Sermon Discussion Guide 8-23-26

Sermon Discussion Guide
Jonah | Angry Enough To Die | Jonah 4:1-10

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

Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, 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 4:1-10

The Love of God is Sovereign

• God provides the fish (1:17), the plant, the worm, and the wind (4:6-8).  Some of these are gifts, and some are discomforts. God uses both to accomplish his purposes. What does this tell you?
• Jonah is angry that God is "Sovereign" over Nineveh's fate, but he's just as upset when God is Sovereign over his own comfort (the plant, the worm). Where in your life do you find it easier to accept God's control?
• Read Matthew 20:1-16. What is your first reaction to this parable? 
• "Are you envious because I am generous?" What are some common ways envy of God's generous grace and love may show up in a Christian’s life? Do you recognize your own temptations in any of these ways?

The Love of God is a Mystery

• Read Ephesians 3:14-19. Why does a Christian need God’s help to understand the love of God?
• What's the difference between knowing about God's love and actually experiencing it?
• We can't comprehend the love of God any more than we can comprehend the size of the ocean or the distance of the cosmos. Does thinking of God's love as being beyond your comprehension feel comforting, unsettling, or both? Why?
• The doorway into experiencing the mystery of God's love is "coming to the end of yourself." When has coming to the end of your own answers/wisdom/intellect actually opened you up to God rather than closing you off?

 

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.