Purpose of This Bible Study Lesson

Other Helpful Resources

1. Download Bible Lessons in PowerPoint format here

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2. How to Study Your Bible: The Lasting Rewards of the Inductive Method

3. How to Study Your Bible for Kids (Discover 4 Yourself® Inductive Bible Studies for Kids)

Learning Goals

This lesson will guide the participants to:-

1. Discover the Biblical view and hope of suffering as a Christian
2. Discover the process and attitude God expects from us in the midst of suffering.
3. Discover the promises God gives about suffering from His Word.

Introduction

One day, while at the Island of Patmos the apostle John was given a glimpse of eternity; John heard a loud voice from the throne telling him that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won’t be death anymore. There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared.” (Rev 21:4). God, who is all merciful, will deal with suffering once and for all by creating a “holy city” (Rev 21:2).

Begin Today’s Lesson by Reading: John 9:1-4, 2 Cor. 1:1-10 and Psalms 23:1-6

Pressure Makes Diamonds

A certain man was shown a vision of his life by the Lord; he saw himself walking on the shores of a sea and on the sand; in a flash, he noticed that during those times which were the most difficult of his life, only one set of footsteps appeared and this troubled him a lot. He turned to the Lord and asked Him “Lord, how come you left me to walk alone when I needed you the most during the most difficult moments of my life?” and the Lord gently replied to him, “son, I did not leave you, I have promised never to leave you nor to forsake you, when you saw only one set of footsteps, those are My footsteps because it was during the most difficult moments of your life, that I carri

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ed you”.The Psalmist also wrote saying “Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. (Psalms 23:4). The apostle Peter writing to the saints scattered all over Asia Minor told them ” After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you in Christ Jesus to his eternal glory, will restore you, establish you, strengthen you, and support you.”(1 Pet 5:10.).

Throughout the ages, Christians have continued to ask the same question “why does a good God allow suffering?” the simple answer to this question is that when sin entered the world, then evil was introduced. Adam and Eve were the first casualties because they had to endure the loss and pain of losing their son Abel, when he was murdered by his own brother Cain. Job is another example of a person whom God allowed to undergo a lot of suffering yet he was innocent. Satan is the author of evil and because of him; the world has continued to reel under the weight of evil. And Christ himself still bears the scars of the suffering that he received on the Cross in order to pay for the sin that came through the first Adam.

Scientists discovered that when coal which is trapped under the stratosphere of the earth is pressurized to a certain degree, it hardens over a period of time and the coal is transformed into diamonds due to the process of carbonization. In this regard, suffering is the pressure that causes us to be transformed and be glorified by God. Our hope now rests on the fact that if God has glorified Christ through suffering, then He will also glorify us because we are joint heirs with him. (Rom. 8:16).

Sometimes our own sins cause us to suffer, but sometimes suffering comes so that God will be glorified, just as we read in John 9:1-4.

Bible Study Questions For Discussion - Week 34

1. What is your understanding of suffering? Do you think the process of suffering helps you to become a better Christian? Please explain how
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2. Why do you think it is important for you today to endure suffering as a Christian? Please explain using 1 Peter 2:21-23, Rom 5:3-4 and Rom 8:16-17
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3. Why do you think suffering occur in the world today? Please explain
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4. Do you think that every suffering in a Christian’s life as a result of sin? Please use John 9:1-4 to explain
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5. What kind of attitude should we have towards those who are experiencing suffering? Please explain using 2 Cor 1:4
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6. Is it possible to “boast (rejoice) in our sufferings”? What does suffering produce in the end? Please explain using Rom 5: 3-4
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7. Do you consider corruption as a form of suffering? How can Christians react to the vice of corruption found in our society today? Please explain
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8. Please share any experience you may have on suffering and how God helped you endure/overcome? Please explain
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Memorize Romans 8:18

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us”.

Reflection

Helen Keller, blind and deaf from early childhood said “I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God”

Action

Begin to thank God for anything that you consider as suffering today.

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Purpose of This Bible Study Lesson

Other Helpful Resources

1. Download Bible Lessons in PowerPoint format here

2. How to Study Your Bible: The Lasting Rewards of the Inductive Method

3. How to Study Your Bible for Kids (Discover 4 Yourself® Inductive Bible Studies for Kids)

Learning Goals

This lesson will guide the participants to:-

1. Discover the purpose of being conformed to Christ’s image
2. Discover the process of being conformed to Christ’s image.
3. Discover the importance of being an image-bearer of Jesus Christ

Introduction

In the book of Genesis we learn that when God created human beings, He wanted them to have His image; He said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 1:26a-27). Man was therefore meant to bear God’s image but sadly that image was distorted by sin and that image now appears as though being seen through a shattered mirror. It is only when we are reconciled back to God through His Son Jesus Christ do we gain the original image.

Begin Today’s Lesson by Reading: Romans 8:1-17, Gal 5:22-23 and James 3:13-17

Conforming to Christ’s Image

The English dictionary defines the opposite of conform as “rebel” and that is exactly what the Adam race has become, a people who have rebelled against God’s plans. In Rom 8:29 Paul gives an assurance to believers in Rome about God’s conforming work in them by saying that “For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:”. Paul realized that Adams race is a corrupted race, but Christ’s race is a special race of whom the apostle Peter writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said of this race that “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet 2:9).

The purpose of being conformed to Christ’s image therefore is so that we “may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness” to become a beacon of light in a dark and desperate world.
The process of being conformed to the image of Christ is not an easy one because it involves the total surrender of our will to the will of God. The starting point is to yield our hearts to God fully and seek Him with all our being. Again the task is made harder because our faith is being tested by the various trials that we undergo, just as Peter warned us saying “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you have to suffer various kinds of trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when it is tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Purification is a process that God uses to remove the dirt and dross of the impurities in our faith which is compared to Gold; and to the believer suffering acts as a purification process.

When Christ was confronted by the Pharisees about whether to pay taxes to Caesar or not, He asked them to show Him a coin, and looking at it, He asked them whose image was engraved on the coin and they replied that it had an image of Caesar. This settled the whole matter when He told them “render unto Ceaser the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”. We also bear an image of God and we therefore belong to God, because He has reconciled us to Himself through His Son.

Bible Study Questions For Discussion - Week 33