Drinking Deep: Choosing Endurance Over Escape

In one paragraph

Before the sermon started, several people shared testimonies about moments when God broke through into their lives, including a man who described a dramatic deliverance in the mountains two and a half months ago. Brian then preached the first half of a two-part message about suffering, using three gospel passages set around the crucifixion as his anchor. Next week he will preach on the second cup....

Read together

1. Revelation 12:11 they overcame the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony
2. Matthew 26:36-41 Jesus praying in Gethsemane, asking the cup of suffering to pass, finding disciples asleep
3. Matthew 27:32-36 Simon of Cyrene forced to carry Jesus' cross on the way to Golgotha
4. Mark 15:21-24 same crucifixion scene from a different gospel perspective, Simon of Cyrene named as father of Alexander and Rufus
5. 2 Corinthians 12:5-7 Paul boasting only in weakness, thorn in the flesh given to keep him from pride
6. Mark 10:29-31 Jesus promises a hundredfold return for those who give up family or property for his sake, along with persecution and eternal life
7. Philippians 2:13 God is working in you giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him
8. Hebrews (unspecified verse) Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered

What was said

• Sit with the question Brian raised and trace one specific memory of when God's reckless love broke through to your life, then tell someone about it this week.
• Identify one area where you have been avoiding the cup of suffering, whether that is a hard conversation, a discipline you keep quitting, or a prayer you stopped praying, and re-engage with it.
• Practice listening to the Holy Spirit in small things this week, and when you sense a nudge, respond in obedience even if it seems insignificant.
• If you are struggling with addiction or suicidal thoughts, reach out to someone for prayer before the week is out, the way Brian and Mike invited people to do before leaving the service.
• Spend some quiet time this week asking the Lord to shift your perspective on a hard season you are in, inviting him to show you what he might be pressing out of you through it.

Talk about it

1. Brian invited everyone to share a memory of when God's love broke through to their life. When you think back on your own story, what moment comes to mind, and how does remembering it change the way you sing or pray?
2. Brian described the cup of suffering using the image of grapes and olives being pressed, saying the pressure releases something that was already in there. Where in your own life have you seen God use pressure to bring something out of you that you did not know was there?
3. Brian drew a distinction between suffering from your own choices, suffering that just happens, and suffering that the Lord hands you. How do you tell the difference in the middle of a hard season, and does it even matter which kind it is while you are in it?
4. Brian said that spiritual maturity is not measured by how long you have attended church or how worn your Bible is, but partly by how much you have drunk from the cup of suffering. Do you agree with that measure, and what would you add to it or push back on?
5. Brian closed with Mark 10:29 through 31, where Jesus promises that what is given up for his sake comes back multiplied, along with persecution. How does knowing there is an eternal reward change the way you feel about embracing suffering rather than avoiding it?