INTRODUCTION: What is the worst physical pain you have ever experienced in your life?

READ: Philippians 3:10-11, James 1:2-4

WATCH SERMON

DISCUSS
1. We learn in Philippians 3:10-11 that we are called to “know the power of his resurrection and participate in his sufferings”. Where have you recently seen God’s power in your life?
2. We are also called to participate in his sufferings. What are some of your underlying fears when it comes to enduring and walking through painful seasons?
3. When is a time in your life that pain was occasional and when have you have endured a longer season of consistent pain or hardship?
4. What questions have you personally wrestled with during harder, painful seasons? What have you learned in these seasons?
5. What do we learn from James 1:2-4 about the purpose of pain, suffering, and hardship?
6. Share an experience where you saw your relationship with God grow exponentially because of walking through a hard experience.
7. “There is a necessary step between being fragile and becoming resilient called anti-fragile”. What is an example of an “anti-fragile” experience or trial that brought about resilience in a particular area of your own life?
8. What experience(s) are you walking through right now that would be considered anti-fragile? What are some of the hardest aspects of this necessary step that brings about resilience?
9. “None of your pain, the good and the bad, is going to go to waste….it all becomes beautiful in its time.” How have you recently seen God take something so dark and painful and restore it to something beautiful?
10. What do you hear God saying to you in the midst of the hard, painful areas of your life?

PRAY
Take some time to summarize what you have heard your group share and how we can pray for one another.

-What are some themes you have heard others share about being transformed by pain? How does that lead us to praise Him? What are some needs and concerns that were shared?

-How can we pray specifically for you this week?

FOR FURTHER STUDY
The following is not meant for large group discussion but can be done as an individual study to grow in your understanding of Scripture and the way it transforms our lives.

→ Look up the words “test” and “testing” in Scripture. What do you observe? What do we learn about God’s purpose for testing in the believer’s life? What are we called to do in the midst of testing? How did Jesus walk through a season of testing in the desert (Matt. 4:1-11) After studying, reflect on how this shifts your own perspective on the trials you are currently walking through. What is God calling you to? What promises from God do you need to remember in the midst of a season of testing? What lies from Satan are you hearing that you need to run away from?

→ Flip through the Gospel of Luke and find 7-10 stories of how Jesus meets others in the midst of their suffering. What do we learn about the way Jesus calls us to come alongside others in the midst of their own suffering? How does this picture of Jesus need to shift your view of the way God is walking with you in the midst of your own current hardships?

→The following article gives two specific ways you can grow in “participation with Jesus’ sufferings”: https://renovare.org/articles/embracing-suffering What is difficult about coming alongside another person that is currently suffering? What areas of your life is God seeking to refine?