ANDY STANLEY COLLECTION GROW UP (6): BIG MOMENTS

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1 BOTTOM LINE: WHEN GOING THROUGH A PIVOTAL CIRCUMSTANCE, GOD IS DOING SOMETHING IN YOU SO THAT HE CAN DO SOMETHING THROUGH YOU. INTRODUCTION Have you ever met someone who went through something really difficult, yet if they had a chance to rewind and change what happened, they would be reluctant to do it? And the reason is because there was something they learned from that experience. It s what we call a pivotal circumstance, a defining moment in their lives. Each of us has some. Some may seem bigger than others. But to each one of us, they are huge. And you know what? Even though it s not something we would necessarily choose or want to happen, God takes those moments and uses them to grow our faith. WONDER. DISCOVERY. PASSION. XP3STUDENTS CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jared Herd WRITER Andy Stanley XP3 TEAM Tim Walker Sarah Anderson Sarah Bragg CONTRIBUTORS Mark Brown Laura Whelan Wyndi Lebrecque USER AGREEMENT The rethink Group, Inc. gladly grants permission to churches, schools and other licensees to tailor XP3 TM materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including teaching scripts, small group dialog and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith (see page 2). These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work including podcasts or video of this content is a direct violation of U.S. copyright laws The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved. XP3 and the XP3 logo are trademarks of The rethink Group, Inc. GRAPHICS Scott Bragg ORANGE SPECIALISTS Kristie McCollister Jeremy Zach TECHNICAL & WEB SUPPORT Hadley Brandt Alex VanRossum CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Reggie Joiner CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Reggie Goodin

2 STATEMENT OF FAITH ABOUT GOD God is the one and only true God, yet He exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God is the Creator, so everything belongs to Him and is under His control. God is holy, so He is righteous, majestic and loving. God is all knowing and purposeful, so He s at work to bring about His will. No person, thing or idea compares to God. ABOUT THE SCRIPTURES God reveals Himself to us through the Bible, and it is 100% accurate, reliable and authoritative. ABOUT PEOPLE People are made in God s image and for His pleasure. But everybody falls short of God s intention, or ideal, for people. In other words, everyone has sinned. As a result, we are all separated from Him, even though He wants an intimate relationship with each of us. ABOUT SALVATION That s why Jesus, God s Son, came and lived on this earth, died and rose again. God offers His free gift of salvation to all who believe in Jesus and accept Him as Savior, the only way to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Anyone who accepts this gift is adopted as a son or daughter into God s family and will live with Him forever in heaven. Scripture marked NIV is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

3 CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT We believe that the set, stage, music and everything in your room communicates a message without you saying a word. That s why we put together a list of production ideas to help you set the stage for the session and the series. From the music you play when students come into the room to the worship set your band plays, we want to make sure that your room conveys Grow Up in a multi-sensory way. There is a downloadable checklist available in your series downloads that will give you all the elements for this session (and the entire series). BACKGROUND PLAYLIST FOR THE GROW UP SERIES Beautiful Mistake by Eddy (from Start An Uproar!) Gotta Serve Somebody by Nichole Nordeman (from Brave) You re Not Shaken by Phil Stacey (from Into the Light) Jump Then Fall by Taylor Swift (from Fearless) Walk On by U2 (from All That You Can t Leave Behind) Mamas Don t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys by Willie Nelson (from Willie Nelson s Greatest Hits) Held by Natalie Grant (from Awaken) This Is Your Life by Switchfoot (from The Beautiful Letdown) Move Forward by Bethany Dillon (from Bethany Dillon) Calling All Angels by Train (from My Private Nation) We Never Change by Coldplay (from Parachutes) WORSHIP PLAYLIST FOR GROW UP SESSION 6 Come And Save Us by Aaron Shust (from Take Over) Jesus Saves by Carlos Whittaker (from Ragamuffin Soul) Today Is The Day by Lincoln Brewster (from Today Is The Day) Open The Eyes Of My Heart by Paul Baloche (from Open the Eyes of My Heart, Vol 2) THE SET For the Grow Up Series, the set will be dynamic, meaning that it will change over the course of this six-week series. For the first couple of weeks, create a set that looks like a kid s room. Decorate with things that were popular during your students childhood. Think along the lines of old toys, curtains with Power Rangers, Barbies, etc. (You may want to enlist the help of parents for some of this stuff.) You may even want to put a single bed on stage with a comforter that has a kid-friendly print. Then slowly, over the remaining four weeks, begin to replace the toys and items in the room with older, more sophisticated items like computers, stereos, pillows, and a cleaner, more modern design (Ikea-ish). SERIES ART Art for PowerPoint backgrounds and for series promotional ads is available as a free download with every series. Visit the XP3 web site, log on to your account and download the images to use in your presentation, newsletters and web site. VIDEO Both a video bumper and a video communicator are available for the Grow Up series as a video download from the rethink store. You can purchase the videos by logging into your XP3 account and clicking on the XP3 videos link. The Grow Up video communicator was created to be used in Session 1 of this series in place of a live communicator. The bumper video was created to be used as an intro for all six sessions of Grow Up series.

4 MIDDLE SCHOOL ADAPTATION The following activities and illustrations will help middle school students connect with the subject matter in ways that engage them physically, mentally, socially and sometimes emotionally. You can also adapt the Grow Up series for middle school students by using the teaching outline found in this document to edit the teaching script to a 20-minute presentation. In addition, by using the separate middle school small group dialog questions (found in the series downloads) that are geared specifically for 6th-8th graders, you can make each section more middle school friendly. SESSION 6 GAME: SHARK ATTACK (Play this game as an icebreaker to Session 6.) For the game Shark Attack, you will need about one hula-hoop per every five students you normally have. The hula-hoops will be placed on the ground, and these hoops will be safety zones. The goal is for students to make it into the hoops when the words Shark Attack are shouted. You will need to designate one student to be the shark and the rest of your students to be the prey. Once the shark tags someone, they are out of the game. There s a catch though with each round, you eliminate one hula-hoop, making it harder to find safety for the remaining players. Keep playing until there is only one single hula-hoop left. Give the winners some gummie fish as a prize. SESSION 6 ILLUSTRATION: THAT MOMENT (Use this illustration at the end of the TRUTH section of the teaching script.) A key component in helping students have a faith that sticks is allowing them to see the spiritual lives of other adults. In a way, it helps pull back the veil and allows them to see that following Jesus can be tough at times. But it s during those tough times that God grows our faith. Invite some adults in your church who have both a solid faith, but also that students may (or may not) know are going through some tough times. Give each person about five minutes and have that person share what he or she is going through, how it affects his or her life and the things that God is teaching him or her along the way.

5 SCRIPT The teaching script is divided into five sections. INTRODUCTION This introduction is intended to connect you, the communicator, to the audience usually through a personal story or observation. We ve included our stories, but you may want to substitute your own story in this section. TENSION The tension moves the message from the me mentality of the introduction to a we mentality. For example, a transition statement might be, At some point in our lives, we have all been jealous of someone over something. TRUTH Once the tension builds, the next logical step is to uncover the truth of what the Bible says about the topic. APPLICATION At this point, the message moves to a you mentality in order to teach the application. The you is the student. Take God s truth and unpack how it relates to each student so that he or she can apply it to everyday life. LANDING Here it is important to land the message on what each student needs to know and do with what they ve heard. Just as the message began with a personal story or observation, the message also ends with a me mentality. For example, one possible landing statement might be, I have a greater sense of purpose knowing that God created me in His image. Leave the students with a clear sense of what all of you should do with what you ve heard. Unless otherwise noted, the landing will always set up the small group dialog and give students an opportunity to process and internalize what they ve heard.

6 OUTLINE PG.1 BOTTOM LINE: WHEN GOING THROUGH A PIVOTAL CIRCUMSTANCE, GOD IS DOING SOMETHING IN YOU SO THAT HE CAN DO SOMETHING THROUGH YOU. INTRODUCTION A pivotal circumstance is something that we would never have chosen for our own lives. Oftentimes pivotal circumstances are hard or difficult times that challenge us. Do we change? Do we grow? Do we become different people as a result of what we have experienced? TENSION God did something in the middle of that set of circumstances that I don t think He could ve done any other way. They are a defining moment, a time when it seemed like God was far away, but ended up much closer than you ever thought. Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (James 1:2-3 NIV). Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:4 NIV). TRUTH Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha (John 11:1 NIV). So after Mary and Martha s brother, Lazarus, got sick, the sisters sent word to Jesus (11:3 NIV). Lord, the one you love is sick (v. 3 NIV). When He heard this, Jesus said, This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God s glory (v. 4 NIV). Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days (John 11:5-6 NIV). Let us go back to Judea (v. 7 NIV). Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better... Then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead (John 11:11-12, 14). And for your sake I am glad I was not there (v. 15 NIV). So that you may believe (v. 15 NIV).

7 OUTLINE PG.2 TRUTH (CONTINUED) But let us go to him (v. 15 NIV). Lord... if you had been here, my brother would not have died (v. 21 NIV). But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask (v. 21 NIV). Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though He dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (vv NIV). Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world (v. 27). Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him! (vv ). Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? (v. 40). And then Jesus said, Lazarus, come out! (v. 43). And he did. Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him (v. 45). APPLICATION Do you know what makes the difference between a person who leans into God and whose faith gets better, and a person who leans away? The people who surround them. When you feel like God is doing something to you, you re liable to lose faith. God is doing something in you so that He can do something through you. LANDING God, I ve just got to see You in this. At the end of the day I want to emerge with bigger faith, not less faith.

8 GROW UP: SESSION 6 COMMUNICATOR NOTES This week s session focus on pivotal circumstances which for most people are the times in life when something difficult happened that propelled and grew our faith to a place it had never been before. In a way, this week is almost about giving permission for something good to come out of something bad about learning to have the perspective to realize that God can take the toughest situations and make something beautiful from them. MAKING IT PERSONAL (Points in the teaching script you can make more personal) There s a great opportunity for you to share your own pivotal circumstance, your own story, in the APPLICATION section of the teaching script. Make today personal. Let students see how God can work in even the darkest situations and be open and vulnerable enough for people to see what God did in you and through you even while in the midst of really tough times.

9 SCRIPT PG.1 BOTTOM LINE: WHEN GOING THROUGH A PIVOTAL CIRCUMSTANCE, GOD IS DOING SOMETHING IN YOU SO THAT HE CAN DO SOMETHING THROUGH YOU. INTRODUCTION A. The past couple of weeks we have been talking about things that grow our faith things that make our faith bigger and stronger than it has ever been before. And the past couple of weeks we have talked about things that you and I have some control over things like personal disciplines that we can choose to make time for, and things like serving, where we have the choice to get out of our comfort zone. Today we are going to talk about the last thing that can really grow our faith. It is something you and I have no control over, but it has incredible potential to shape us and our faith if we allow it. It s something called a pivotal circumstance, and for many of us, it s something that we would never have chosen for our own lives. Regardless of how young you are or how old you are, we all experience these times. Here are some examples: My pivotal circumstance was when I was diagnosed with leukemia. My dad lost his job, and then we lost our house. We had been going out for two years, and she broke up with me right before prom. My sister has MS. When I was 16, I got pregnant and chose to have an abortion. My mom left all of us, and my dad wasn t sure what to do. C. Though not always the case, oftentimes pivotal circumstances are hard or difficult times that challenge us. And while all of us have been through some sort of painful circumstances, what makes them pivotal is how we respond to them. Do we change? Do we grow? Do we become different people as a result of what we have experienced? The rest of the story determines whether we can end up saying something like this: What at one point tested my faith has become something that has strengthened my faith. We have a lot less than we did before, but I m not sure that s such a bad thing. I had to learn how to forgive someone even when they hurt me. From that day forward I just gave everything up to Him and asked Him to forgive me. God has entered into my life in a new way. It wasn t that I didn t believe, but I believe now in a way that is practical and real. That s my story. That s my pivotal circumstance. TENSION A. Working in church world, I have walked with people through just about everything. And over and over and over again as I see people walk through the most difficult kinds of circumstances, I have seen them come out on the other side with rock-solid, unshakable faith. It is hard to imagine that happening on the front end, but they do and it s absolutely incredible. In fact, you rarely hear a faith story that doesn t eventually include some amazing, out-of-the-blue, didn t-sign-up-for-it circumstance. You listen and think, This is not good. How will they recover from this? And then they come through saying, God did something in the middle of that set of circumstances that I don t think He could ve done any other way. I wouldn t sign

10 SCRIPT PG.2 up for it. I wouldn t go through it again. I wouldn t wish it on anybody. But I m not sure God could ve done what He did in my faith without it. These circumstances can be described in no other way except as pivotal. They are a defining moment, a time when it seemed like God was far away, but ended up being much closer than you ever thought. And when you get to the other side, you are able to look back and say, Wow, there is a God, and I think He knows my name. And now when I address Him as Father, it s not a category it s personal. He s no longer something I learned about in church. He s relational. When people encounter these sorts of circumstances, suddenly things get really, really personal. Or you hear a story of people who go on a mission trip, and that s where God really opens their eyes to what He s doing in the world. It was an awesome, positive experience. B. But most of the time, it s the negative circumstances of life, the things that just come out of the blue, the phone calls, the information you didn t expect, the tough conversations that tell us suddenly we re faced with circumstances that are just larger than life. When in these circumstances, we may not know where God is. But getting on the other side of these struggles, these huge times, we often find our relationship with our heavenly Father has unexpectedly grown so much closer. C. I think C. S. Lewis says it best in his book The Problem of Pain. He writes, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. D. There is an undeniable relationship between big, bad, bold, unexpected circumstances and our faith. It is not an accidental relationship. It is an intentional relationship, and it is a relationship that God has used from the very beginning to get our attention. This is what James says about the relationship between circumstances and our faith. He says this in the first chapter of his book in the New Testament: Consider it pure joy... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (James 1:2-3 NIV). E. There is a connection between the trials you re going to experience and your faith. The testing of your faith produces something. It produces perseverance; it produces persevering faith. Difficult circumstances impact your faith. In other words, God is up to something in the big, pivotal circumstances of life. James goes on to say: Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (v. 4 NIV). Basically, James is saying it s not accidental that when Christians and non-christians and people in general face these overwhelming circumstances something begins to happen to their faith in God. This is one of the primary things God uses to grow and strengthen our faith, and usually it s not something we would ever sign up for. TRUTH A. I think maybe the best illustration of pivotal circumstances changing someone s faith comes from a story in the life of Jesus written about in John 11. In this particular situation, Jesus doesn t just leverage a pivotal circumstance to grow somebody s faith. He doesn t just leverage negative circumstances to grow somebody s faith. In this story, Jesus actually creates negative circumstances in order to grow someone s faith.

11 SCRIPT PG.3 B. Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha (John 11:1 NIV). These three people were not just random people Jesus happened to encounter. They were close friends of Jesus. He had eaten in their home. They supported Him financially. C. So after Mary and Martha s brother, Lazarus, got sick, the sisters sent word to Jesus (11:3 NIV). They sent a messenger to find Jesus, who was two, three or even four days away by travel on foot, and they sent Him this message. Listen: Lord, the one you love is sick (v. 3 NIV). This is dramatic. It s not, Lord, Lazarus is sick, but Lord, the one you love is sick. They knew Jesus would automatically know who they were talking about because the message was coming from Mary and Martha. There was no need to even say his name. Now Mary and Martha knew Jesus had healed many people, even strangers, so of course when Lazarus became sick with a life-threatening illness, they called on Jesus to come. D. When He heard this, Jesus said, This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God s glory (v. 4 NIV). This is so important, because what Jesus was saying is that sickness, illness and disease can be for God s glory. And this is great, for other people, but I kind of prefer the idea of God getting glory when I throw the winning touchdown pass and the reporters put the microphone in my face and ask how I did it. Then I would say, I want to give Jesus and God the glory. Now that I would sign up for. But Jesus said there s another way to give glory to God. In fact, it s actually a more effective way. It s the way where something really negative is introduced into your life. And God says He s going to allow that and He s going to leverage it for His glory so that His Son may be glorified through it. E. Back to the story. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days (John 11:5-6 NIV). Jesus did exactly what you would not expect Him to do. He did nothing. F. Jesus said to His disciples, Let us go back to Judea (v. 7 NIV). Jesus then told the disciples they were returning to Judea a place where, when they were there last time, they all were almost stoned to death. So, obviously, the disciples were hesitant to go, but Jesus explained the situation to them: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up. His disciples replied, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better... Then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead (John 11:11-12, 14). The disciples were so confused! They knew the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus and his sisters. They knew how close Jesus was to them, and they didn t understand how Jesus could have allowed this death to happen. G. Then Jesus said, And for your sake I am glad I was not there (v. 15 NIV). The next word Jesus used translates into so that in the Greek. In other words, He said, I m about to tell you the reason I have allowed this to happen. You want to know why I m glad we weren t there? You want to know why I allowed this horrible, tragic thing to occur? So that you may believe (v. 15 NIV). Jesus set the whole thing up just to stretch people s faith. The death of His closest friend was worth it because of what it did for people s faith. Think about that. A lot of people say, I can t believe in a God who would allow. You need to know something if you don t believe in that kind of God, you

12 SCRIPT PG.4 don t believe in the God of the Bible. Because the God of the Bible allowed this to happen in order to get glory. This is a dramatic moment. This is important. H. Jesus then said, But let us go to him (v. 15 NIV). Days later, Martha saw Jesus coming down the street. She ran to Him and fell at His feet. She said what we so often say to God, whether we re Christians or not: Lord... if you had been here, my brother would not have died (v. 21 NIV). Jesus had healed so many before strangers, enemies, even those who were undeserving but He chose not to heal His friend. I. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask (v. 21 NIV). This is amazing Martha was standing in front of Jesus, broken and angry, but she still believed that God would give Jesus anything He asked. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though He dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (vv NIV). J. That s what this moment is really all about: Who is Jesus really? Jesus says that when you look at Him, you are looking at the resurrection. You are looking at life. Anyone who believes in me, He says. And this is really interesting. Did you know that in the Greek there isn t a word for trust? There s just the word for belief or faith. So when John wrote this he knew that this was more than believe that, more than believe about. So what John does when he writes this, is he combines this little Greek word with the little preposition in. And this is one of the first times it s used in Greek. Believes in means trust. It s John s way of describing trust, creating a phrase for a word that didn t exist in the Greek. That s the heart of the matter what we believe. Where we put our trust, our confidence, is what matters. That s how important our faith is to God. K. Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world (v. 27). Martha believed. She believed even though her brother died. Even though the people in her life scorned and mocked her because she had put her faith in Jesus coming to save her brother, and He didn t come in time. Even though she was broken and grieved. She still believed in Jesus. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him! (vv ). Jesus felt in that moment exactly what we feel when we mourn, when we get no answer, when our hopes are shattered. Jesus gets what it is like when we find ourselves in difficult and challenging circumstances. L. And then Jesus said something crazy. He asks Mary and Martha if they would have their servants remove the stone covering Lazarus grave. And this is interesting to everyone standing around because Lazarus has been in the tomb for three or four days. It can t be pretty in there. Then Jesus said, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? (v. 40). In other words, move it. Move the stone. Imagine the drama people looking at each other and wondering what would happen next. M. Then Jesus prayed an interesting prayer that went something like this: God? You know what I m about to do. And I know what I m about to do. But I just wanted to open My mouth and ask You out loud. I want everyone to know that I do this not of My own power, but of Yours. I want to establish that We have this connection, that I am Your Son. And then Jesus said, Lazarus, come out! (v. 43). And he did.

13 SCRIPT PG.5 The story ends this way: Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him (v. 45). APPLICATION A. There is a connection that we can t truly understand except when we hear the stories of people who walk through negative circumstances and come out the other side with a stronger faith. Do you know what makes the difference between a person who leans into God and whose faith gets better, and a person who leans away? The people who surround them. In times when it seems like God is nothing but a big disappointment, that s when we need people to come around us and frame the question differently and interpret our circumstances differently than we might not in an attempt to excuse God, but to explain that God understands exactly what we are going through. B. Pain isn t new. Tragedy isn t proof of anything. Tragedy and pain are part of the story. And in at least one case, tragedy and pain were part of the story that Jesus created on purpose. He created this situation to show the connection between our confidence and faith in Him despite the pain and unavoidable suffering that are a part of this world. God uses these stories, this pain, this hurt as a result of sin in the world, and uses it all to take our faith to a level we never knew possible. C. When I was 13 years old, my mom died from a brain tumor. Throughout her year-long battle with the tumor, she held on to God. She would pray. She would ask God to heal her. She would post Scriptures around the house. She did everything she knew to do, but to a 13-year-old boy, it wasn t enough. And while my mom believed that God was in control, life felt very different for me. My world was upside-down. And nothing was the same ever again. I still believed in God. I wasn t angry at Him. But there was a very real struggle between what I believed and the raw emotions I felt. Like I said, I believed in God, I just wasn t sure I trusted Him. But it was the faith of my father and the community of my church that helped me walk through that dark time. You see, my father never let go of God. And for us, that meant that we never stopped going to church even when we didn t feel like it. Because for us, that was where we found the people who hurt with us. Those were the people who knew us, laughed with us, cried with us, and in that community, we found healing. We found a new normal. D. When you feel like God is doing something to you, you re liable to lose faith. But when you can begin to understand it, and that may take weeks, months or years, but when you begin to see that God is doing something in you so that He can do something through you, then you will be one of those individuals who emerges on the other side of a pivotal circumstance and says, I still believe. I believe that not only could Jesus get whatever He wanted from God, but I believe He is the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in Him, even though he dies, even though she dies, they will live. LANDING A. If I had advice for you as we close this message and this series, it s simply this: If you re in the middle of a pivotal circumstance, if you re in the middle of one of those oh-my-gosh-i m-so-disappointed-with-god things, if you re in the middle of something that makes you think, I don t know where to turn and I don t know where the answers are and I m almost to the point of despair, if that s where you are, then would you add to your prayers: God, I need to see You in this.

14 SCRIPT PG.6 B. There s an old song by the band Train called Calling All Angels that starts out like this: I need a sign to let me know You re here. I ve prayed that a thousand times, saying, God, I m not asking You to change everything. You know what my will is. I don t know what Your will is; I ve just got to see You in this. If I can see You in this, then there s hope. If I can see You in this, then I know there s an end. If I can see You in this, then I know there s the grace to sustain me. God, I ve got to see You in this because at the end of the day I want to emerge with bigger faith, not less faith. C. Your suffering and your pain and your bumps are part of the story, and as Jesus made it all too clear, it s an important part of the story. And just as your heavenly Father leveraged the greatest crime in history, the crucifixion of His Son, just as He leveraged that as a reference point for your faith, a reference point for your salvation and a reference point for the fact that God loves you, in the same way, if we will let Him, He also will leverage our deepest pain, our darkest hours, our deepest valleys. God has chosen to use pivotal circumstances to grow our faith in Him. But, it is our responsibility to decide how are we going to respond. [TRANSITION INTO SMALL GROUPS]