DISCOVERY QUESTIONS

Series: Thrive
Sermon: God Will Use This for Good
Passage: Philippians 1:12-26

Main Idea: With God, things are always win-win.

Leader GuidePDF Version (Participant)PDF Version (Leader)

GROUP DISCUSSION

Lean In

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

1. When have you “had your cake and eaten it too”? In other words, describe a time when things were almost too good to be true?


Look Down

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

2. Read Philippians 1:12-16 together. What perspective does Paul take toward his current circumstances? List everything that you can find.


Look Out

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

3. Describe the level of hopefulness (or lack thereof) you see on social media, on the news, and in your conversations. Compare this with the hopefulness you see in Paul.


Look In

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

4. What gets in the way of you focusing on what God is able to do in difficult circumstances?


Live It Out

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s for direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

5. Spend a few minutes listening to the song Elohim.

As you listen, spend time before God using the prayer prompts below. Open your heart to him and ask for him to meet you and speak to you.

– Ask for God’s grace and forgiveness when we have fallen short in our attitudes and behaviors.
– Ask for God’s help to refocus on him, regardless of our circumstances.
– Ask God about what might need to change in my life in order to be more focused on him.

6. Reflecting on the Philippians passage we looked at, and on the lyrics to this song, how did you sense (or not sense) God meeting you? What was your experience like with Him?

7. Close by praying that God would turn our hopelessness into hopefulness. Also spend time in prayer for each other.

LEADER GUIDE

Lean In

Purpose: Introduce topic and get the group talking.

Leaders: Begin by having everyone share their name and their high/low of the week. Then open up with this question:

1. When have you “had your cake and eaten it too”? In other words, describe a time when things were almost too good to be true?

This question is designed to be a starter question. Choose to use it if the group could use some light discussion before diving in to question #2.


Look Down

Purpose: Observe the passage and interact with the text

2. Read Philippians 1:12-16 together. What perspective does Paul take toward his current circumstances? List everything that you can find.

At the beginning of the passage Paul reminds us of the circumstances he was enduring when he wrote this letter. In v. 12-14, he is “in chains for Christ,” having been arrested for preaching the gospel. Obviously these are difficult circumstances which raise a lot of questions–questions that many of us might be asking right now. “God why would you allow this to happen?” But that’s not the attitude Paul takes in this situation. He knows there’s a purpose and a reason for why God allowed it to happen. It was to bring more people to faith in God’s Son Jesus.

– 1:12 – “…what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.”
– The palace guard and everyone else in chains has heard the gospel.
– 1:14 – “…brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”
– Paul’s circumstances have given others boldness to proclaim the gospel.


Look Out

Purpose: Connect observations in God’s Word with observations in our world today.

3. Describe the level of hopefulness (or lack thereof) you see on social media, on the news, and in your conversations. Compare this with the hopefulness you see in Paul.

Paul was arguably in more challenging circumstances than many in our world, and yet his writings are abounding in hope.


Look In

Purpose: Internalize God’s Word and apply the truth to your personal life.

4. What gets in the way of you focusing on what God is able to do in difficult circumstances?

– What voices are you allowing yourself to listen to (media, friends, family, coworkers, or God)?
– We often think of Paul as a super Christian – he is spiritually superior to us.
– We often think our circumstances are somehow uniquely bad or challenging – like nobody has ever faced what we are facing.
– Yet, Paul wasn’t focusing on himself, but on all that God was able to do. Because of this perspective, Paul finds himself in a win-win situation (Phil 1:21); no matter what happened to him, the gospel was going forward.

Read this quote to your group and take a minute to let it sink in…
“Easy to spot a yellow car when you are always thinking of a yellow car. Easy to spot opportunity when you are always thinking of opportunity. Easy to spot reasons to be mad when you are always thinking about being mad. You become what you constantly think about. Watch yourself.” – Anonymous


Live It Out

Purpose: Spend time listening for God’s direction and guidance as you seek to live out the truths of this passage in your everyday life.

5. Spend a few minutes listening to the song Elohim.

As you listen, spend time before God using the prayer prompts below. Open your heart to him and ask for him to meet you and speak to you.

Ask for God’s grace and forgiveness when we have fallen short in our attitudes and behaviors.
Ask for God’s help to refocus on him, regardless of our circumstances.
Ask God about what might need to change in my life in order to be more focused on him.

6. Reflecting on the Philippians passage we looked at, and on the lyrics to this song, how did you sense (or not sense) God meeting you? What was your experience like with Him?

This is not a time to give advice, but rather, to listen, process together, and encourage.

7. Close by praying that God would turn our hopelessness into hopefulness. Also spend time in prayer for each other.