Bethany Community Church

In Micah 6:8, the prophet proclaims that the possibility of a meaningful life isn’t tied to our health, wealth, marital status, or any other variable, but on doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with your God.

Preached on Sunday, June 8th.

Teacher: Richard Dahlstrom

Discussion Questions:

• How do you respond to the following: “Good things happen to good people”? Have you ever believed this? If so, can you remember when you realized that this wasn’t necessarily true?
• How do you need all three of these – doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God – in order to keep balance? What happens when one is missing?
• Can you think of examples in your own life where injustice was committed in personal relationships? In local community? Globally?
• How would things be different in your circle of influence if there was a mutual commitment to treating others with dignity?
• How does your current world need to be restored? Where do you see places of need?
• Can you think of ways that God expresses love in practical acts of kindness?
• Have you experienced mercy from someone? What were the circumstances?
• Can you think of an example when you showed mercy to someone? What happened?
• How can you better love those who hate you? The stranger? The alien?
• Can you think of a time when the inability to forgive caused deep hurt? What happened?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being inapproachable and 10 being widely approachable, what is your perception of God? What has shaped that?
• How do you handle failure in your own life?
• How do you handle failure in the lives of those you love?
• How does failure affect your sense of freedom to approach God?
• How does God’s creation affect your relationship to God or your understanding of God?
• If you walked humbly with God, what would that look like?
• What steps can you take to incorporate this mandate into your life: do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God?