Bethany Community Church

Preached on Sunday, May 3rd

Teacher: Richard Dahlstrom

This week, we looked at Hosea and considered how we tend to wander away from God, only to desire to return to him. We looked at Hosea 6:1-3, where we are encouraged to return to the Lord and press on to return to the Lord over and over again.

• Can you think of a time when you were a child that you wandered off? How did you feel? How did it feel to be found?
• Can your describe a time when as an adult you wandered away from the Lord? How did it feel to return and be home again?
• Hosea 10:12 says: “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground.”
  • Sow with a view to righteousness. Where are you on the road? What steps do you need to take to return to the Lord?
  • Reap in accordance with kindness. What gifts from God do you find easy to receive? What gifts do you find hard to receive? Why?
  • Break up the fallow ground. What behavior patterns do you need to break? What will it take?
• Hosea 12:6 says: “Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.”
  • How do you hold fast to kindness and justice?
  • What are you waiting for in the Lord? How is the waiting going?
  • Can you think of a time with waiting opened your eyes to God’s gifts in a new way?
• Hosea 14:2-3 talks about confessing our sin before God and renouncing the things in our lives that draw us away from one another.
  • What keeps you from being honest with God? With your friends?

Preached on Sunday, April 26th

Teacher: Richard Dahlstrom

In the book of Joel, we see how God used events in the lives of the Jewish nation in order to get their attention and draw them back to himself. As we read Joel, we are challenged to consider how God has used difficult circumstances in our own lives for the same purposes.

-Pastor Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions:

1. How has God used an event to get your attention?
2. Can you think of a time when a disruptive event caused you to walk away?   Where are you now in processing that event?
3. How has God used an event to expose a blind spot in your life?
4. How have disruptive events in your life altered your belief about God?  Your relationship with God?  Your theology?
5. Can you think of a time that you have had a change in behavior without a change of heart?
6. Can you think of a time that a change of behavior has been an expression of a change of heart?
7. Where do you hope to see restoration occur?   What will it take on your part?  On God’s part?  On others’ part?

Come, you who are thirsty! In John 7:37-38, Jesus invites those who are thirsty to come and receive him as the Living Water. The natural consequence of receiving him is twofold: the inner quenching of our thirsty souls and the outer flow of his blessing to those around us. When we find our thirst quenched in Christ, he floods us with his presence so that we might overflow and bless others.

Discussion Questions:

• Can you name a glimpse of perfection that you have recently experienced? What ended it? What feelings were you left with?
• What signs do you see that reflect a disconnect from God’s original intent for humanity?
• In what ways do you experience the effects of the Fall?
• Can you think of ways that you might be protecting your interests, believing that this might be all there is?
• How would this look different if you saw life from an eternal perspective?
• How does the resurrection of Christ impact your perspective on a global level? A community level? A personal level?
• What are you thirsty for?
• John 7:37-38 – Jesus’ invitation: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
  • What kind of thirst is Jesus referring to?
  • What is he inviting people to?
  • What is the process he describes in his invitation?
  • Where are you in that process?

As Jesus neared Jerusalem, he presented himself in such a way that within five days, the crowd went from viewing him as their source of hope to shouting “crucify him.”  In the texts today, we are challenged to consider the cost of following him. -Pastor Richard

Discussion Questions:

• What is easy to believe about Christ?
• What is hard, or offensive, to believe?
• Can you think of a way that a relationship that you are in changes your behavior?
• Cheap grace – willing to receive from Jesus but not walk with Jesus
  • “Bless my story and plans, but don’t change them”
  • Selective embrace of Jesus’ ethics and commands
  • Busy doing, but we have stopped listening to Jesus
• How is your relationship with Christ two-way?  How does the concept of “cheap grace” help you evaluate your relationship with Christ?
• What is the cost of discipleship for you where you are right now?
• How has Christ transformed your life as you have taken a difficult step forward in discipleship?