Welcome to Sunday Fuel! This series of questions is designed to assist your personal reflection and fellowship with others about the sermon from this past Sunday.

Go to This Sunday’s Sermon (start at 22:44)

1. It is easy, in a passage like this, to jump straight to the command in verse 14 to not grumble or dispute. However, as Pastor Gavin points out, this is in light of a greater truth: that we are children of God. How does our identity, because of Christ’s greatness, grace and goodness, help give context to this command? Consider how grumbling and disputing are inconsistent with who you are in Christ and weaken your witness.  
2. Take some time to list what you grumble about or dispute over. When do you think: “Why me?” or “Why not me?” Ask yourself the why underneath your complaining and arguing. Underneath your grumbling and disputing, whose kingdom are you seeking—your own or God’s? (* If you’re going through suffering, please see the note below.) Take time to confess and repent before the Lord. 
3. Take time to rest in the two encouragements Pastor Gavin highlighted at the end of the sermon. Give yourself the space to remember His love for you through His forgiveness offered to you through Christ. 

• Thank God for the word of life we have been given. How can you hold fast to it today? 
• Thank God also for the grace of His sacrifice and the promise of hope that it holds before us as we anticipate the day of the Lord to come. How might you live differently today as a witness, “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,” looking forward to that day? 

* Note: If you are suffering today: sometimes we find ourselves in hard seasons–sometimes they are short and intense; sometimes it is a chronic ongoing difficulty. In either case, we may hear verse 14 with guilt or shame, assuming we cannot give voice to these things. So we fake it or push those pains down, which makes it worse. 

In His kindness, God has offered us an alternate course. While we should not grumble towards and dispute with one another, that does not mean we cannot voice our suffering at all. In fact, He has a special pathway of complaining just for sufferers: lament. If you are unfamiliar with lament, here’s a great message that explains what it is. Though originally shared with our youth, it is suitable for all as we learn how to “complain with God” in such a way that grows your faith and allows you to shine bright, even in the midst of your suffering.