MY STORY

1.  We all have different preferences in how much we share about what’s going on in our life. Where would you put yourself on the sharing continuum below:

Too much too fast <——————————————–> Too little for people to know me

2. When have you been more helped by the counsel of friends, not professionals?  What about their friendship mean the most?

3.  Looking back at your notes from this week’s teaching, was there anything you heard for the first time or that caught your attention, challenged or confused you?

DIGGING DEEPER

Job is probably one of the best examples of recovery from hurt in all of Scripture.  Chapters 1 & 2 tell the reader the reasons behind Job’s suffering. Chapter 3-37 recorded the counsel of the Job’s three friends – or so called friends, depending on how far we’re willing to expand our definition of friendship, insisting that Job must have done something terribly wrong to have all this suffering.  A fourth man, Elihu, suggested suffering is the way to purity, was closer to the mark but still inadequate in his description.  This lesson is going to study how we can be good friends and how to guard ourselves against “friends” to control our understanding of our painful past or present circumstance. 

1. Read Job 1; Job 2.  If you were in Job’s position, what would be the most difficult thing to deal with?

• my spouse turning against me
• my physical pain
• the loss of my children
• not losing my faith
• other:_______________

2.  What trouble or suffering are you going through right now?

We read in Job 2:11-13 that Job’s friends came to sit with him in silence.  After seven days of mourning, Eliphaz speaks up.  Read Job 4 & 5 and consider the following questions. 

1. Is  Eliphaz theology correct  How so?  What is Eliphaz’s source for his authoritative viewpoint (4:12-16)? 
2. What was the gist of Eliphaz’s advice in Job 5:8-16?  What if anything is wrong Eliphaz’s views?

3.  How would these words likely be received by Job, a “blameless and upright man,” a man who has lost his security and children?  What is Job supposed to do with Eliphaz’s advice (Job 5:27)?

4.  Can “correct” theology (all the right words) ever be “bad” theology in practice?  When?  What real or hypothetical situation come to mind?  What part of Eliphaz’s advice is true and applicable to you?  In what way?

TAKING IT HOME

Job never fell into the trap of believing that he deserved all the suffering he was experiencing, and God approved of Job’s rebuttal of the principle that all suffering results from an individual’s own sin by condemning his friends in Job 42:7.  Still, Job’s repentance led to his restoration and to multiplied blessings.  Job became a blessing, both to his former critics and to his own family.  He refused to blame God for what happens in our lives and instead all God to reveal Himself more fully to us.  At the end of the book, God restored Job. (Job 42:10). 

1. What kind of questions do you ask God when you don’t understand circumstances in your life? 
2. What else might God want to be revealing to you?  Any “reasons why” certain things happen to you? 
3. We live life on the back side of a woven tapestry, from which we can see only knots, loose ends and a faint, obscured outline of the picture on the front side.  What picture is God weaving for Job as you skim the last three chapters?  What new insights does that give you into the place of suffering in your own life? 

Where To Find Friends Amongst The Chaos:

Celebrate Recovery: crtampa.com

Every Thursday Night Including all holidays at the BP campus.  Completely confidential.

• 5:30 – 6:15 PM
  Dinner Full Dinner $6.00; Salad and Soup $3.00; Grilled Cheese $2; Children under 5 Eat Free
• 6:30 – 8:30PM
  Large Group CR worship, followed by either a teaching or a testimony (which alternate). Small groups for discussion, gender and issues specific. Childcare 5 & under begins at 6:20p.  Celebration Place for kids 6-12 teaches the kids the same principles as the adults begins at 6:20p
• 8:30 – 9:00 PM
  Coffeehouse This is a time for fellowship and for meeting new people. Light refreshments are served with soft drinks and coffee. This is free for everyone.

Summer Wednesday Nights

This summer we have special teachings at the BP campus with children’s program provided for families so that all may come.  Mark your calendar beginning June 5! The dates of these nights is perfect for Community Groups to do together!  The dates are:

June 5, June 19, June 26, & July 10.