How we live on this side of eternity matters.
Welcome! (2 minutes)
Welcome to Session 6 of It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way. A key part of getting to know God better is sharing your journey with others. Before watching the video, briefly share with one another any personal revelations you’ve had since the last session.
Opening Discussion (15 minutes)
Answer the following questions to prepare for this week’s video teaching:
• How are you thinking differently about temptation?
• Which one of the fighting words did you choose to focus on?
VIDEO
Kingdom Minded, Eternally Focused (21 minutes)
LEADER:
Play the video segment for Session 6. Instruct your group to use the outline below to follow along or take additional notes on anything that stands out.
THIS WEEK’S STATEMENT TO HOLD ONTO:
How we live on this side of eternity matters.
Kingdom minded means there’s a purpose to my pain here and now.
[Your Response Here]
PHILIPPIANS 4:5–7
The Lord is near. In every situation present your requests to God.
[Your Response Here]
JAMES 1:2–4
Consider it pure joy. The testing of your faith produces perseverance.
[Your Response Here]
Eternally focused: We are heading to a restored Eden.
[Your Response Here]
JAMES 1:12
The crown of life is for those who suffer for the sake of the gospel.
[Your Response Here]
1 PETER 5:2–4
The crown of glory is for those who fulfill the role of elder or pastor.
[Your Response Here]
1 THESSALONIANS 2:19–20; PHILIPPIANS 4:1
The crown of rejoicing is for those who win others to Christ.
[Your Response Here]
2 TIMOTHY 4:8
The crown of righteousness is for anyone who perseveres through hardship and longs for the return of Jesus.
[Your Response Here]
1 CORINTHIANS 9:25–27
The incorruptible crown is for those who keep their body in a whole and healthy state on mission for God.
[Your Response Here]
We will cast our crowns at Jesus’ feet.
[Your Response Here]
(45 minutes)
LEADER, READ EACH NUMBERED PROMPT TO THE GROUP.
1. What part of the teaching had the most profound impact on you?
[Your Response Here]
2. “Kingdom minded” means there’s a purpose to your pain here and now that has implications for God’s kingdom. We’ve looked at James 1:2–4 before, but let’s examine it again now.
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
• Why is perseverance necessary for maturity? Why is it important for you to become mature and complete?
[Your Response Here]
• Lysa explained “mature and complete, not lacking anything” by describing a cake, that requires even those ingredients we might want to leave out if we were to taste them raw. How might your disappointments and sufferings be part of the process to make you mature and complete?
[Your Response Here]
• James doesn’t say “feel the joy” but instead “consider it pure joy.” In other words, “consider where some glimpses of joy might be even in the midst of all the hurt.” How is that a helpful distinction for you?
[Your Response Here]
3. Remember, Jesus understands our hurt and pain. He is our empathetic high priest. He can be sensitive to us in our need because of His experience of suffering on earth and on the cross. But Jesus’ suffering was also for our greater good. Another possible purpose to your pain is to equip you to comfort others:
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)
• Why do you think it’s comforting to others when they know we have suffered or are suffering in the same way?
[Your Response Here]
• What comfort have you received from God, either directly or through other people?
[Your Response Here]
• Have you had any opportunities to comfort others with the comfort you have received?
[Your Response Here]
These are just two of the many possible purposes of a person’s pain. You may never know the answer to “Why?” in this lifetime. Or it may take years before you get a glimpse of why.
4. In the midst of it all on this side of eternity, we can remember the truth found in Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” How have you experienced this?
[Your Response Here]
“Eternally focused” means we are headed to a restored Eden. The apostle Paul had his eyes firmly fixed on eternity. He wrote about his own sufferings to the Corinthians and said,
8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8–10)
5. How do you think it was possible for Paul to be hard pressed but not crushed?
[Your Response Here]
6. How does this give you courage in your own journey?
[Your Response Here]
Look at the contrasts Paul points out in verses 8–10:
| the dying of Jesus | the life of Jesus |
| hard pressed | but not crushed |
| perplexed | but not in despair |
| persecuted | but not abandoned |
| struck down | but not destroyed3 |
7. How can you relate to some of the words used to describe the dying of Jesus?
[Your Response Here]
8. What do you think it means to have the life of Jesus revealed in you here and now, even in the midst of your struggles?
[Your Response Here]
Paul then goes on to say that the reason why he keeps speaking about Jesus is that he knows that one day the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, will also raise us:
13It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:13–15)
9. Where does Paul’s spiritual confidence come from?
[Your Response Here]
10. Paul says that “the grace that is reaching more and more people” (because of his ministry) is causing “thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.” Have you ever considered creating this same type of thanksgiving because you told people what you’ve been through and they can see what God is doing in you?
[Your Response Here]
Finally Paul says,
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)
11. What are the temporary, seen things in your life?
[Your Response Here]
12. What are the unseen and eternal things that far outweigh what is temporary and seen?
[Your Response Here]
In Session 2 you looked at those unseen and eternal things as described in Revelation 21–22. Today let’s consider a passage from Isaiah that describes them. Have someone read aloud:
6On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.
9In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6–9)
13. How does Isaiah describe the restored Eden? What overlaps with what you read in Revelation? What is new?
[Your Response Here]
14. What can we learn about our destiny from thinking of it as a feast? What does feasting mean to you?
[Your Response Here]
15. How does thinking about the restored Eden ahead of you help you deal with disappointments now?
[Your Response Here]
16. How does it affect you to think about the crowns that you will be able to place at the feet of Jesus?
[Your Response Here]
Review (25 minutes)
If your group meets for two hours, allow 20 minutes for this discussion.
1. Refer back to the questions you answered on Day 4 of the Session 5 study. Discuss these as a group now.
2. How has this study affected you—for example, in your attitudes, behaviors, or relationships?
[Your Response Here]
3. C. S. Lewis writes:
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.4
How does this quote speak to you in light of all that we’ve studied this week?
[Your Response Here]
4. How has God helped you become more kingdom minded and eternally focused?
[Your Response Here]
5. Is there a passage of Scripture that has been especially important to you in this study? What is it?
[Your Response Here]
6. How are you dealing with your disappointment or pain differently now than at the beginning of the study?
[Your Response Here]
What I Want to Remember (5 minutes)
Complete this activity on your own.
1. Briefly review the outline and any notes you took.
2. In the space below, write down the most significant thing you learned in this session—from the teaching, activities, or discussions.
WHAT I WANT TO
Remember
FROM THIS SESSION
Personal Prayer
(8 minutes)
Write a personal prayer here that reflects the area of this week’s teaching you feel most in need in prayer. Include any praises for breakthroughs you may have experienced during the overall study.
[Your Response Here]
(2 minutes)
LEADER, READ THIS PRAYER ALOUD OVER THE GROUP BEFORE DISMISSAL:
Thank You, Lord, for giving us these Truths—these insights, these life-giving perspectives to hold onto as we process everything we walk through. Make us more joyful, peaceful, and faithful people. Help us build our lives around a confidence in Your goodness and a secure hope for all that lies ahead of us now and into eternity. Thank You for helping us, healing us, holding us, and making us stronger and more beautiful than ever before. We boldly declare today that we trust You and we love You. Amen.