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. What do you think motivated Paul to be so quick to obey God even though he knew it meant suffering? How is your obedience to the Lord in comparison? Do you suffer from “delayed obedience”? How is this the same as disobedience?

2. In spite of Paul’s numerous ministry accomplishments, he was characterized by humility. Why do you think Paul consistently called himself a “bondservant” of Christ and what do you think he meant by that? Why is humility so necessary in ministry? 

3. Paul did not shrink from preaching anything profitable including the hard truth about sin and repentance.  Why is it necessary for a preacher to give people what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear?  In light of this, why is it absolutely necessary for the preacher to study and accurately handle the word of truth?

4. Paul preached repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus. Why are repentance and faith like two sides of the same coin? Can you have true Christian repentance without faith, and vice versa?

5. Common benchmarks in life are graduation, marriage, children, buying a home, and retirement. For Paul, his benchmarks were staying in the fight, keeping the faith, enduring affliction, and finishing the race. Should believers in Christ view their lives more like Paul? If so, why and how can we do this?

6. In Ezekiel 33:7-9, God speaks of the watchman’s responsibility to warn sinful man to obey the word of God. Explain how Paul was like a watchman. How did this responsibility keep Paul:

• humble? 
• from shrinking from preaching repentance?
• focused on eternal “benchmarks” rather than temporal ones?