DEEP-DIVE SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE

Based on: "Let's Have Church" Preacher: Pastor Grant McCrae Primary Texts: Joel 2:12-13; Psalm 124:1; Psalm 103:2; Hebrews 10:19 Time: 90–120 minutes

LEADER PREPARATION

(Read before your group meets)

Overview: This session explores the difference between doing church and having church — between religious performance and authentic encounter with God. Pastor McCrae challenged us to examine whether comfort and blessing have quietly dulled the desperation for God's presence that once marked our worship. This guide goes deeper into the biblical and historical roots of that challenge.

Big Idea: Genuine worship is rooted in remembrance — when we forget what God brought us through, we lose the fuel that drives authentic praise.

Essential Background:

• Joel 2 was written during a national crisis (a devastating locust plague), and God's call to "rend your hearts" was a summons to real repentance, not religious ritual
• The phrase "rend your garments" was a well-known ancient mourning custom; God's redirection of it in verse 13 was deliberately countercultural
• The Temple veil referenced in Hebrews 10 was a massive, thick curtain separating the Holy of Holies — its tearing at the crucifixion (Matthew 27:51) was theologically explosive
• Psalm 103 and Psalm 124 are both "Psalms of Ascent" category-adjacent texts rooted in Israel's practice of corporate remembrance before worship

Preparation Checklist:

• Read Joel 2:12-13, Psalm 103:1-5, Psalm 124:1-3, and Hebrews 10:19-22 at least twice
• Review the word studies below and practice saying the transliterations out loud
• Think through your own honest answers to the discussion questions — especially Question 6
• Pray for your group members by name, asking God to meet each one specifically

Facilitator Encouragement: You don't need to be a theologian to lead this study well. Your job is to ask good questions, create space for honest answers, and trust the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do. The best thing you can bring tonight is your own authentic engagement with the material.

OPENING

(5–10 minutes)

Icebreaker Question: Think of a time in your life when you were waiting, struggling, or desperate — and God came through. What was your immediate response when He did? How do you respond now when you think about that same moment?

Allow 2-3 people to share briefly. This question sets up the entire session's theme of remembrance and authentic praise.

TEACHING TIME

(15–20 minutes)

HISTORICAL & CULTURAL CONTEXT

(5–7 minutes — share conversationally, not as a lecture)

Joel chapter 2 was written against a backdrop of national devastation. A catastrophic locust plague had stripped the land bare — crops gone, economy collapsed, food scarce. It was the ancient equivalent of a complete societal breakdown. Into that crisis, God speaks through the prophet Joel with a stunning invitation: Come back. Not with a performance. Come back with your actual heart.

When God says "rend your garments," He's referencing a practice every person in Joel's audience would have immediately recognized. In ancient Near Eastern culture, tearing your outer garment was the universal sign of grief, mourning, or repentance. It was visible, public, and socially expected. If something terrible happened, you tore your clothes — it signaled to everyone around you that you were broken.

God's redirection is remarkable: Don't tear the garment. Tear the heart. He's not interested in the performance of grief. He wants the real thing. This was genuinely countercultural — God was saying the outward ritual meant nothing without the inward reality.

Psalm 124 and Psalm 103 both emerge from Israel's culture of corporate remembrance. Before major worship gatherings, the people of Israel would recount what God had done — not as nostalgia, but as the fuel for praise. Remembrance wasn't looking backward; it was loading the engine.

KEY WORD STUDIES

(5–7 minutes)

"Rend" — Hebrew: qara (kaw-RAH) This word means to tear, split, or rip open — often used for tearing garments in grief. But here God applies it to the heart (lev). In Hebrew thought, the heart was the seat of the will, intellect, and emotion — the whole inner person. God isn't asking for an emotional display; He's asking for a split-open, fully exposed, nothing-hidden surrender of the entire self.

"Forget not" — Hebrew: al tishkach (al tish-KAKH) In Psalm 103:2, David's command to his own soul — "forget not all His benefits" — uses a word that implies active, intentional forgetting. The Hebrew suggests this kind of forgetting doesn't just happen accidentally; it requires neglect. David is essentially saying: You will forget if you're not deliberate about remembering. Forgetting God's faithfulness is the default setting of the human heart without intentional practice.

"Boldness" — Greek: parresia (par-REY-see-ah) In Hebrews 10:19, the word translated "boldness" or "confidence" is parresia — it literally means freedom of speech, the right to speak openly without fear of punishment. In the ancient world, parresia was a political term describing the freedom of a citizen to speak directly to a ruler. The author of Hebrews is saying: because of Jesus, you have citizen-level access to the presence of God. No performance required. No intermediary needed. You can come as you are, and speak freely.

IMPORTANT CROSS-REFERENCES

(3–5 minutes — have group look these up together)

• Matthew 27:50-51 — The Temple veil tore at Jesus's death, from top to bottom. Pastor McCrae made the point that this direction matters: if torn from top, a human could control access; torn from bottom means God opened it. Read this and sit with what it means.
• Psalm 42:1-2 — "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God." This is the language of desperation for God's presence — the kind of thirst that doesn't require perfect conditions.
• Luke 15:11-24 — The parable of the prodigal son. The father runs toward the returning child. "Come back home" isn't a reluctant invitation; it's a running, robe-giving, ring-placing welcome.
• Romans 12:1 — "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice... which is your reasonable service." Worship isn't an event; it's a life. This is the theological ground beneath Pastor McCrae's statement: Worship is what happens when your life belongs to God.

SCRIPTURE READING & OBSERVATION

(10–15 minutes)

Read aloud: Joel 2:12-13, then Psalm 103:1-5, then Hebrews 10:19-22. Suggest reading Joel from NIV or ESV, then Psalm 103 from the King James for the richness of its language.

Observation Questions (no right or wrong answers — just notice):

1. What words or phrases appear in more than one of these passages?
2. What surprises you or feels unexpected in God's invitation in Joel 2:13?
3. What does David seem to be afraid of in Psalm 103:2? What does that tell you?
4. What questions do these passages raise for you that you'd want to explore further?

DEEP DIVE DISCUSSION

(40–50 minutes)

SECTION A: UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

1. Joel 2:13 says to "rend your heart and not your garments." Based on what you heard in the teaching time about ancient mourning customs, why would God need to make this distinction? What does it tell us about human nature that God has to redirect a genuine mourning practice toward authenticity?

2. In Psalm 103:2, David commands his own soul not to forget. Why do you think David addresses himself rather than God or other people? What does it suggest about where the battle for remembrance actually takes place?

[Leader Tip: If the group gets quiet here, try this follow-up: "Have you ever had to talk yourself into gratitude? What does it feel like when you have to work to remember what God has done?" This makes the question personal without being invasive.]

3. Hebrews 10:19 says we have "boldness to enter the holiest" — what Pastor McCrae described as citizen-level access to God. What would it look like practically if we actually believed we could approach God that way? What would change?

4. Pastor McCrae drew a distinction between doing church and having church. Using only the texts we've read today, how would you define the difference? What does Scripture seem to say authentic worship actually requires?

SECTION B: THEOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS

5. The Temple veil separated the Holy of Holies — the place of God's presence — from everyone except the High Priest, once a year. When it tore at the crucifixion, it was a seismic theological moment. Why do you think God designed that system of distance in the first place, and what does its removal through Jesus tell us about what God ultimately wants from us?

[Leader Tip: This is a rich question that could go long. Keep it focused on relationship — what does God want with us? If someone raises the question of why God seemed "distant" in the Old Testament, that's worth exploring briefly, but redirect toward: "So what does full access through Jesus change about how we come to God?"]

6. Pastor McCrae said: "Don't get so blessed that you forget to bless Him. Don't get so comfortable that you forget to worship." Theologically, why is prosperity potentially more spiritually dangerous than struggle? Where else in Scripture do we see this pattern?

(Consider: Deuteronomy 8:10-14, Hosea 13:6, Revelation 3:17 — the church at Laodicea)

7. The sermon described remembrance as the engine of praise — "Remembrance produces worship." How does this connect to the way God designed Israel's entire worship calendar around acts of remembrance (Passover, Feast of Tabernacles, etc.)? What does it suggest about how God designed human beings to relate to Him?

SECTION C: CONTEMPORARY APPLICATION

8. Be honest with each other: In what areas of your life have you moved from desperation to comfort — and has your spiritual engagement shifted with it? This isn't about guilt; it's about diagnosis.

[Leader Tip: Model vulnerability here before asking others. Share your own honest answer first. This question can go very deep or stay surface-level depending on the group's trust. Don't push for more than people are ready to give, but don't let everyone off the hook with vague answers either.]

9. Pastor McCrae described people who are "good at doing church" — knowing the songs, the language, when to say amen — while something deeper has gone quiet. Without naming others, do you recognize that version of yourself? What does "having church" look like in your own private life, not just on Sunday?

10. The sermon used the image of "third floor praise" — people who don't have the best seat, can't see everything perfectly, but are just glad to be in the room. Where in your life right now do you need a "third floor" posture — grateful just to be present, rather than waiting for ideal conditions?

11. Hebrews 10:22 says to draw near "with a true heart in full assurance of faith." What is one specific thing that keeps you from drawing near to God with full assurance — performance anxiety, unconfessed sin, feeling unworthy, distance, distraction? What would it take to bring that thing to God this week?

[Leader Tip: Give 60 seconds of silence after asking this question. It's personal and requires honesty. You might say: "Take a minute to actually think about this before anyone answers." Some people may not want to share aloud, and that's okay — the personal reflection time in the next section will give them space.]

PERSONAL APPLICATION

(15–20 minutes)

Invite the group to take 2-3 minutes of quiet reflection before sharing. Read these questions slowly.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is one specific thing God has brought you through that you've stopped thanking Him for — not because you're ungrateful, but because you've gotten used to being on the other side of it?

2. Is your current worship life more characterized by performance or encounter? What would need to shift to move toward encounter?

3. Pastor McCrae said: "Maybe God isn't asking us to get louder. Maybe He's asking us to go deeper." What would going deeper look like for you personally in the next 30 days?

This Week Challenge:

Choose one of the following — and be specific about which one you're committing to:

• The Remembrance Practice: Each morning this week, before you ask God for anything, spend 2 minutes recalling one specific thing He has already done for you. Say it out loud. Let remembrance fuel your prayer.
• The Honest Conversation: Have one genuinely unguarded moment with God this week — no performance, no polished language. Come as you actually are and say what you actually feel.
• The "Third Floor" Sunday: Come to worship next week having already decided that whatever the conditions, you're showing up with a "just glad I made it" spirit — and see what happens.

PRAYER & CLOSING

(10 minutes)

Suggested Prayer Focus: Invite the group to pray in pairs or clusters of three. Encourage each person to pray for the person next to them — specifically asking God to meet them in whatever posture of heart they need most: remembrance, honesty, or renewed access to His presence.

Guided Option (if your group prefers a leader-led prayer):

"Lord, we confess that comfort can make us forget. Bless us and we forget the blesser. Heal us and we forget the healer. Tonight, we choose to remember. We remember what you brought us through. We remember the prayers you answered. We remember the veil you tore so we could come home. Teach us to have church — not just do it. Rend our hearts, Lord. Not our garments. Amen."

Closing Word for the Leader:

Remind your group: Sunday's sermon was an invitation. This study was the deeper dive. But neither one matters if we walk out unchanged. The ancient call of Joel 2 is still the call tonight — Come back. With your real heart. Come home.

This guide is designed to be reproduced and distributed freely within your church community.