WHAT IS SHAPING YOUR TRUTH?

COMMUNITY GROUP GUIDE

Vision Series: Family · Formation · Frontiers
Scripture: John 17:13–19

Watch This Week’s Message

In John 17, on the night before the cross, Jesus prays for His disciples.

He does not pray that they would escape the world.
He prays that they would be sanctified in the truth and sent into the world without being shaped by it.

Big Idea:
In a world trying to shape your truth, Jesus prays that you would be sanctified by His truth — so you can be sent into the world without being shaped by it.

Because whatever shapes your truth will shape your life — and your mission.

OPENING QUESTION (5–10 minutes)

Where do you feel the most pressure right now to conform?

  • Work / ambition

  • Money / lifestyle

  • Relationships / dating

  • Sexual ethics

  • Parenting

  • Politics / online world

  • Image / status

Follow-up:
What do you think you’re afraid would happen if you didn’t conform?

SCRIPTURE (Read Together)

John 17:13–19

Leader prompt:
As we read, listen for four movements:

  1. The world’s shaping pressure

  2. Jesus’ refusal to remove conflict

  3. Sanctification in truth

  4. Sentness into the world

TEACHING SUMMARY

1) The World Is Shaping You (vv. 14–16)

Jesus says:

  • “I have given them Your word… and the world has hated them…”

  • “They are not of the world…”

“The world” here doesn’t mean creation or people.
It means a value system organized around life apart from God.

A system that says:

  • Freedom = autonomy (the self is highest authority)

  • Truth = personal

  • Happiness = ultimate

  • Identity = self-constructed

  • Success = self-advancement

This is the air we breathe.
We are not neutral — we are being formed.

The world forms through:

  • repetition

  • comparison

  • fear of exclusion

  • digital immersion

  • cultural reward systems

Before you can be sanctified, you have to be honest about what’s forming you.

2) Conflict Is Not the Problem (v. 15)

Jesus does NOT pray:

  • “Make it easier.”

  • “Stop the hostility.”

  • “Take them out.”

He prays:

  • “Keep them from the evil one.”

Protection, not removal.

Why? Because remaining in the world is the mission.

Conflict doesn’t mean:

  • you’re failing

  • God has abandoned you

  • something has gone wrong

Conflict is inevitable when truth confronts counterfeit truth.

Discomfort is not a sign you’re doing it wrong.
It may be a sign you’re being faithful.

The deeper question is:
What truth am I tempted to abandon under pressure?

3) The Word Re-Anchors You (v. 17)

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.”

To sanctify means:

  • set apart

  • aligned

  • attached to God’s purposes

Not perfection. Not retreat. Not superiority.
Holiness is belonging fully to God.

The world forms by repetition.
God forms by revelation.

The Word sanctifies when it redefines reality:

  • what is true

  • what is good

  • what human flourishing actually is

  • what your life is for

If truth is relative, there is no higher cause than personal fulfillment.
But if God’s Word is truth, God’s glory becomes your mission.

4) We Are Sent (vv. 18–19)

“As You sent Me… so I have sent them…”
“For their sake I sanctify Myself…”

Sanctification is not retreat — it’s preparation for participation.

Jesus set Himself apart unto the cross so we could be set apart unto mission.

This is why the church exists:
not as an escape from the world,
but a people formed in truth and sent in love.

DISCUSSION (20–30 minutes)

Formation

  • What voices are shaping your idea of what “a good life” looks like right now?

  • What emotions (anxiety, envy, outrage, exhaustion) reveal what you believe is true?

Conflict

  • Where do you feel tension between Jesus’ way and your environment?

  • When you feel that tension, do you tend to compromise, withdraw, or perform?

Truth

  • What does the world tell you is true about you?

  • What does Jesus say is true about you?

  • Where do you most need to be re-anchored?

Sentness

  • Where has God placed you right now (work, neighborhood, relationships)?

  • What would it look like to be present there without being absorbed?

PRACTICE THIS WEEK (Choose 1–2)

1) Formation Check (2 minutes a day)

Once a day, pause and ask:

  • What is shaping my truth right now?

  • What story am I living from?

Pay attention to emotional spikes. They are formation clues.

2) Re-Anchor in Scripture (10 minutes, 3 times this week)

Read John 17:13–19 slowly.
Ask:

  • What does this reveal about God?

  • What does it reveal about me?

  • What does it call me to?

Don’t read for information — read for alignment.

3) Faithfulness Under Pressure (one moment this week)

Pick one situation where you normally:

  • compromise, withdraw, or seek approval

Pause and ask:
What would faithfulness look like here?

Not loud. Not aggressive. Just aligned.

PRAYER (10–15 minutes)

Optional Prayer prompts:

  • Jesus, show me what has been shaping my truth.

  • Where am I tempted to compromise under pressure?

  • Sanctify me in Your truth.

  • Keep me from the evil one.

  • Send me with courage, conviction, and love.

Optional closing prayer:
“Father, sanctify us in the truth.
Keep us in the world without being shaped by it.
Make us a faithful people, and send us into our city with love.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

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