Discussion Guides For Gulf Coast Community Church

Gratitude Rooted in a Happy Future

Series: Cultivating Gratitude

Message 2 of the Series

Designed to help groups process the message, engage Scripture, and practice gospel-shaped gratitude together. It follows the sermon’s structure and includes selected sermon quotes, action steps, and prayer prompts.

📖 Sermon Overview

Title: Gratitude Rooted in a Happy Future

Sermon Points:

Giving Thanks for God’s Judgment

Giving Thanks for Christ’s Victory

Giving Thanks for the Kingdom’s Fullness

🌱 Opening Reflection

Read this quote aloud:

“The Psalms teach us to give thanks because of a happy future.”

Then reflect together:

What stood out most to you from the sermon?

Did anything challenge the way you usually think about gratitude?

Why do you think gratitude in hard times feels unnatural?

📖 Read Aloud – Psalm 145:13 (NIV)

“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.”

🧠 Discuss:

What does it mean that God's kingdom endures through all generations?

What does this reveal about the relationship between gratitude and trust?

How can our gratitude shift when we remember God's eternal reign?

⚖️ Point 1: Giving Thanks for God’s Judgment

“God's judgment means He will set things right.”

“We can give thanks now when the world looks like Psalm 2 because God will set the world right.”

📖 Read – Ecclesiastes 12:14 (NIV):

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

🧠 Discuss:

Why do you think God’s judgment is often misunderstood as negative?

How does gratitude in light of judgment help us persevere in injustice?

What situations in our world today make you long for God to set things right?

🛠️ Group Action Step:

Identify one injustice, local or global,and spend time praying specifically for God's justice and healing. If possible, choose a small way your group can advocate, give, or serve in response.

✝️ Point 2: Giving Thanks for Christ’s Victory Over Death

“Because He lives, death’s days are numbered.”

“Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

📖 Read – 1 Corinthians 15:55–58 (NIV):

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

🧠 Discuss:

How does resurrection hope affect the way you live now?

In what areas of life do you feel like your efforts have been in vain?

What does it mean to “stand firm” and “give yourself fully” even when results are unseen?

🛠️ Group Action Step:

Encourage one another by naming one way you see each person’s labor in the Lord bearing fruit. Speak words of blessing and affirmation. Consider writing encouragement notes to ministry volunteers or people who feel unseen.

👑 Point 3: Giving Thanks for the Kingdom’s Fullness

“We may live under dark skies now, but we belong to the kingdom of light.”

“Hope teaches us to rest in God's promise even while we long for its fulfillment.”

📖 Read – Colossians 1:12–14 (NIV):

“…giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

🧠 Discuss:

What does it mean to live with “kingdom identity” while still in a broken world?

What difference does it make to believe we’ve already been transferred into the kingdom of light?

How can we practice joyful gratitude now, before everything is made right?

🛠️ Group Action Step:

Choose one way your group can reflect kingdom gratitude publicly this week—write thank-you cards to community servants, serve a struggling family, or bless another ministry in town.

🔁 Wrap-Up Reflection

Ask each person:

➡️ Where is God calling you to sing in the rain this week?

➡️ What truth or promise from today’s discussion helps you give thanks before the storm passes?

🙏 Group Prayer Prompt

Read this quote aloud:

“Our gratitude is not denial-it’s a declaration that Christ reigns.”

🕊️ Then pray together:

“Lord Jesus, thank You that You are King over every storm. Teach us to give thanks not just when things are easy, but even when skies are gray. Help us remember Your justice is coming, Your victory is sure, and Your kingdom is unshakable. Make us people who sing in the rain. Fill our hearts with gratitude that declares: Christ reigns. Amen.”

✅ Weekly Challenge as a Group

As a group, pick at least one of these to practice this week:

• Celebrate gratitude together with a “Thanksgiving Table” moment at your next meeting—bring something that represents God’s goodness and share why
• Visit or bless someone in your church who may feel discouraged, isolated, or weary
• Serve together-partner with a food pantry, foster care agency, or a neighborhood school
• Create a playlist of songs that help you “sing in the rain” and share it with each other

🙌 Group Discussion Guide

Series Title: Cultivating Gratitude

Sermon Title: Receiving Life as Gift, Not as Entitlement

Key Texts: Romans 1:18–23, 1 Corinthians 4:7, Romans 8:32

Focus Theme: Practicing gospel-shaped gratitude in every part of life

📖 Sermon Structure

Gratitude – What It Is

Gratitude – What It Isn’t

Gratitude – What Makes It Possible

🙏 Opening Prayer Prompt

Invite someone to open by praying something like:

“Lord, shape our minds and hearts by Your Word. Let our time together deepen our gratitude, align us with Your truth, and create a gospel culture in our community.”

🧠 Part 1: Gratitude — What It Is

📖 Read: 1 Corinthians 4:7

“What do you have that you did not receive?”

“Gratitude is receiving all of life as gift.”

“Gratitude aligns us with what is true.”

“We are aligning our souls with truth of what really is.”

💬 Discuss:

Why do you think Paul challenges believers with this question about receiving?

What areas of your life are easiest to receive as gift?

Where are you tempted to feel entitled rather than thankful?

🛠 Group Practice:

Take 3 minutes in silence to write down five things each person is thankful for. Then go around and speak one aloud with a short “thank you, Lord.”

🚫 Part 2: Gratitude — What It Isn’t

📖 Read: Romans 1:21

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God, nor gave thanks to him…”

“Gratitude doesn’t pay back — it joins in.”

“Gratitude that holds space for lament.”

“Our call to gratitude is not pretending that things are okay when they are not.”

💬 Discuss:

How have you seen gratitude twisted into a denial of pain or injustice?

What’s the difference between real lament and grumbling?

In your own life, how do you balance giving thanks and being honest about what’s hard?

🛠 Group Practice:

As a group, create two columns on a whiteboard or sheet:

Column 1: “Things we lament”

Column 2: “Things we’re thankful for”

Let people name items for both — hold space for both truth and trust.

🔑 Part 3: Gratitude — What Makes It Possible

📖 Read: Romans 8:32

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

“Everything is given as gift.”

“Even our skills and efforts are gifts from God.”

“We have to intentionally give thanks to God.”

💬 Discuss:

How does seeing Jesus as God’s greatest gift reshape how you view other areas of your life?

In what ways do you need to grow in trusting that God will “graciously give” you what you need?

What gets in the way of practicing intentional gratitude?

🛠 Group Practice:

Have each person share one area where they’ve seen God's provision — even if it came through struggle. End with a 60-second group thanksgiving prayer for those stories.

🤝 Group Action Steps

This Week:

Individual: Keep a “Gift Journal” for the week — write down one moment each day that reminds you life is a gift.

Group: Start a shared gratitude thread (text, GroupMe, Slack, etc.) — post one sentence of thanks each day.

Together:

Plan a visit, letter, or act of generosity toward someone in need as a group. Let gratitude overflow into tangible gospel mercy.

“We remind one another in the community of grace through songs, prayers, shared language of Thanksgiving that creates culture among us.”

🛐 Closing Prayer Prompt

Wrap up your time by inviting everyone to participate in a “popcorn” style prayer — brief prayers of thanks, one at a time, no pressure. End with someone praying this:

“Father, thank You that we have received everything in Christ. Help us live with open hands and open hearts. Teach us to be a people formed by gratitude — in joy, in pain, and in the ordinary. Let our shared life reflect the aroma of Christ. Amen.”