How To Make It Through Trials
- Date: Sunday, May 6, 2012
- Speaker: David Robinson
- Scripture: James 1:
Small Group Study Questions
James had a lot to correct about the way his own culture dealt with hard times. Read through James 1:3-8, and James 3:17-18. Spend some time (around five minutes) thinking about (and writing down, if you wish) the kinds of trials middle upper class Christians in America face and the ways (good or bad) in which we deal with them. As you answer these questions consider this main idea, "What specific corrections would James apply to us?"
1. What sort of struggles are common in our lives?
2. How do you see these struggles as different from or similar to the situation in the early church in James' era?
3. What are some of the ways we go wrong as Christians as we go through our struggles?
4. What obstacles keep us from prayer in hard times? And when we do pray, how might we have the wrong focus?
5. What encourages you about the way God uses your troubles as mentioned in James 1:3-4?
6. What encourages you about the promise of wisdom James tells us about in 1:5?
7. When you look at James' description of wisdom in 3:17-18, identify one of those attributes that you would like to grow in, and describe the difference it might make in the way you live.
8. Using some of the ideas you have had in the prior questions, write down your own definition of "trials" and "wisdom."
9. As a member of a community of Christians, what are some ways you might be able to graciously encourage others in the church toward thinking more biblically as they struggle through hard times?