Sermon Discussion Guide

Sermon: Brokeness

Text: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

Introduction

We construct our lives for our own comfort, passions, and securities. Thus, when troubles overwhelm us, we lose control of the perfect plans in our lives. Yet, in this state of brokenness in our minds, emotions, and will, God reaches out to uplift us and use us for His will. Pastor Charlton shares of how God uses our brokenness to show His glory in our lives. It is in brokenness that God transforms our lives into instruments of power and glory for Himself.

Discussion Questions

 

1. What was the largest sandcastle you ever built? How long did it last? 
2. In the message, Pastor Charlton mentions six signs that indicate you need to be broken: independence/isolation, prayerlessness, indifference/apathy, un-teachable, unsynchronized life, and busyness. Which of these do you identify most closely with? Why?
3.  What’s the difference between temptation from Satan and trials from God? How do we know the difference? How should we deal with each of it?
4.  Read vs. 10. Why is it in our brokenness that Christ is revealed more clearly? When was the last time you experienced something like this?
5. What are the ways we, as a community, respond to someone in trials? How do we know someone is in trials? Encourage each member to reach out to one other member in the group during the week.

Moving Forward

The issue is not how you respond if troubles come. The reality is how do you respond when troubles come into your life? God uses hardship to break us from the idols we worship in our lives. God allows trials to tear down the security and comfort that we work so hard to achieve through our careers, our finances, our families, our relationships, etc. It is through the trials and hardship that we come to realize our only security is in God’s love, His unfailing love for us.

Meditate

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.                                                                                                             - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10