Before You Were Born I Knew You!

Week 17: Discovering the Character of God through Jeremiah
17.1 Show the group an ultrasound photograph and, as a group, discuss:

• what the picture can tell us - or an expert - about the foetus, eg:size, age, sex, heartbeat, abnormalities, etc
• any extra information that we might want that picture to tell us but it can't, eg: eye colour, blood group, inherited genes, mental health, behaviour, giftings, etc.

In Jeremiah 1:5, God says, 'Before you were born, I knew you.' (NIV, paraphrased).

• What do we think God might know about us in the womb that a scan can't tell us? (# hairs on our head, giftings, career, marriage, etc)

17.2 Jeremiah in context: Read Jeremiah 1:1-5. Reading our earlier statement in its full context shows God appointing Jeremiah, a young man probably no older than 20, as a prophet to Judah, God starts by telling Jeremiah that this is what he was created for. Invite the group to consider what it must have been like for Jeremiah to receive this message; bring it into today's culture: how would they feel if God told them to speak to their whole city, let alone country?

This speech came to Jeremiah during Josiah's reign (invite the group to label whether Josiah was a good/bad king and add him into the 'kings handout' table). Josiah was the last great king of Judah. After him, Judah had four evil rulers before finally being invaded and captured by Babylon. It was during these dark days that God used Jeremiah to speak to the people. See if the group can recall Isaiah's ultimate message (hope) and contrast Jeremiah; his message is quite different. There is hope, but we catch only glimpses of it between pleas for repentance, warnings of judgment and grieving for the state of the nation (Jeremiah 8:21).

17.3 Returning to chapter 1, read only verse 6 and see if anyone can think of someone else we've studied who made excuses to try and get out of their calling (Moses)? Can they remember what happened (God used him anyway)? The exact same thing happens to Jeremiah. Read on through verses 7-9. Discuss what happens and what we can see of God's character.

If time allows, go on to read verses 11-19 and discuss how God can seem confusing sometimes, but he does make clearer but explaining the confusion. Refer also to last week's message of encouragement and compare with this passage - particularly the latter verses; what else can we learn here about God's character?

17.4 Staying with confusing things, later in his ministry, Jeremiah is told to wear a yoke (might need to explain what this is) as a symbol representing the pain and discomfort of being captured by Babylon. While Jeremiah is wearing he is also giving a message to Judah and the surrounding nations about accepting their fate and not trying to avoid it by looking elsewhere for answers, such as: trying to tell the future, explain dreamsor listen to false prophets - and there were plenty of them.

Read Jeremiah 28:1-17. Contrast Hananiah's prophecy with actual events (Judah was captive for a total of 70 years). The peace that Hananiah prophesied didn't happen; certainly not in two years - in fact, in chapter 29, Jeremiah tells the captives , "build houses and settle in the land"! God then gives Jeremiah a prophecy against the nations and, more specifically, against Hananiah. the latter is fulfilled 2 months later and shows that, in fulfilling His word about the the small things, God shows He can be trusted to keep His word about the big things. He gives clear indicators to show that He is the true God.

17.5 One of these big things that the Jews - and we - can trust God to fulfil is a promise He gave them while they were in captivity. Read 31:31-34. These verses form part of a chapter that promises an amazing future for Israel and Judah reunited. Discuss the elements of this promise (new covenant, direct relationship, forgiveness, etc). In some ways, this promise has already been fulfilled; in others, it hasn't (eg: Israel/Judah unity), but we hope in faith for it because we've seen God keep so many promises before. Any final characteristic the group wish to add?

Week 17: Summary
Another week rich with God's character. Through Jeremiah, we learn:

• God knows every detail of our lives
• Where we feel unable, God equips us
• He gives clear indicators to show He can be trusted and that He is the true God.

The Encouragement Business

Week 16: Discovering the Character of God Through Isaiah
16.1 As a group, discuss the times when we've felt that God seems distant. What is it that usually brings us to that place? How do we get out of it? Do we question God? Ourselves? Do we ever get a sense of foreboding/warning that it's coming?

16.2 Isaiah in context: Read Isaiah 1:1 and 2 Kings 15:1-4 and add Isaiah to the Kings handout - noting the Kings who reigned during his lifetime. At the start of Isaiah's ministry, Judah is still 'treading water'. They've messed up but, for the most part, their kings are still doing ok. Uzziah - aka Amaziah - is doing pretty well as king, except for not removing the high places. At the same time, the Israelites are in their final days; they've had horrendous leaders and finally they end up in a situation where the Assyrians attack and 'take them out'. Judah - and more significantly, Isaiah - saw this happening and God gave Isaiah a message for the people. Its intensity was to make the people squirm and bring them to repentance under the conviction of their sin. However, its also full of passages that teach us that God wants the best for His people - even if that includes judgement. In fact, the book starts with God blasting the people of Judah for their sin and warning them of this coming judgment but mercifully*, He also promises hope. (*Can anyone remember the definition of 'mercy'?) We're going to start a couple of chapters into the book, after God has already given Judah a couple of stark warnings.

16.3 Read Isaiah 6:1-10 and discuss what appears to be going on. This passage is saturated with glimpses of God's character, invite the group to share their impressions. Some ideas to help... He reveals Himself, cleanses us, doesn't force us, purifies us, is holy, is sovereign*, is worshipped, makes us one with Him/atones* us [NIV] (*Define Sovereign and Atonement).

Go on to discuss why God reveals Himself - and these characteristics - to Isaiah right at the beginning of his ministry (times were going to get tough; it was encouragement that God was in control). Can anyone think of someone we've studied who had a similar reassurance from God at the beginning of their ministry... 4 times? (Joshua)

God is in the business of encouraging us. We see this over and over in Isaiah and it goes beyond a personal message to being a word for the nation.

16.4 Read Isaiah 43:1-7. The situation has progressed dramatically since chapter 6. God had spoken through Isaiah giving terrific messages of hope and warnings to the people - and also prophecies about the surrounding nations. Now, it's about 200 years later; the Jews have been captured by the Assyrians and kind-of-freed. They're ruled by the Persians (anyone able to name a Jew who lived in those days? Esther, maybe?) and are beginning to rebuild their lives. It's still hard and it's still painful and they still face opposition to their very existence bot God comes along with this continual message of encouragement to remind them that He has it all under control and that He's not going to leave them. Discuss any further characteristics of God that we can see in this passage.

16.5 Final stop on our whistle stop tour is Isaiah 50... well, actually 50-56 (we won't read them all though!). Just a spattering of verses to read: 50:1; 51:1-3; 52:7-9; 53:4-6,11-12; 54:7-8; 55:6; 56:6-8.

A quick summary of this fleeting overview: 'Israel, you sinned; you grieved God's heart but remember where you came from and the promises God gave you. Now, God is making a way for you to be put right with Him: He is giving you a Saviour who will justify* you by bearing your sin. God is having compassion on you so come; receive it, seek Him and repent before He changes His mind! And God will increase your numbers; He is making himself accessible to everyone! (*define justify/justification)

Chapter 53 is very famous - but were it elsewhere it may have lost some of its impact and significance to Israel. God had to convict them of their sin before revealing the Saviour; if we don't think we're sinful we would shun the very idea of needing a Saviour. They also needed to know about this Saviour and their need for Him before God could reveal His glorious promises of chapter 54; they needed to know that the only way that they could enjoy these promises of 54 would be to allow God to deal with the sin He convicted them of in 52 through 51-52 through the servant/Saviour promised in 53.

Week 16: Summary
The book of Isaiah is saturated with glimpses and revelations of God's character with a beautiful message of hope arcing over them all to shine through as the book's ultimate message. Just a handful of the characteristics of God that we've seen are:

• God reveals Himself to us
• He is in the 'Encouragement Business'
• He is Holy
• He is Sovereign
• He loves us

A Risky Business

Week 15: Discovering the Character of God through Esther
15.1 Invite the group to share times when they've taken risks - either generally or for God. What's the biggest rick they ever took? Take a mini-poll; Does taking risks make life more: interesting? Fun? Exciting? Dangerous? Scary?

When we say something is 'risky', it means that there is no certainty of things working out; we have to trust in someone/thing/circumstance that it'll all come good. If something's 'risky', it's generally costly.

15.2 Esther was a Jewish girl who became a queen and went on to take a huge risk - probably bigger than any of us have ever done. We'll start at the beginning of her story. She lived in the days after the Jews returned to their land from their exile.. At the same time a guy called Xerxes was King over a land called Persia (Modern day Iran - Persia (Map in YB)). He had a wife called Vashti who was exceptionally beautiful - think Angelina. She had a very sexual, physical beauty and he liked to show her off. One day he commanded her to come and pose for his people and she disobeyed him. Naturally, as King, he figured that no-one had the right to disobey him - not even his wife. So he ditched her. A few years later, his servants suggested that he replace her and so, like Prince Charming looking for the wearer of the glass slipper, they organised a city-wide search for a 'beautiful young girl' to be the next queen. Read Esther 2:5-9 and 15-18 to see how Esther fits into the story.

15:3 Notice that Esther had a 'very pretty figure and face'. The writer of this book takes great pains to point out the difference between Vashti's and Esther's beauty. In fact, the writer uses two very different Hebrew words to emphasise this: the word for Vashti's beauty, yophiy, was, as said, a very physical, outstanding beauty. She was good, she was pleasing to look at. Towb, the word used to describe Esther, on the other hand, is better translated 'comely'. That is, she was physically attractive both in her figure and her general appearance but there was something else; something that naturally drew people to like her. She had a warmth, a loveliness; an inner beauty that radiated out of her. All of this made her attractive to the king's servants and maybe we can be challenged by this: what do our attitudes say about us? What do we miss out on by having bad attitudes, being rude or unkind? After all, if Esther had been physically unattractive or had had a bad attitude, the king's servants would never have noticed her - let alone the king!

Another thing to note about Esther's looks is that God had made her that way for his purposes. It can be easy to criticise - or boats of - our looks, but it is so important to remember that it is God who makes us the way we are - and He generally has a good reason for doing so. Just think: way, way before Xerxes ditched Vashti, before Esther was even born, God was planning on how He would create her on order to best use her for His kingdom. Invite the group to think of someone we've studied who ended up in a royal household through God's choosing and doing - not their own? (Joseph, Moses, David) It's clear to see from each of these lives that God is always at work behind the scenes.

15.4 During our earlier reading, we missed out some verses. Read Esther 2:10 and also 2:20. Here we see Mordecai instructing Esther not to tell anyone who she is. Invite the group to share their thoughts on why this might be.

Scripture doesn't make the reasons for this secrecy clear but, given the time that this was set in, there may have been some lingering fears amongst the Jews in general not to antagonise their enemies. On the other hand, Modecai's thinking may simply be, 'Think of the influence you could have; a powerful position - if you keep your bias secret - you could drop suggestions into the king's ear.' Whatever his reasoning, it is clear that it was God-inspired as that wisdom helped protect Esther when things kicked off. Read 3:1-6, 8-11.

15.5 During their time of exile, the Jews seemed to really learn a few lessons; one of them being not worshipping false gods. Mordecai shows a really godly attitude when Haman insists on people bowing him; instead of being quick to obey, Mordecai remembers that God said 'Worship me only' and knows it would be wrong to bow to - and worship - Haman. (remind you of anyone? Daniel, perhaps?) As a result, Haman develops a fierce hatred for the Jews. He thinks he's bigger and better than God and that he deserves their attentions and honour so, in his proud and vengeful heart, he develops a plot to destroy all the Jews. What is didn't count on was God. A God who hates pride (Proverbs 6:16-17) and who prtects his people over and over.

Read Esther 4:1-17. Here we begin to see and appreciate more fully God's purposes for Esther. By guiding her life so that she ended up a queen, God put her in a position where she could make a difference. And in this, we return to that concept of risks. In approaching the king at all, Esther recognised the possibility that she could lose her life. By telling him that she was a Jew she knew that she was putting her life on the line but, as we just read, this didn't deter her. She was willing to take the risk - to lay down her life - for the sake of her people. See what happened in 7:3-4, 8:5-8 and 8:16-17.


Week 15: Summary
Esther teaches us a lot about the way God sees us and what He requires of us - such as attitudes and willingness to obey, even at great personal cost. It also teaches us a lot about who God is - despite the fact that He isn't even mentioned once.

• He creates us uniquely, for His purposes
• He is always at work behind the scenes
• He hates pride

Your Heart is Where Your Home is?

Week 14: Discovering the Character of God through Ezra and Nehemiah
14.1 Invite the group to define MERCY (not getting what we deserve) and GRACE (getting what we don't deserve)

14.2 These two words are possibly the most commonly used to describe God - and these characteristics are particularly evident in the period between the end of the days of the kings and the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, we can learn much about God's character simply by studying what happened in between these two periods. Handout overview and list of characteristics. Invite the group to circle words as they get impressions of God's character while reading the history of the exile.

14.3 A closer look at Ezra: Ezra is first introduced in Ezra 7. Read Ezra 7:1-6a (good luck with the names!). Lists were really important to the Jews - they lived very much by the old adage, 'it's not what you know, but who you know.' This is most obvious in Matthew's gospel. He was writing to the Jews and in order to prove to his readers that Jesus is the promised Messiah, he opens his gospel with a list of names showing that Jesus is Abraham's descendant. Back to Ezra 7 and this is exactly what the writer (Ezra) is doing. The names show that God hasn't forgotten Israel during their exile; nor the promises He made to them centuries before. It's not by chance that the man He is now using to restore His people and His temple is a direct descendant of Aaron - one of the two brothers God used to deliver His people out of Egypt. God is finishing what he started.

14.4 Read Ezra 7:6b-10 the impact of Ezra's heritage was great and significant however it wasn't enough for him. He could have sat back on his laurels and said, 'You know what? My great-great-great-great.......-granddaddy was Aaron the Priest, so I've got it sorted.' But he couldn't - and wouldn't - cling to the faith of his family; instead he discovers God for himself. Verse 10 shows us how Ezra 'devotes himself' (NIV) to the 'Law of the Lord' - not, 'His parents' teachings'. We can't get to get heaven on the others' faith: our parents, friends, boy/girlfriend will not save us. Only Jesus can do that. This is the relationship that Ezra had with God and the relationship God wants with each of us: direct and intimate - not through a third party.

14.5 The intimacy that Ezra has with God is something that he has in common with Nehemiah. Read Nehemiah 1:1-4. Before we're even five verses into the book, Nehemiah is found weeping - but not for himself; for Jerusalem, God's people. This is the profound effect of intimacy with God. The more we know God's word, the more we devote ourselves to is - and Him - and the better we know how God has worked in the past like Ezra and Nehemiah did (check out the rest of Nehemiah 1), the more in tune we end up being with Him. We know His heart, because by being in that intimate relationship with us, He is able to share it with us. We find ourselves rejoicing in what pleases Him and grieving for what breaks His heart.

Week 14: Summary
From the beginning of our studies through to Solomon, the theme has appeared strongly to be 'Sin and Consequences'. With Josiah, Ezra and Nehemiah, the message seems now to be 'Get to Know Me.' Knowing God's character is to know Him. Some of the characteristics we've learned this week include:

• God is merciful
• He gracious
• He doesn't forget us
• God wants a direct relationship with us.