This six-week study walks through the full "Don't Worry About the Results" teaching one section at a time, pairing an Old Testament and New Testament passage each week. Each week can stand alone for a full hour of group discussion, and each is built to print cleanly on its own page. Read the Expanded or Teaching version alongside this study for the complete picture, or work through this series on its own for a slower, group-paced walk through the same material.
Week 1: Paul Planted, Apollos Watered
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
Paul writes to a divided church in Corinth, arguing over which teacher they belonged to, as if the messenger were the point instead of the message. He calls himself "nothing" in the equation of spiritual growth, not because the work didn't matter, he clearly worked harder than almost anyone, but because planting and watering was never the same work as growing. This is the single most freeing truth for anyone who has felt the crushing weight of needing a visible result before feeling they'd done their job right. You were never responsible for the growth. You were only ever responsible for the planting and the watering.
Discussion Questions
- Why does Paul call himself "nothing" even though his own labor was enormous?
- What is the difference between the work of planting/watering and the work of growing?
- How does Jeremiah 17:7-8's picture of a tree with deep roots relate to trusting God with growth you cannot control?
- Where have you felt pressure to see a visible result before feeling like your effort "counted"?
- What does it mean to be a "co-worker" with God (1 Corinthians 3:9) rather than the one responsible for the outcome?
- What would change in how you share your faith if you truly believed growth was never your job?
Week 2: The Vine and the Growth That Isn't Our Own
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
A branch does not grow its own fruit by effort. It simply remains attached to the vine, and the life of the vine does the rest. This is a picture of abiding, not striving — the fruit is real and genuinely produced, but it was never manufactured by the branch's own strength. Even the gardener's pruning, uncomfortable as it can feel, is aimed at more fruit, not less; the gardener's hand is never working against the branch's own good.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between striving to produce fruit and simply abiding in the vine?
- How does Psalm 1:3's image of a tree "planted by streams" reflect the same dependence John 15:5 describes?
- Why might pruning (John 15:2) feel like loss even when it is aimed at more fruit?
- How does John's own life (from "son of thunder" to the disciple who wrote about love) illustrate this teaching?
- Where in your life do you find yourself striving to produce something only God can grow?
- What would it look like this week to focus on simply "remaining" rather than "producing"?
Week 3: The Parable of the Sower
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The farmer does not test the soil first. He does not withhold seed from the path, the rocks, or the thorns while saving it only for soil he's confident will produce. He scatters generously, everywhere, without knowing in advance which ground will receive it. The soil was never the sower's responsibility — three of the four soils in this parable do not produce a harvest, and Jesus tells the story anyway, in full, without softening that ratio.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think the farmer in the parable scatters seed on all four types of soil rather than testing first?
- Jesus explains all four soils plainly (Matthew 13:18-23) — which one do you find easiest to recognize in your own life?
- How does Isaiah 55:10-11 promise something similar about God's word, regardless of visible results?
- What does it practically mean, in your own life and relationships, that "the soil was never the sower's responsibility"?
- Why do you think Jesus was willing to tell a story where three of four outcomes are failure?
- What would it look like this week to scatter seed toward "ground you cannot see the condition of"?
Week 4: We Just Throw the Seed Out There
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
The pressure to see faith-sharing "work" visibly was never placed on believers by God — it is self-imposed, borrowed from a results-driven world that measures everything by outcome. God's economy runs differently: faithfulness in planting is what is asked of us, and growth is what is asked of Him, on His own timeline, not ours. A farmer who plants a field in spring does not stand over the soil the next morning demanding a harvest.
Discussion Questions
- What does Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 teach about the gap between planting and reaping?
- Why is "the proper time" in Galatians 6:9 described as something we wait for rather than control?
- What is the difference between a pressure that is self-imposed and one that actually comes from God?
- How does "one sows and another reaps" (John 4:37-38) change how you think about conversations that don't seem to "go anywhere" on the surface?
- Where specifically have you grown weary in doing good lately, and what would it practically look like to not give up?
- What is one specific way you can "throw the seed out there" this week without demanding to see the result?
Week 5: Speak, and Do Not Be Afraid of the Result
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
God tells Ezekiel plainly, before he speaks a single word, that his audience is already rebellious and may not listen. His obedience is measured only by whether he spoke what he was given to speak, not by whether it was received. Later, God makes the transfer of responsibility explicit: if the watchman warns and is ignored, the responsibility belongs to the one who ignored it, not the watchman who sounded the alarm. Even sending more workers is something we pray for, not something we manufacture by effort alone.
Discussion Questions
- Why do you think God tells Ezekiel in advance that his message may be rejected?
- How does the watchman principle (Ezekiel 33:1-5) transfer responsibility away from the one who speaks?
- What is the significance of Jesus telling the disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest, rather than trying harder themselves?
- What specific fear most often keeps you from speaking the truth in love to someone in your own life?
- How does removing responsibility for the outcome, as God does for Ezekiel, change the underlying fear of speaking in the first place?
- What would it look like to pray, this week, for the Lord of the harvest to send workers rather than trying to be the whole harvest yourself?
Week 6: Hearers and Doers, Full Circle
Old Testament Passage
New Testament Passage
Walking Through It
A person can affirm every true thing about God and still never let it move from agreement into action, like glancing in a mirror and immediately forgetting what you look like (James 1:23-24). Every thread in this teaching, planting, vine, soils, doing, traces back to the same origin point: the seed was planted for us first, before we ever scattered a word toward anyone else, and what has already been done for us is meant to produce gratitude, not a shrug.
Discussion Questions
- What is the difference between hearing truth and doing truth, according to James 1:22-24?
- How does "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10) reframe good works as response rather than initiative?
- Why does this teaching return to John 3:16 as its "full circle" ending point?
- What does it mean that "the seed was planted for us first"?
- Looking back across all six weeks of this study, what is one specific fear about results you can now honestly set down?
- What is one specific seed you will plant this week, trusting God completely with what grows from it, without needing to know the outcome in advance?
Closing Thought
Across these six weeks, one thread ties every passage together — the results were never ours to carry. Paul planted, Apollos watered, and only God made it grow. A branch bears fruit only by remaining attached to the vine. A sower scatters generously without testing the soil first. A watchman speaks and is not held responsible for whether the warning is received. Our job has only ever been to plant and to water, faithfully, in season and out of it, whether the ground looks promising or not, and to trust God completely with everything that grows from it, in His own time, by His own measure.
For deeper study on any week's theme, read the full Teaching or Expanded version of Don't Worry About the Results, Just Plant the Seed.
Want to read these passages in their full setting? Browse every book of the Bible on BibleRef (opens in a new tab), a free site with plain-language commentary.