Joel: Controlled Burning
Joel 2:1-17
Richard Dahlstrom, Senior Pastor, www.spiritsoulbody.org
Embrace that the world will be shaken
- Denial
- Bombproofing our lives
Build on that which is unshakeable
- Forget about the outward show
- Heart matters more than outward actions
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Discussion Questions
Before questions, attempt to give the group a bit of a summary of the main points of the sermon and then choose a few questions that fit your group’s needs and style. We don’t intend for you to use all of these. Three to five questions may be a good number.
- When was the last time you shared your story with another person? Is there one “above the line” and “below the line” item you would share as significant in your life?
- Read Joel 2:1-7 aloud as a group.
- Pastor Richard reminds us this week that judgement is not to bring us to destruction, but to bring us into alignment with the lives for which we’re created. In light of that, what might God be trying to teach you now?
- The present crises reveal just how easily our world and everything in it can be shaken… What places of stability have you ran to in the past few months?
- Re-watch the Bible Project snippet of “The Day of the Lord”.
- Through the many examples we see that “The Day of the Lord” is not intended to vindicate you and your view but expose but what needs to be exposed. In the last week what has been exposed for you?
- Knowing that what is temporary should never define your identity (i.e. leaders, parties, nations), what temporary identity are you clinging to?
- Share what caused you to lose sleep this week? How do those items fit into what in your life needs to be burned? (ex. nationalism, pride, hidden addiction, walls built preventing intimacy, etc.)
- Discuss what God means by saying “rend your heart” in this passage of Joel. Why is it that doing the right thing without your heart doesn’t matter?
- If layering religion on top of our idols is not Christianity, what idols do you need to burn for God to write into your life more grace, mercy, generosity and a story of hope? (Reminder: We aren’t made for a transaction with God but for intimacy with him)
- How would you answer Richard’s question of “what is the one thing your heart desires more than anything else?”
- Consider listening to the podcast with Charles Moore Part 1 as a group (Part 2 coming soon!).
- Close by praying different translations of the Lord’s prayer or reading it aloud in your own words.