrongs of ancient war. Verse 14 is Deborah’s word to Barak: don’t say Barak was afraid, and don’t make it ‘leaders need to push the weak’; the passage records that Barak “went down from Mount Tabor”, and leaves it there. Verse 15 says only that the LORD threw them into confusion; there is no need to add the weather or how the battle went. Don’t link “Don’t be afraid” in Deut 31:8 with Jael’s “don’t be afraid” in verse 18. In WEB, verse 11 speaks of “the children of Hobab, Moses’ brother-in-law”; there is no need to explain it. Joshua 11 also mentions a Jabin king of Hazor; this lesson does not try to reconcile the two — if someone asks, say this lesson reads only Judges 4. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Lesson 3 · The People Offered Themselves WillinglyJudg 5:1-18
Focus 1 (vv. 2, 9): Twice the song speaks of people who “offered themselves willingly”, and both times it blesses the LORD. Ask the group: reading these two verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 2 and 9, and verses 11 and 13 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one person who gives themselves willingly for others, and thanks them in a particular way this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read “Until I arose a mother in Israel” (v. 7) as the passage gives it: this is how Deborah speaks of herself in the song. Don’t develop it into a model of ‘spiritual mothers’ in ministry, or into a female style of leadership. Verses 15–17 ask about Reuben, Gilead, Dan, and Asher; the passage does not record their answer. Don’t judge any tribe, and don’t make it ‘church members who don’t take part’ — someone in the group may have been unable to serve for a long time because of illness, family, or something else; this lesson is not meant to make anyone feel they owe something. Question 10 asks only about the days; don’t press for reasons. Read verses 4–5 and 20–21 as the passage gives them; there is no need to explain the stars, or to add the weather or how the battle went. Read “So let all your enemies perish, LORD” (v. 31) as the passage gives it; don’t treat any group of people today as the ‘enemies’ here. The song goes on after verse 18 (Jael, Sisera’s mother); this lesson does not read that part — if someone asks, say Lesson 2 has already read what happened, and this lesson stops at verse 18. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to. Question 11 looks back; allow ten minutes for it.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.