The Source for Youth Ministry
Signup for Jonathan's FREE Ezine
FREE RESOURCES & IDEAS ARTICLES & FREE TRAINING RECOMMENDED SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND RSS PRINTER FRIENDLY
HOME ABOUT US CONTACT US THE ONLY RESOURCES FOR SALE HELP

Spiritual Growth Agendas
ADD AN AGENDA!

Trusting God In Tough Times

As members of the Gross family huddled amid mattresses in a narrow hallway, Hurricane Charley ripped their home from around them. The family listened and prayed as Charley screamed around the house like a buzz- saw unleashed, chewing up the pool cage, lanai (veranda or open-sided living room), and carport, then shearing off steel-bolted porch pillars, walls, and most of the roof, opening the interior to torrential rains.

After the storm screamed north, Ralph Gross and his daughter Sarah had emerged to survey the wreckage when four neighbors walked up. “See?” one neighbor spat, knowing the Grosses were Christians. “This is the God you have, who would allow this kind of pain and destruction.”

Sarah, 15, looked the man in the eye and said: “No, you’ve missed it: This is the God who delivered you.”

*WORLD Magazine, Aug. 28, 2004, “More Like a Bombing than a Hurricane,” by Lynn Vincent.

SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS:

  • Why are people sometimes quick to blame God when disaster strikes?

  • Are they right?

  • Why do you think Sarah saw the situation differently than her neighbor?

  • Is she right, or did Sarah miss something?

  • How does God provide comfort during suffering?

  • Does anyone know what the Bible says about suffering?

  • Read the following passage:

      2 Cor. 1:3-7 (NIV)  
      Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. [5] For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. [6] If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. [7] And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.


  • What word did you hear over and over again in these verses?

  • Share a time when something really bad happened and you were comforted by someone.
    •   
  • What was it that gave you comfort or hope in the situation?


    • WRAP UP:
    Suffering is unavoidable.  Loss occurs.  Loved ones will die.  Friends will move away.  The question is:  How do we cope during these tough times?  Where is the hope in times of suffering?

    Paul wrote the above verses to a group of people who chose to follow Jesus, and because of their commitment to Him, they were facing hard times.  During these hard times, Paul encourages them with three promises of hope in times of suffering.

      1.  Triumph through endurance:
      Paul tells us in verse 6 that one of the end results of suffering is endurance.  Just like an athlete works out and lifts weights, suffering works out our spiritual muscles producing endurance.  Then we are stronger as we approach future difficulties.  We aren’t just supposed to accept suffering, we are supposed to triumph over it.

      2.  Comfort that we WILL be able to cope, because we’re not alone:
      The Bible scholar Barkley says, “But we are not left to face this trial and to provide this endurance alone.  There comes to us the comfort of God.  Between verses 3 and 7 the noun comfort or the verb to comfort occurs no fewer than nine times.  Comfort in the New Testament always means far more than soothing sympathy.  Always it is true to its root meaning, for its root is the Latin fortis and fortis means brave.  Christian comfort is the comfort which brings courage and enables a man to cope with all that life can do to him.  Paul was quite sure that God never sends a man a vision without the power to work it out and never sends him a task without the strength to do it.”

      3.  Power to comfort others:
      As we receive comfort from God and others, we can then pass that comfort to others.

    For more resources on dealing with tragedy, click on our MOVIE CLIP DISCUSSIONS page and scroll down to the topic "When Life Stinks" for some great discussions- my favorite are the ones from Signs and Lord of the Rings

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE "GROWTH" AGENDAS/CURRICULUM
PRE-ORDER NOW & GET FREE PPT TRAINING TODAY


Podcast


Connect
CLICK HERE FOR MORE


A Li'l Bit Podcast
© 1999-2009 The Source for Youth Ministries           Site Disclaimer
Designed by WebNurds