09-13-2020
09-13-2020
Dr. E. Dale Locke and Pastor Efrain Silva
Sermon Series: Five Things to Grow Your Faith
Week 5: Pivotal Circumstances
English PDF file for printing.
Para imprimir el archivo PDF en Español.
Each week, our Sermon Discussion Questions are here to help the sermon go deeper into your life. You can think these through on your own, or discuss them with your spouse, family, or small group.
Our memory verse for this series is 2 Thessalonians 1:3: We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
1. Faith isn’t just knowing things. Faith is about trusting God. So far, we’ve looked at how practical teaching, providential relationships, and private disciplines can help our faith grow. Today we’re going to talk about how pivotal circumstances grow our faith.
Tell about one circumstance in your life that ended up being a major turning point for you.
2. Read John 11:1-45:
Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. 10 It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
28 After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
What do you notice in this passage? What questions do you have about it?
3. We see here that sometimes God chooses to be glorified in our problems, our difficult seasons or even our grief. Share about a time in your life when that was true for you.
4. Read 2 Corinthians 12:9 where God said to the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
What do you think God meant when he said this to Paul?
5. Read James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
What makes it possible for someone to have joy in a difficult time?
6. We know that trials don’t always cause every person to grow spiritually. Some people grow stronger through a trial, but some people push God away or even lose their faith in a trial. What do you think makes the difference in how a person responds to the trials in their life?
7. There is an undeniable inter-connection between the difficult moments in our lives and the potential to grow our faith. C.S. Lewis wrote in his book, The Problem of Pain, “God doesn’t best use pleasure, because we can ignore pleasure, but pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, and speaks in our conscience, but God shouts to us in our pain! It is his mega-phone to rouse a deaf world.”
C.S. Lewis wrote this after his wife died of cancer. What do you think of what Lewis wrote?
8. We will never understand the mystery of why some people experience extreme trouble and pain, while others are spared. Sometimes we pray for healing, and it comes. Sometimes we pray for healing, and it doesn’t happen the way we had hoped. What can we do that will help us stay close to God, regardless of what life’s circumstances bring us?
9. Read what Jesus said to Martha as she was in the darkest moment of her life in John 11:25-26: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus continues to ask us to believe this in the midst of our darkest times. What difference does Jesus’ statement make, when you’re going through a really difficult circumstance or illness?
Ready for your next step?
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