Knowing Jesus,
making Jesus known
making Jesus known
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Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.”
Rev 22.13
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.”
Rev 22.13
CELL GUIDE No 3 – Spring (but really Winter) 2004
Welcome
Chill!
Word
Bring some newspapers to the meeting, arrange for a computer with an Internet connection to check-out a news website (e.g. www.news.bbc.co.uk), or record the first few stories of a current TV news bulletin.
Do you think that God is in any way involved in these situations?
What do you think God's comment on these situations would be?
How do you think that God might make his thoughts known?
Today we are going to be looking at the history books and the prophetic books that make up the largest part of the Old Testament. One thing that these books show us clearly is that God is involved in the events of world history and that he has opinions on how people and nations should conduct themselves.
• Framework
The Jewish people divided the Bible into three sections, the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. The second section, the Prophets, covers the group of books we are looking at today. This is a huge chunk of the Old Testament - 29 of its 39 books.
But why put all these books together?
What is history? What is prophecy?
How can they go together?
How can they go together?
The history books and the books of the prophets both cover the same period in the life of the nation of Israel. While the history books tell what was going on with God's people, the prophets wrote down what they believed were God's thoughts and comments on what was taking place and why.
What is prophetic history?
they record genuine events and they were written with the particular intention of showing how God was at work in all that occurred.
• Story
Working in small groups the young people must put these sentences in order to tell the story of the children of Israel (see sheet)
Most religions view history as an endless cycle with no beginning and no end and no purpose. Christianity doesn't see history in that way. We believe it has a beginning when God created the world, and that it will have an end when Jesus comes again and makes all things new and perfect. We have seen that God had a plan for an entire nation but the stories also make it clear that he has purposes for individuals, so our decisions and choices matter.
• Portrait
Aim: To see the patient love of God and also an example of how the history books and prophetic books fit together.
The Prophet Hosea - Hosea 1:1 shows clearly how the prophets fit together with the books of history. The kings mentioned here can be read about in the history book 2 Kings (13-17). What is clear is that it was not a happy time for God's people; they were worshipping other gods and suffering the consequences of God's displeasure.
Bible Readings:
Hosea and his unfaithful wife - Hosea 1:1-3 and 3:1-5,
God's love for his children the Israelites - Hosea 11: 1-11.
Hosea and his unfaithful wife -
Ask:
• What are the two pictures that God uses to illustrate the way he loves his people? (Husband and unfaithful wife / father and children)
• What characters represent God? (Husband and father)
• What characters represent God? (Husband and father)
• What characters represent his people? (Unfaithful wife and children)
• What are his people doing to hurt and anger him? (Worshipping other gods)
• What is God's response? (Although he becomes angry he goes on loving and always accepts his children back)
Worship
• Again and again in the books of history and the prophets we see God as a loving husband and father continually being hurt by his children's or wife's unfaithfulness.
• While God does become angry and his people have to suffer the painful consequences of their disobedience, what Hosea and the other prophets make clear is that God's love has no end.
• This is an important part of the portrait of God that the Bible gives us. Our sin is important; it hurts God and we have to suffer the painful consequences of it. But we should never feel that we have gone so far that God has stopped loving us. God will always accept us back with open arms when we return humbly to him.