Below is the sermon for Sunday, August 9th. Click here for our sermon discussion questions or see them listed below. We highly encourage you to listen, think, and talk about the sermon. These are questions you can reflect on yourself, with your family, or with your small group.  

Discussion Questions

1. What is going on in your life, and/or in the world today, that is causing you to feel discouraged and even despair?  What do you think most people do, when everything around them is falling apart, to encourage themselves and keep from losing heart?  What should the Christian do?  
2. As we get older, our bodies slowly but surely decline and decay. Why do you think it is so hard for people to watch their bodies slowly decay? 
   Even though our bodies may be decaying, the Bible tells us that our inner self is being renewed day by day.  Van Michael said that for the Christian, “as your body fades into decay your soul blossoms in beauty.” What does it mean that your inner self is being renewed day by day?  Who is responsible for this renewal and how do you think this renewal happens?
3. Paul was an unbelievably broken, beaten and battered man, who had suffered immensely (See 2 Corinthians 11:24-29)  Yet Paul saw his many trials as “light momentary affliction”.  How was this possible?  Was Paul delusional? Or, did Paul know something that most people don’t?  What do you think is meant by an “eternal weight of glory”?  How do you think Paul’s affliction helped him to know and love God more?
4. Eighty or even 90 years of life may seem like a long time until you compare it to eternity. Why do you think most people would rather focus and fixate on the 80 - 90 years of this life rather than on where they will spend eternity?
5. Van Michael ended his sermon with several questions.  Ask yourself: Have you built up an excessive attachment to this world?  Have you given in to an earthly mindset? Do you look to, hope in, long for temporary things over eternal things? Do you fixate on and obsess over your looks, your bank account, your possessions, your entertainment, your hobbies, your reputation, your decaying body, and your present affliction more than you look to the sufficiency of God in Christ?  Have you become carnal, earthly-minded, and worldly?  

If this is you, then hear the exhortation of today’s message: 

Repent! Trust in Christ afresh and pray for faith that looks primarily at lasting eternal things. If you don’t want to lose heart, you must look at the things you cannot see!