Feb (2 of 2): Small Group Discussion Guide
Tears That Water Joy – How suffering prepares the soil for deep, lasting purpose and happiness.
Sermon Series Overview
Life guarantees suffering, but how we endure it determines whether we emerge bitter or transformed. This series explores how suffering shapes our perspective, deepens our faith, and ultimately leads us to a joy that suffering cannot steal. We’ll challenge the myths we tell ourselves about suffering, examine how Jesus' own suffering was connected to His purpose and joy, and discover how faith empowers us to move forward without losing heart. We all long for purpose and happiness, yet we often encounter only more suffering along the way—suffering, joy, and purpose or intricately linked. We don’t experience one without being touched by the other two. But hope and unshakable faith can be found in knowing all three come together in Jesus.
Announcements
We are asking all who participate in Restore’s community to give if they are able! Thanks to your generosity, we have begun to close our budget gap! However, we still currently have a monthly budget deficit of $1,600. You can give safely and securely HERE!
God has been incredibly kind to Restore. The kindness God gifts us is designed to be passed on. We are gifted with grace in order to give grace. Everything that happens on Sunday mornings happens because of the dedication of our servants in creating a space that is welcoming to all! During February and March, we are starting our “Gifted to Give” initiative where we invite you to join one of our vital Sunday teams - Restore Kids or Production. You can sign up to serve your church HERE!
Resources
Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality by David Brenner. We all find ourselves resistant to grace. The hardest part is our surrender. This short but powerful book explores the life-changing journey of surrendering to God’s unconditional embrace of us.
The Healing Path by Dan B. Allander. This book walks us through the path to healing after our world has been shattered and our hearts discouraged.
Sermon Video
Sermon Text
Hebrews 12:1-3
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of winesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Romans 5:8-9
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Sermon Quotes
“Everyone has their own Auschwitz.” - Victor Frankl
“You don't get through life without suffering in some way. I want to mute the sadness or I want to mute the pain. But you can't mute the pain and then also feel joy. If you mute one aspect of your emotional experience, you're going to mute all of that. There's one mute button. So if you mute the pain, you mute the joy. We assign negative and positive connotations to feelings, even though feelings are neutral, they don't have a positive or negative connotation. We say joy is a positive feeling and anger or anxiety or sadness are negative feelings. And that's just not true. All of our feelings are positive in the sense that they tell us what we want. Our feelings are like a compass. They tell us what direction to go in. And if you don't access your feelings, you're kind of walking around with a faulty GPS. You don't know what direction to go in.” - Lori Gottlieb
“Trauma shifts our landscapes like an earthquake. And often the secondary effects are more destructive than the initial quake.” - Cathy Loerzel
“And I feel like I will never experience that kind of happiness again like I did that summer. Being so devastated by grief and loss, it just feels like whatever way joy manages to find its way back into my life, it will always be different.” - Anonymous
“Paul says here that it is this demonstration of love that eliminates any fear concerning a future angry judgment. We know now that God is just not like this. Hence, a scary future scenario of raging punishment is not merely now avoidable; it is false.” - Douglas Campbell
Discussion Questions
How have you seen suffering impact your ability to experience joy or purpose?
What are some unhealthy ways you’ve tried to "mute" pain in the past? What was the result?
Why do you think we try to make suffering fit into explanations like "everything happens for a reason"?
Read Romans 5:8-9 (and the Douglas Campbell quote related to these two verses). How does the love of God challenge the idea that suffering is punishment?
Which of the incomplete ways of handling suffering have you personally struggled with? The four incomplete ways to process our own suffering are:
(a) Comparing our suffering to others and dismissing our pain as trivial compared to what others have gone through
(b) Suffering is punishment for sin
(c) Saying everything happens for a reason or everything happens is part of “God’s plan”
(d) There has the be free choice, that’s why God has allowed evil
