Prayer
Because the primary goal of our time together is to establish relationships and learn how to walk with one another in all that God has called us to be and do, we’d like to begin by praying for one another. So, does anyone have anything you’d like us to pray for or anything to share regarding how you’ve seen God moving in your life that we can celebrate together?
Opening Question
Where or when did you witness or experience love this week?
God Relates to People as Righteous King
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”– Hosea 1:2-5
That’s the key. All evil starts with 15 volts. And then the next step is another 15 volts. The problem is, at the end of the line, it’s 450 volts. And as you go along, the guy is screaming, “I’ve got a heart condition! I’m out of here!”
You’re a good person. You complain. “Sir, who will be responsible if something happens to him?” The experimenter says, “Don’t worry, I will be responsible. Continue, teacher.”
And the question is, who would go all the way to 450 volts?– Philip Zombardo, The Lucifer Effect
In the sermon, we heard about how the people of Israel struggled to faithfully worship the One True God throughout the Old Testament. Why do you think humanity is so vulnerable to disloyalty and unfaithfulness to God? Do you personally feel vulnerable to disloyalty and unfaithfulness?
Given the results of the experiment described in the sermon and the analysis of its results by Philip Zombardo, how is seeing ourselves as accountable and connected to God first vital to our faithfulness to God? And how can a person’s individual faithfulness impact society at large?
God Relates to People as Heartbroken Judge
Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.”
– Hosea 1:6
This expresses the unthinkable end of YHWH’s commitment to “show mercy,” for his people have presumed too long upon YHWH’s willingness to forgive…[this] announces the new reality that YHWH’s answer to Israel would now be ‘No,’ where it had previously always been ‘Yes’.
– Jerry Hwang, Hosea, An Exegetical Commentary
The story of Hosea communicates that people have the capacity to break God’s heart in deep and poignant ways. What does that truth reveal the importance of vulnerability and grief?
How does Hosea’s story make space for God to speak into our own vulnerability and grief?
Who in your life has been a friend to you when you’ve faced heartbreak?
God Relates to People as Holy Lover
After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
“Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.”– Hosea 1:8-11
What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one.”– Romans 9:22-25
In the sermon, we heard that the Bible’s overarching purpose is not to tell us how to live our lives, but to reveal the story of God’s plan to redeem his people through one Savior, Jesus. Which parts of the Bible make this overarching storyline of the Messiah obvious to you? In which parts is it harder to see?
When humanity proved incapable of remaining faithful to God, God sent himself to “make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy.” How does receiving God’s generous and sacrificial love form us into a more faithful, sacrificially loving people?
How has God shown you his mercy in a real and practical way?
Closing Thought
In your final moments together, pray for one another to experience God’s love in greater measure this week.