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Study Resource

Sermon Discussion Guide

For pastors preaching sermon series from Why Do Christians Suffer.

For Pastors preaching from this material
Overview

What's Inside

A companion for pastors preaching a six-part sermon series from this volume — preaching hooks, illustration banks, congregational discussion questions for post-sermon groups, and audit tools for prosperity assumptions in the preaching moment.

Sections

Included in this guide

  • Sermon Angle Per Chapter
  • Illustration Bank
  • Post-Sermon Discussion
  • Preaching Audit — Prosperity Assumptions
  • Pastoral Prayer
Section

Sermon Angle Per Chapter

Six sermon angles for a six-part series — or six standalone sermons for the church year.

  • Chapter I — 'Marked Occupant.' A pastoral corrective to prosperity assumptions. Text: 2 Chron. 20:1-2 + 1 Cor. 10:13.
  • Chapter II — 'Verse-12 Faith.' The breakthrough sentence in every crisis. Text: 2 Chron. 20:12 + Luke 11:1-13.
  • Chapter III — 'When Heaven Uses Johnny-One-Note.' The obscure messenger and the ordinary word. Text: 2 Chron. 20:13-17.
  • Chapter IV — 'The Choir Before the Army.' Praise as the outgrowth of trust. Text: 2 Chron. 20:18-21 + Psalm 150.
  • Chapter V — 'From the Watch Tower.' The retrospective grace of the wilderness. Text: 2 Chron. 20:22-24 + Acts 16.
  • Chapter VI — 'The Valley of Berachah.' Blessing at its valley address. Text: 2 Chron. 20:25-30 + Luke 12:32.
Section

Illustration Bank

  • The mailbox marked 'Occupant' — not every trouble is addressed by name.
  • The Southern California law firm with a 91% win rate; God's track record is 100%.
  • The pastor's son with the football jersey in the sports store — tears without a word.
  • 9-11 as an example of overt national crisis producing corporate prayer; contrast with the covert crises no one grieves.
  • Track-and-field relay: the incoming runner shouting 'Stick' at the handoff.
  • The parent-child releasing of resources — Matthew 7:11.
Section

Post-Sermon Discussion

Provide to community-group and Sunday-school leaders for use the week following the sermon.

  1. Which category of trouble did the sermon surface for you: God-caused, God-permitted, or Occupant?
  2. Where does your prayer life default to negotiation instead of consecration?
  3. Who is a Johnny-or-Jane-One-Note in your life you have never thanked?
  4. Which posture of worship is God inviting you into that is not native to you?
  5. What can you see from the watch tower this week?
  6. Where is your Valley of Berachah?
Section

Preaching Audit — Prosperity Assumptions

Before you preach the series, audit your last twelve months of sermons.

  • Where did you promise exemption Scripture does not promise?
  • Where did you offer a formula for outcomes you cannot control?
  • Where did you avoid a lament text because it would not preach 'well'?
  • Where did you allow the beauty of holiness to drift into the beauty of the worshiper's experience?
  • Where did you preach 'blessing' primarily as material increase?
Section

Pastoral Prayer

Father, You did not spare Jehoshaphat, and You will not spare us the great multitudes of our own days. But You are the God of the neighborhood and the God of the galaxies. Send us to our knees. Give us the honest sentence of Verse 12. Send the choir before the army. Meet us in Berachah. In the strong Name of Jesus. Amen.

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