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<< Life Group Thoughts and Questions >>
Week #11 – Fall down 7 times, get up 8
(Get started.)
- Ice-breaker Question:
1. What is the hardest thing you ever saw your parents go through as a kid?
**Questions based on the weekend message:
1. What about Sunday’s message grabbed with you this past weekend?
2. What do you feel about this verse from this weekend?
Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are
brought down by calamity.
3. Read this verse together:
Proverbs 14:32 –
When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous
seek refuge in God.
**How have you seen godly people handle death, suffering and loss with a
strength you can’t explain? What keeps you from being able to tap into
that yourself in your opinion?
4. What did you think about the “calamity” stories Jason read through of
people who go to our church? You don’t have to go into all 7 times
you’ve gotten knocked down, but share 1 time that it was hard to get
back up.
5. Read this verse together:
II Corinthians 1:8-9 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in
the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to
endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on
God, who raises the dead.
WHERE DID YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THIS PROGRESSION OF PAIN:
“Hardships we suffered” – the small things that just add up over time
“Under Great pressure” – loaded down, weighty, heavy, burdensome
“Far beyond our ability to endure” – Hyper-extended, overwhelmed
“Despaired even of life” – no way out, at a loss, I can’t do this
“In our hearts we felt the sentence of death” – It’s over, Give up, Suicide
(But this happened)… (this is what our falling and failing and faltering is all about)
“That we might not rely on ourselves” – Self-Reliance, Independence
“But on God who raises the dead.” - Rely on the on who Raises the Dead to Life
7. EVERYONE FALLS, BUT SOME GET BACK UP. DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE MOVED
FROM “RELYING ON SELF” TO “RELYING ON GOD” WHEN YOU HIT THOSE TIMES
OF CALAMITY? WHAT HOLDS YOU FROM DOING THAT?
*Take time to close in prayer. YOU MIGHT NEED IT BY THIS TIME! ;)