It’s All Good | Week 4
Note to the Leaders:
This discussion guide is a help for you to engage and steer the conversation within your group.
You do not have to read every question; this is just resources for you to move the main idea forward.
Go through the lesson before hand to choose the best discussion questions for your group!
Do your best to make the story come to life by asking questions that will spur your group conversations that make this story play come alive and become applicable to their lives.
Week 4 Shine Like the Stars
Key Verse: Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Getting Started:
Read: Philippians 2:12a
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence,
Digging in:
Pastor said that Purposeful living rarely happens by accident.
According the message we heard Sunday and to this passage…
Do you ever speed when there is no police in plain sight?
Is obedience required only when the one who gives the rules is present?
Why do you think God has all these rules for us to obey?
How does obedience to God’s rules help us to live out our purpose?
Read: Philippians 2:12b
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Salvation is a gift not a goal.
Read Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
How do we confuse the idea of working out our salvation with working for our salvation?
Working out means growing in what you have been given in salvation by God’s grace.
Working for means that you are trying to earn your salvation.
Jesus did the work of our salvation on the cross.
The Holy Spirit does the work of making us more like Christ and helps us to fulfill our purpose.
We work out our salvation as we learn to surrender our desires and allow God to work in us and through us.
God then begins to remodel our hearts and thoughts to his design allowing us to be more like him and less like us.
We can only change ourselves for so long before we fall back into our own selfish habits and action.
Read Philippians 2:14-16a
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life,
Have you ever been around someone when things weren’t going the way they wanted?
What was their reaction? The normal reaction is to get angry and complain. All joy is gone.
How does today cancel culture amplify this idea?
It’s easy to allow circumstances to dictate our reaction.
How do we as believers stand out when we don’t act like the rest of the world?
Where we stand defines how we stand out. God working is us reflects his light to others.
Next Step:
Are you working for your salvation or working out?
Are you allowing God to work in you or are you trying to self-help to become a better person?
Are you allowing circumstances to dictate your reaction or allowing God to shine through in spite of your circumstances?