In All Things

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Read Romans 8:28-39. What surprises, encourages, or sparks questions for you? What reminds you of God’s goodness towards you?

We know the world is not the way it’s supposed to be and we know we are not the way we’re supposed to be. However we still get surprised when bad things happen. God doesn’t make bad things good. He brings good things out of bad. Think about the life of Joseph who after a series of terrible things, was able to say to his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). How does God’s work in bringing about ultimate good inform your perspective on the current hardships in your life? Consider Jesus’s response to his friend Lazarus’s death in John 11.

What has God done when it comes to your salvation according to these verses? How does the past tense of the action words describing God’s work shape your understanding of what he has done for you? How does God’s work bring you comfort and hope and shape your self-understanding?

Anglican author John Stott, wrote in The Message of Romans, “Our confidence is not in our love for him, which is frail, fickle, and faltering, but in his love for us, which is steadfast, faithful, and preserving. The doctrine of the ‘the perseverance of the saints’ needs to be renamed. It is the doctrine of the perseverance of God with his saints.” There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and nothing can separate us from the love of God. In what ways does this truth address our trials and hardships, our apathy, foolishness, pride, or selfishness? Practically how can we live out this truth and remember this truth in our daily lives?