Knowing God’s Reality: Kingdom Answers for True Flourishing

We began a six-week journey called Starting Well by facing Hosea’s sobering line: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Not data. Not passion. Knowledge—true contact with reality. Faith is not a blind leap; it rests on what we actually know of God and His ways. Reality does not bend to our wishes. If our assumptions are off, our lives drift off course—sometimes disastrously. That is why worldview matters. Everyone has one, whether examined or not, and errors at the worldview level cascade into a thousand practical decisions.

Many of us inherited a reduced framework—God created, we sinned, Jesus saves, believe to go to heaven—that, while containing truth, shrinks the scope of life with God and reduces Jesus to a ticket or a safety plan. But Jesus announced a kingdom and came as King. This reframes everything. I laid out four unavoidable questions every life answers, explicitly or implicitly: What is real? Who is well-off? Who is a good person? How does one become one? Jesus’ answers are clear: Reality is God and His kingdom—the range of His effective will. The blessed are those alive in that kingdom, even if outwardly deprived. A good person is one pervaded by agape love—will-to-good, not mere desire. And we become such people by placing our confidence in Jesus and becoming His apprentices in kingdom living.

“Christ” means King. Jesus speaks with royal authority, not as a mere advisor. Our crisis is not a shortage of information but a refusal to acknowledge the knowledge we’ve been given. Like Israel in Hosea and the rich fool in Luke 12, we are tempted to build on illusions—wealth, technology, status—that cannot carry the weight of a life. Rejected knowledge darkens the heart; embraced knowledge reforms the life.

The invitation is simple and demanding: Take His yoke, learn from Him. Apprenticeship is not abstract; it is daily training in the real world to live as Jesus would live if He were in our place. This is eternal life—knowing the Father and the King He sent. Starting well means letting Jesus’ answers recalibrate our assumptions, our pursuits, and our practices. Next week, we’ll recover what “Christ” actually means and why that one word changes how we read the entire New Testament.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Knowledge, not information, sustains faith True knowledge is contact with reality, not mere data points or inherited slogans. Faith rests on what we actually know of God’s character and kingdom, so it can stand when feelings or circumstances shift. When belief is detached from knowledge, it becomes brittle and either hardens into denial or collapses under pressure. Seek the kind of knowing that requires obedience because it brings you into alignment with what is.
• 2. Examine the worldview beneath habits Your deepest assumptions steer your calendar, your spending, your anger, and your fears. Unexamined worldviews smuggle in false promises—security in wealth, identity in achievement, worth in approval. Name those assumptions under Christ’s light and test them against Scripture and reality. Repentance often begins where cherished assumptions are exposed as illusions.
• 3. Jesus’ kingdom answers life’s core questions Jesus does not offer advice; He declares reality: God’s kingdom is what ultimately holds. Blessedness is available now to the least likely because the King is present and reigning. Goodness is measured by agape love, not performance or image. Transformation comes by apprenticing ourselves to Jesus, not by gritting our teeth.
• 4. Apprenticeship to Jesus forms real goodness Apprentices learn by persistent proximity, practice, and correction. Placing confidence in Jesus means adopting His rhythms, His teachings, and His responses until His life becomes our reflex. Over time, the Spirit reshapes our intentions so that willing the good becomes natural, not performative. This is the steady, unfakeable path to becoming a person of love.

1. Read Hosea 4:6. Which words or phrases in this verse seem most urgent or surprising? Why?
2. The sermon named four basic questions every life answers. Can you list those four questions from memory? Which one felt most immediate to you as you heard the sermon?
3. The sermon contrasted "information" and "knowledge." Where in your daily life do you notice lots of information but little real knowledge about God or what matters?
4. Jesus' parable of the rich fool (Luke 12) was used in the sermon. What assumption did the rich fool make about "what is real," and how did that assumption fail him?

1. How should the group interpret the word "knowledge" in Hosea 4:6 — as mere facts, as relational knowing of God, or as knowledge that requires obedience? What reasons from the sermon support that interpretation?
2. The sermon described the "kingdom" as the range of God's effective will. What difference does that definition make for how a Christian should order daily decisions and long-term plans?
3. The preacher argued that rejecting knowledge darkens the heart over time. How does rejecting what one already knows lead to a diminished capacity to know? What signs of that process might be visible in a person or a community?
4. The sermon redefined a "good person" as someone pervaded by agape — "will-to-good" rather than mere desire. How does measuring goodness by agape change the way one evaluates moral progress and spiritual disciplines?

1. Identify one core assumption you currently treat as bedrock (examples: financial security, career advancement, reputation, technology). This week make a list of three concrete decisions that assumption influences. Bring that list to the next meeting.
2. Choose one concrete apprenticeship practice to try this week that trains you to "live as Jesus would live if he were you." Examples: 15 minutes each morning reading a Gospel passage and asking, "How would Jesus respond here?"; one act of sacrificial service for a neighbor; a daily brief prayer asking for the will-to-good before a difficult task. Which practice will you commit to, when exactly will you do it, and how will you report back?
3. The sermon warned against treating Jesus as primarily a ticket to heaven. Where have you found yourself treating faith this way? Name one specific change you will make to orient your faith toward kingdom apprenticeship (for example: replace one hour of passive entertainment per week with serving someone, or join a ministry that apprentices you in loving others).
4. Is there an area in which you have knowingly ignored or rejected truth because it would require change? Write down that area now and one small step of repentance you will take this week (confession to someone, reading a Scripture that speaks to it, asking for prayer, etc.). Be prepared to share if you feel comfortable.
5. Identify one person in your life who is curious, unsettled, or open about faith. What is one specific next step you can take this week to engage them in a conversation about Jesus' kingdom (invite for coffee, ask a question about meaning, offer to pray with them)? Set a day to do it.
6. Pair with someone from this group for midweek accountability. What will you report to one another (practice attempted, temptations faced, what you learned)? When will you check in?