WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
Accepting Suffering, Part 1
Biblical Worldview – Unit 4
Read
Life Issues Booklet 1
(Optional) Recommended Reading: Joni Eareckson Tada’s, When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty
Leader Resources
Exercises
- Review the memory verse of the week, and talk about how it relates to the Truth section.
- Review the Pentateuch, Historical books, Poetic books, and Major Prophets of the Old Testament.
- Someone may be ready to recite all 66 books of the Bible by now.
Suggested Discussion
- TRUTH AND EQUIPPING – Your JG members were asked to write about their response to the Truth section this week. Suffering is a topic that may spark lots of discussion. Your JG may have concerns, questions, or even objections. Allow your JG members to talk about what they wrote during the Truth discussion. They may have strong emotions about this topic, so you will have to be prepared (with prayer) to guide the discussion so that your JG members feel that their thoughts are affirmed, while the points you need to make are reinforced. Sometimes there aren’t easy answers to the questions people ask. If a question is raised that you don’t feel equipped to handle yourself, you can discuss it with your coach and give a reply next week.You can open your discussion with this ice breaker, “If God controls your suffering, do you consider that good news or bad news?” Allow your JG members to raise the thoughts and questions they wrote in the Equipping section. Here are the important points Randy wants you to emphasize:
- Suffering is an inevitable result of living in a fallen world. (Romans 8:20-21)
- God controls suffering. (Exodus 4:11; Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 45:7; John 9:3)
- For the Christian, there is a correlation between suffering and glory. (Romans 8:17)
- The hope of experiencing glory is an encouragement during times of suffering, because it is worth far more than the price of any suffering. (Romans 8:18) You may also want to discuss how God reveals His glory by restoring His glory in humanity.
- ACCOUNTABILITY – Allow time for smaller groups of 2 or 3 to ask accountability questions, and pray for one another.
- MISSION – Continue the discussion of helping people investigate Christianity using the Life Issues booklets as a tool for making the gospel known in word. Discuss the question, “Is the Bible God’s Word?” and a few of the questions from the first Life Issues booklet.
