BIG IDEA

When life gets hard, God helps us persevere.

MESSAGE NOTES:

WHAT:

There are a lot of things that are good for me that I absolutely hate. I might like the benefit those things give me, but I hate having to actually do them.

Why is it so hard to persevere through things that are boring, uncomfortable, or difficult? And why does it even matter if we do or not?

When life gets difficult, we never said that God would make it easier.

SO WHAT:

What is perseverance? To persevere means to keep going, even when it's hard, and even when you're not sure things will ever change.

We persevere because, even if our circumstances never change, we can change for the better.

Paul says we can "rejoice" in our pain because loss and failure produce perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope — and hope never lets us down.

Paul understood what we need to understand: that his weaknesses could help make him strong, and that his obstacles could become his opportunities.

When life gets hard, God helps us persevere.

NOW WHAT:

"Grit" is "the passion and perseverance for very long-term goals."

When we're at our weakest, God's power is at its strongest.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Q1: What's something that's good for you, but that you absolutely hate?

Q2: Have you ever been happy you persevered through something you didn't want to do? Why are you

glad you stuck with it?

Q3: What's one area where you think you have grit? How did you develop it?

Q4: What's one area where you don't have much grit at all? How can you develop more of it?

Q5: What's one difficulty that you need God's help to endure right now?

Q6: How do you hope persevering grows your faith and your character?