This week Pastor Josh looks at what Jesus says to the church in Smyrna, and how we see what to do when suffering doesn’t seem to be ending.
- All of us go through suffering at some point. Yet suffering makes some feel as though God is more real, and others it makes God feel less real.
- If we are to go through suffering and not leave the faith, we first need to understand that God’s love does not always mean immediate rescue.
- For the Christian, suffering produces what would not have been there otherwise.
- We can make it through suffering because it will actually end. More than that, suffering will be replaced by glory in every way.
COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS:
- Suffering is unavoidable, and yet we often try to deny it out of our minds. How do you try to convince yourself that suffering won’t come? Does this convincing ever actually help?
- In order to endure suffering well, we have to understand that though God’s heart is toward us, he is not our personal therapy that exists for us. He is more than just our accomplice in creating a good and easy life. How have you seen God just as an accomplice? Why is it important to have a bigger view of him than that?
- Suffering is incredibly painful, but also meaningful. Things are done in us that would not otherwise happen without suffering. What are some examples of that in your own life? How has suffering shaped you and formed you?
- Ultimately, our hope is that suffering will end and that glory will take its place in every way. And that glory and joy we receive at the end will correspond with the suffering we experienced here. If you were to look at your own experience of suffering, what are some aspects of God’s victory and joy at the end that you most look forward to?