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March 26: Restoring Love (Joel 2:12, 13, 18, 19, 28-32)

By March 22, 2017Teacher Tips

To engage the learners in a study of the Scripture text:

Read the last two paragraphs of the Lesson Background on page 259 of the Standard Lesson Commentary to help understand the context of the book of Joel, particularly the locust plague that had devastated Jerusalem and the surrounding area.

Read Joel 2:12, 13 and discuss the following questions with your group.

  1. What response to this crisis does the Lord, through Joel, call for from the people?
  2. To what extent do you think God still desires people to turn to him “with fasting and weeping and mourning” today?
  3. What do we learn about the nature of God in these verses? What effect would these descriptions have on the people of Judah?

Read Joel 2:18, 19 and discuss the following questions with your group.

  1. How do you react to the notion that the Lord is “jealous”? How does that compare to a human being who is jealous?
  2. What promises does God make to the people of Judah who choose to return to him? Can we lay claim to similar promises when we turn to God?

Read Joel 2:28-32 and discuss the following questions with your group.

  1. How do you suppose these words struck Joel’s fellow Israelites when they heard them?
  2. Read Acts 2:1-4, 14-21. How does Peter, centuries later, connect Joel’s prophecy to what was happening then?
  3. How was the world impacted when God poured out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost? How do you see God’s Spirit working in believers’ lives today?
  4. What exactly does it mean for a person to “call on the name of the Lord”?

 

To encourage personal application:

Read Joel 2:12, 13 again.

  1. What is the closest you have come to experiencing corporate repentance and renewal?
  2. How eager are you to experience that now?

Read Joel 2:18, 19 again.

  1. In what way can you personally relate to the Lord’s jealousy, pity, and blessings?

Read Joel 2:28-32 again.

  1. What promise or image from this passage do you want to claim for yourself, your family, your church, or your community?

Conclude your time together by praying according to what was shared.

Andrew Sloan

Author Andrew Sloan

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