Sermon Discussion Guide 7-26-26

Sermon Discussion Guide
Jonah | Wherever You Go, There You Are | Jonah 1:1-16

Gathering Question
What is one way you’ve seen God at work in your life this week?

Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, would You guide us into all truth. Help us to hear and be attentive to Your voice as we work through this study. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, Amen.

Opening Questions
What stood out to you in the sermon?
What insights did you gain?
What questions did it raise?

Read Jonah 1:1-16

The Inescapable Presence | Read Psalm 139:7-12

• Why do you think God's omnipresence was terrifying for Jonah but comforting for David? When does God's presence feel like good news and when might it feel uncomfortable?
• What does it mean that God has a claim over every part of our lives? Are there areas where it's easier or harder to acknowledge his authority?

God's Claim on Your Life

• What does it mean that God has a claim over every part of our lives? Are there areas where it's easier or harder to acknowledge his authority?
• “Sovereign Individualism” is the belief that I belong entirely to myself, and no one else has the right to define me or set limits on my life. Where do you see that idea show up in everyday life?
• Modern culture tends to be very uncomfortable with the idea of God's authority or claim over a life. What do you think that preference reveals about what people actually want from God?
• Jonah kept saying, in effect, "My life is mine." The Christian must pray, "It's all Yours." What is one area of your life that you're tempted to hold onto instead of surrendering to God?

The Cross and the Presence of God

• Sometimes the storms are invitations to come home to God. Without assuming every hardship is discipline, have you ever experienced a difficult season that deepened your dependence on God? What did you learn?
• In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises, "I am with you always." How does the cross and resurrection give credibility to that promise? Why can we trust him to keep it?
• Think about a season when you wondered if God had abandoned you. How does looking at the cross reshape the way you interpret God's presence in difficult seasons?

Closing Prayer: Wesley Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
exalted for you or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to your pleasure and glory.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.