What is the most important thing in the world to you, the thing that, if you were to lose it, your life would lose all meaning, purpose, identity and significance? What do you think that thing is for God? As it turns out in Jonah 4, God's "thing" is people! He loves pouring out his love and mercy on the people who are furthest from him, the so-called villians of our world, the very people about whom some may wonder whether they even deserve grace (though, whom God sees as spiritual victims as much as villians). And God is inviting us to make that our thing too: to embody his love enough to extend his mercy and grace to those who may deserve it least but who actually need it most!

To process further this Sunday's conversation, talk through the questions below with your group, your family or a circle of friends. Feel free to even post your own questions below to challenge and inspire the rest of us!

1. To start your conversation, review the Jonah Series as a group.

  • Summarize this series and what God spoke to you during it. How did God meet you through the book of Jonah? What did you learn?
  • Which week was the most important to you becoming a spiritual influence in the lives of others? Why was this week in particular so impactful for you?

 

2. Read Jonah 4:1-4. Jonah ran away from God's call to share his faith with the Ninevites because he was afraid that God was so gracious and merciful that he would end up forgiving them, though they didn't deserve to be forgiven.

  • Think about the video that we watched during the service. (Or re-watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WybvhRu9KU) Did any part of this video make you uncomfortable? Why? How do you respond to this video?
  • Read Exodus 34:5-6. Why do you think we need it clarified that God actually loves everyone? What makes us want to believe that some people don't deserve forgiveness? Why do we tend to think about people more as spiritual villians rather than victims?
  • God chose Jonah to reach the Ninevites because of his attitude towards them, because God wanted to change Jonah too. In what ways do you think that God may want to change you, and your attitudes towards others through this journey of sharing your faith?

 

3. Read Jonah 3:4-9. Jonah cared so much about his little plant, because of the comfort it provided, but didn't care one bit about the Ninevites and their relationship with God. How does that happen to us?

  • What is it, in your life, that if you were to lose it (or never experience it) life would lose all meaning, and significance? What is it that you depend on for happiness, meaning and identity? (This is the thing you actually care about most.)
  • How does this thing, whatever it is, get in the way of us responding to God's call to "get up and go" and share our faith? How do we get to the point where these things are more imporant than being a spiritual influence in people's lives?
  • What kind of changes do we need to make in our lives to start to prioritize the spiritual lives of others more than these things?

 

4.  Read Jonah 4:10-11. It was God's love for the Ninevites that inspired him to send Jonah to NIneveh to preach for their repentance and faith.

  • Share the name (or, if you'd prefer it to be anonymous, the story) of the person's name that you wrote down this morning.
  • Why did you think that God brought their name in particular to your mind? In what ways do you think that you can start to be a spiritual influence in this person's life? What will this look like in this relationship?
  • Pray as a group for the names that you each wrote down. Read Colossians 4:2-4 and/or Ephesians 6:19-20. Pray for each other, that God would give you the opportunities and the boldness to answer his call.