This Sunday concludes our series Getting Unstuck: Lessons from the Kings of Ancient Judah. In this message, pastor Norton Herbst unpacks a lesson on stubbornness through the story of King Zedekiah.
Discussion Questions for Getting Unstuck Pt4 | November 3, 2019| Click here for a printable handout of the discussion questions.
Key Passages: 2 Chronicles 36:11-19; 2 Kings 25:1-7; Jeremiah 21:1-10, 38:14-23
Discussion Questions
- Describe a time in your life when you were extremely stubborn.
- What is at the root of stubbornness? What beliefs about one’s self and God lie under a person’s unwillingness to change or listen to others?
- Read 2 Kings 25:1-2 and Jeremiah 21:8-10. Why do you think God was letting the city of Jerusalem be surrounded and destroyed by the Babylonians?
- Have you ever felt that God let you suffer the consequences of your own sin or bad decisions? How did you interpret God’s posture toward you during that experience and how do you interpret it now with hindsight?
- Read Jeremiah 38:17-20. How is surrender the opposite of stubbornness? Make a list with two columns describing the different ways stubbornness and surrender are opposites.
- It’s time to get personal: where are you being stubborn right now? Is there any area of your life, a habit, or a decision where you’re being stubborn? Be bold and share with the group. (Wait for several or all to share; everyone is stubborn, often in ways they do not like to admit, which is the nature of stubbornness!)
- What would surrender look like in this situation?
- How is your stubbornness undermining your relationship with God?
Moving Forward
- Find a creative way to keep the idea of surrender in front of you over the next week. Write it on your hand, put it on your screen background, put it on a card that you place on your mirror or dashboard . . . Do something to remind yourself to surrender to Jesus every day this week.
- Resolve to talk with someone else (a friend or mentor) about your stubbornness and desire to surrender. The most powerful way to resist stubbornness is sharing your temptations with another person.
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