Small Group Guide“The Perseverance of the Church”

1 Timothy 6:11-16

Message Summary

Continuing the Life Together series through 1 Timothy, today’s message challenges believers to be steadfastly committed to Christ in three main ways. First, we fight the good fight. There are two parts to fighting the good fight: things to pursue and things to run away or hide from. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6:11 to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness and to run away from the things he addressed in earlier verses, such as false teaching, envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, constant friction, and the desire to get rich. We don’t drift into maturity; we must fight for it. Suffering inevitably comes to every believer, and as we experience it, we must believe that the measure of God’s love is the cross, not our circumstances.

Second, we make the good confession. We confess what we believe about God, and our confession should include Bible-based content, join us to a community of other believers, give our hearts confidence before our faithful God, and involve our commitment not to sinless perfection in our own strength but to solid allegiance to Christ.

Third, we remember our great God. The church perseveres because God will preserve us. God our Father gives us life, and He begins the good work in His people and carries His work to completion as we seek to know Him more deeply. Jesus Christ is our perfect example, and He will one day return and take us home to be with Him for eternity.

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Discussion & Application Questions

After briefly reviewing the message summary, use these questions to further examine the sermon and to discuss how these truths apply to daily life, so we can “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (Jas. 1:22). Based on your knowledge of the people in your small group, select the questions that will best help you frame the group’s discussion of this sermon and sermon text.

The Good Fight (1 Timothy 6:11-12a)

1. Why don’t we drift into spiritual maturity or health? How does the encouragement of the Word of God help you mature as a Christian?

2. Application: How can you be intentional this week in taking a step to grow spiritually?3. What does it mean to fight a fight that is grace-driven instead of fighting a fight by trying

harder?4. Pastor Matt explained that in a fight, there are things to flee, times to hide, and things to

pursue. What is an example of each of those in your own life? 5. Application: What impact has suffering had on your belief in God?6. Application: Read 1 Timothy 6:11 and consider the explanation of each word from the

sermon. Consider each word in three ways: (1) its definition; (2) how you value it; (3) how you live it out daily.

Righteousness refers to how we relate to other people, as referenced in Amos 5:10-15.

Godliness is the call to reflect God’s character. Faith means we are ruled by the Word and happily submit to what God says in it. Love is the godly love explained in 1 Corinthians 13. Endurance means having patience in difficult circumstances and believing trials

are not wasted but are opportunities to trust God. Gentleness refers to the soft, tender heart that comes from knowing Jesus.

The Good Confession (1 Timothy 6:12-14)

7. When they’re based on the truth and encouragement found in God’s Word, how do our confessions lead to Christian maturity?

8. Does considering your confession as something you grab hold of or seize change the way you think about it? If so, how? Why do we have to grasp the truth actively? What can happen when we are passive toward our confession?

9. Consider the content, community, confidence, and commitment of our confession. How does God design’s of our common confession unify us in Christ? Why did Paul urge Timothy to remember his good confession as he’s urging him to fight the good fight and take hold of eternal life?

10. Application: How have you personally made a good confession? How does baptism reflect our confession, and what is its purpose? Is your confession always conscious? What impact does your confession have on how you think and feel, and on what you do and value? How does your confession impact the way the Church perseveres?

The Great God (1 Timothy 6:13-16)

11. According to verses 13-16, what is God’s role in the perseverance of the Church?

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12. How are the call to persevere and the truth that God will preserve us two sides of the same coin (1 Timothy 6:12, 14 and Phil. 1:6)?

13. Application: Considering that Jesus’ example of perfect submission to His Father was motivated by the joy set before Him (Heb. 12:2), how does the joy and glory promised to you in God’s Kingdom motivate you to persevere in the faith? How do we keep our minds on our great God and the joy He gives us instead of the world around us?

Things to Consider

If you have people in your group who did not hear the sermon, read the sermon text (1 Timothy 6:11-16) together and briefly summarize the main points of the sermon. Recapping the sermon text and sermon outline can also be a helpful way to start the group, even if everyone did hear the sermon.

As you open your group time, remind everyone of the purpose of the Life Together series—to examine practical ways we can walk together to live out the gospel. Emphasize that this week, we’ve seen how the Church is called to persevere by fighting the good fight, making the good confession, and exalting the great God we serve. Begin talking about what perseverance means and why we have to fight for it. Then ask your group: If we don’t drift toward maturity or health, what do we drift toward? Discuss how the good fight, the good confession, and our great God keep us persevering in the faith.

Notice in the Prayer Focus that we are praying for the persecuted Church this week. Referring to Pastor Matt’s question under the first point, discuss: How much suffering are we prepared to put up with and keep believing? Point out that while persecution takes place in many forms, the purpose of persecution is to silence witness. Read Hebrews 13:3. Discuss how taking this charge to heart shapes and motivates the way we pray for the persecuted Church. Encourage your group to keep the reality of persecution in mind as you go through the Discussion & Application Questions above.

Conclude your group time in prayer, asking God to give His Church grace to persevere, to help you have wisdom as you pray for and support the persecuted Church, and to keep your minds and hearts focused on the glory to be revealed when Jesus returns.

Weekly Prayer Focus

Pray for Our Church: Pray for strength to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and

gentleness in each of our lives.

Pray for Our City: Pray for The Well House, a local ministry extending God’s grace to victims of sex

trafficking. Pray for Redeemer Community Church and for Pastor Joel Brooks.

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Pray for Our World: Pray for the persecuted Church and for our brothers and sisters across the world who

are suffering because of their faith in Christ.

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