Answering God's Call
Speaker: Dr. S.J. Bowers, Pastor-Emeritus EMBC
Text: Jonah 1:13-, 2:1, 3:1-10
Title: Answering God's Call
Sermon Study Questions
Purpose: We must respond to the call of God with obedience
I would like to begin this morning with a personal question to everyone who is listening to this message. How did you respond when the call of God came into your life? When we hear the phrase, called by God, we normally think of God’s call to preachers. But the call of God is more inclusive than that. Everyone who has been saved Jesus Christ has been called by God. Not everyone is called to preach, but everyone is called to serve. As 1 Peter 2:9 tells us, God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Paul tells us that (Rom 8:28 NKJV) …. all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. He is talking about all believers. God first of all called you to salvation. You didn’t decide to save yourself, you just answered the call that God was placing on your life at that time. After that God calls us to serve Him in specific ways from time to time as He sees fit. Sometimes God calls us to change our lifestyles because the way that we are living is not suitable for a child of God. Sometimes God calls us into a higher level of service. And God may call us to go places that we don’t want to go. But when God places a call upon our lives we will find no satisfaction until we answer that call. Because God calls who He will to do what He wills. The question that we want to address today is how do we respond when God calls us to do His will. What is the proper response of a child of God to the call of God? There are some answers for us in the Old Testament account of God dealing with Jonah. Let us look at Jonah for examples of how we should or should not respond to the call of God.
1. What did the sermon say to you?
Understanding The Text
2. Read Paslms 139:7-10 What stands out to you in this passage?
3. What does Romans 8:28 teach us about God’s character?
4. Look at the other Bible passages in this lesson.List the reason (s) that each gives that we answer God’s call speedily and obediently?
• 1 Peter 2:9
• John 6:9-13 , 9:1-7
• Matthew 11:28-30
Applying The Text
5. Name three (3) of the responses mentioned in the sermon that we should choose when we are called into service by God.
• __________. Jonah we should ______ try to run from God.
• Explain what this means to you.
• Like Jonah we should run _____ God in _____________.
• Explain what this means to you.
• Like Jonah we should run _____ God in _____________.
• Explain what this means to you.
Owning The Text
6. What does Romans 8:28 give us the assurance of?
7. What does Isaiah 6:8 exhort us to do?
8. If you learned what God wants you to learn from John 6:9-13 , how would it impact those around you?
9. What should be your first step in answering God?
Sermon Study Questions. Copyright 2012 by Rev. S. J. Bowers