Scripture: Joshua 24:1–15
Main Themes: Remembering God’s faithfulness, gratitude for those who came before us, honest truth-telling about the past, repentance and learning, choosing blessing over conquest, existence as a gift, suffering and compassion, and practicing gratitude.
Discussion Questions
- Remembering How We Got Here
- Pastor Mark warns against imagining that we arrived where we are entirely through our own goodness, sacrifice, or hard work. Who helped make your life, faith, or opportunities possible?
- What changes when we understand our lives as gifts shaped by God’s faithfulness, other people’s sacrifices, and circumstances we did not create for ourselves?
- Remembering with Honesty
- The sermon says anniversaries and milestones are occasions not only for celebration but also for truth-telling. Why can it be difficult for individuals, churches, or nations to hold gratitude and repentance together?
- What part of your personal or communal history needs to be remembered more honestly so that its lessons are not lost or repeated?
- Choosing Between Conquest and Blessing
- Pastor Mark says the text demands that we choose between a God of conquest and violence and a God who intends to bring blessing to the entire world. How does that choice affect the way we read Joshua’s story?
- Where do you see faith being used to justify power, exclusion, or nationalism today? What would it look like instead to bear God’s blessing to the whole world?
- Gratitude in the Midst of Suffering
- The sermon insists that gratitude does not require us to gloss over pain or pretend to be glad for everything that has happened. How is this understanding of gratitude different from forced positivity?
- Pastor Mark compares gratitude to a deep well that we dig through practice. What practices have helped you find something life-giving when health, money, work, grief, or other burdens feel overwhelming?
- Applying the Sermon
- Joshua says, “Choose this day.” What is one specific way you can choose gratitude this week while remaining honest about something difficult?
- How might you honor the blessings you have received by passing them on—through compassion, truth-telling, repair, generosity, or care for someone who comes after you?
