Unseen Anatomy: The Wall Pt. 2
Speaker: Pastor Pierre
Read: Job 1:1-2:13, 42:12-17; Psalm 139:14; Matthew 10:38; Romans 8:29-30; 1 John 2:12-14
The Christian life is a journey that takes us through several stages. During stage one, we become aware of the need for God in our life. At salvation, we become new-born babes in Christ and begin the process of growing in our faith towards the goal of maturity. Through discipleship, we learn more about God, what it means to be a follower of Christ, and begin to become rooted in our faith. We then become active in serving doing good works. But at some point, we hit a wall. Our wall may look different from that of others, but in essence is a time we experience a crisis that turns our world upside down and shakes our faith. Perhaps the best biblical example is the story of Job. He was an upright man full of integrity who in the course of a few days lost all his flocks, all fourteen of his children and then his health.
When we hit a wall, our tendency is to begin to doubt our faith and to seek to solve the pain by asking questions. Instead, we must recognize our powerlessness to move or penetrate the wall, and acknowledge that only God can take us through the situation. We must understand that it is God through His kindness and grace who brings us to the wall. We must seek to be able to say as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). As we trust Him, the wall compels us into an inward journey that helps us rediscover God’s profound accepting love for us and transforms us into a deeper love for God and others.
GROUP QUESTIONS:
1. What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
2. Pastor described the following six stages in the Christian journey. In what stage would you place yourself?
(a) Awareness, (b) Discipleship, (c) Active Life, (d) The wall-the journey inward,
(e) The Journey Outward, (f) Transformed by Love
3. What walls have you experienced that have challenged your faith?
4. Read Job 1:1-2:10. If you were job, how might you have responded to this situation?
5. Why do you that God, who is so gracious and kind, would bring us to walls in our lives?
6. It was said that at the wall we experience a paradox of faith and are filled with questions. What are some questions we might ask about God, our faith, our situation and ourselves?
7. It was said that there is no way to grow into mature mothers and fathers of faith without walls. What does this mean to you?
