Click here to see the 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 by yourself, with your family, or with your small group.

Sermon Discussion Questions:

1. Do you agree or disagree with Ray Stedman’s quote: “Suffering is an inescapable part of the curriculum.  You will never grow without suffering”?  Why or why not?

2. When we are struggling and suffering, why is it not wise to start thinking, “What if I did something else?”; or “If I did something else this would never have happened”.  How does God’s eternal decrees and plans depend upon your ability to make right decisions all the time?

3. How is an unsatisfied life connected to an unsurrendered will? What does it mean, and what does it look like to surrender your will to God’s?

4. How does suffering loosen your grip upon your own will and tighten your grip upon God?

5. As Paul and Silas endured the pain and humiliation of the Philippian jail, what do you think enabled them to continue to pray and sing hymns to God?

6. How does the Gospel become more relevant and real when we are suffering?

7. As a result of Paul and Silas’ suffering and pain, the church ended up in a much better place, with more freedom to worship and less fear of persecution .  Would you willingly choose personal pain for the benefit of God’s church?  Why or why not?