I Would Die For You...

Week 28: Discovering the Character of God through Stephen

28.1 Recap on the attributes of God that we have discovered so far in the New Testament. What His ultimate question to us? What are His promises for us? Have they had personal experiences of any of these aspects of God's nature yet - or is it still 'book knowledge'?

28.2 There is a point when this knowledge moves form the head to the heart and it shapes who you are as you recognise who Christ is - and who He created you to be. Stephen had a solid knowledge of both - and he was unafraid to stand up for them. Before we get to that, let's read about how he 'started out'.

Read Acts 6:1-8 and establish the setting: the apostles were so busy teaching that practical needs were (understandably) failing to be met, so they appointed these 7 men. Note and discuss the description of Stephen (5) and of this new group's role (2). Note how God used him in that situation (8). Sometimes we need to allow God to use us in the situation and place we are in; waiting on Him to use our giftings the way he chooses, not the way we expect. We must remember that He doesn't 'operate' the way we want him to.

28.3 Unfortunately, when we operating in our giftings for God, being blessed by Him and doing great things for Him, those who are 'religious' will always have things to say about us (cf. John 15:18) - and this was as true for Stephen as it was for Jesus.

Read Acts 6:9-14. Have any of the group ever experienced false accusations because of their faith? How do they usually respond?

28.4 Stephen's response is recorded in Acts 7 - if time, read through. It is more than simply refuting the Jews' accusations; he goes into great detail of everything he believes - he is giving a sermon. He preaches to the Jews on their history and how they miss the point entirely. Stephen is - as Luke pointed out - 'full of the Holy Spirit' yet we see here that he is also full of truth (John 4, anyone?). Neither outweighs the others. If God is to use us, we need to be ready in the same way: we need to be equally full of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of His Word.

28.5 The last we hear of Stephen is the leader's response to his sermon and the consequences. Read Acts 7:54-8:4 and, as a group, discuss reactions, thoughts and revelations of God's character.

Week 28: Summary
This week's study has taught us a lot about Stephen and what it means to truly follow Jesus yet, amidst this, we see God's character unveiled:

• God does not work as we expect
• He can use our giftings regardless of our situations/circumstances
• He gives us the strength and wisdom to respond in difficult circumstances
  

A New Hope...

Week 21: Discovering the Character of God through Zechariah

21.1 We left the Old Testament seeing God really showing His heart to Israel; that He loved them, wanted to be a husband to them and was jealous for them. Of course, we know from our earlier studies that Israel didn't really listen and ended up getting invaded and captured by Assyria. Not long after, Judah went down the same road away from God and were eventually invaded and captured by Babylon. As we learned in our study of Jeremiah, Judah was captive for seventy years before they were allowed to return to their land.

Our study of Ezra and Nehemiah showed that the Israelites did return and they began to rebuild their city, their homes and their lives. For a while, things went okay but, as time passed, the Israelites began to slip back into their old ways and, if anything, they got worse. Divorce, adultery and abuse of the poor were prevalent and, to cap it all off, the people abandoned their faith; going through the 'religious' motionsof worship instead of sincerely following the Lord.

The New Testament is the 'What Happens Next' part of history; but first, there were 400 years where God remained silent.

• Invite the group to share their thoughts on what it must have been like; suddenly seeming like God was no longer answering or even hearing their prayers.
• Discuss as a group what it might be like to be the first person God speaks to when He breaks His silence. How might we feel? What would we think?

21.2 Read Luke 1:5-17 to see the moment where God breaks His silence, who it was he spoke to and what He had to say. Invite the group to discuss why they think God chose Zechariah and, more importantly, the message the angel brought (hope/new beginnings/joy/peace/reconciliation etc).

21.3 Read Luke 1:18-23 and discuss Zechariah's response and the consequences it brings. Compare this passage with Genesis 18:9-16. Invite the group to share their thoughts on why the Lord treated the two situations so differently (for Abraham and Sarah, a rebuke; for Zechariah, the loss of speech and, most likely, hearing).

• Can they put themselves in Zechariah's shoes? Elizabeth's? The crowd's?
• Who would they most identify with in this scene?

21.4 At the end of this chapter, we see just what happens to Zechariah. Read Luke 1:57-66. Already, we're seeing a God who has not changed from what we saw of Him in the Old Testament: He still keeps his promises and carries out his warnings. Do the group have any thoughts on this passage (especially verses 63-64)? The very moment Zechariah gets his speech back, he worships God. this has a knock-on effect on the people around him.

God is laying foundations for what is to come; softening and preparing the Jews for the gospel. It's a wake up call for the Jews: although God hadn't said much for a while, He never abandoned them... nor did He intend to, as Zechariah went on to foretell.

21.5 Read Luke 1:67-79 and summarise the message that God spoke through Zechariah to John: everything the Lord has promised during the previous millennia was about to come true and this child, John, would herald it in.

• As a group, reflect on this and see if we can find anything new of God's character here.
• How can we be encouraged by Zechariah's prophecy?

Week 21: Summary
The New Testament takes us on a new journey. No longer were the Israelites to struggle to earn God's favour, for He was about to give them the most incredible gift and it all begins here. One man's unbelief reminds a nation that God has not forsaken them but rather is at work in powerful, mysterious ways. God's character is clearly evident in the little glimpse we have into Zechariah's life:

• He gives us new beginnings
• He restores us
• He hears us
• He never abandons us
• He reconciles us to Him

...to name but a few!

To Israel, With Love...

Week 20: Discovering the Character of God through Hosea

20.1 Invite the group to reflect on recent weeks and see if they can put together an overview of what a prophet is from all they've learned (someone who speaks to God's people on God's behalf; messages of both hope and judgment, etc). Handout To Israel With Love for the group to read in their own time but highlight the mention of 'parables' halfway down and invite them to define /give an example of a 'parable'. The handout mentions that Hosea was to be a 'living parable' to Israel and we'll see just what this meant for him - and for the nation - as we work through this week's study.

20.2 Read Hosea 1:1 to see the period in which this is set. Hosea is preaching to the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the rot is really beginning to set in as they turn further and further away from the Lord to follow other gods. at the same time, Isaiah is preaching to the Southern Kingdom, Judah, warning them not to follow Israel's example. Read 2 Kings 15:26 to see just how bad the situation was in Israel. It is also worth noticing the wording of the verse: although Israel was deliberately disobeying God, He saw their underlying hurt and confusion at being ostracized from God - as result of their own actions. This was where Hosea entered the picture. God chose and called him to show the people His heart - that it was broken because of their unfaithfulness, yet He loved them still and wanted them to return to Him. Read Hosea 1:2-3 to see what God asks Hosea to do.

• As a group, discuss Hosea's obedience. Could we respond in the same way?

20.3 Read Hosea 2:1-13 and discuss what's going on (God determining to stop Israel from running away, back to her other gods - note, in particular, verse 7). Go on to Read 2:14 and invite the group to share their thoughts on why God took/led the Israelites into the desert/wilderness (again!) to deal with them. Compare with Luke 4:1 where we see the Jesus led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit; look at the differing attitudes and invite the group to see what we can learn about 'wilderness experiences' from these two events.

20.4 The Israelites weren't keen to give up their ways, as chapter 5, particularly verse 4, reveals. Read the chapter as a group to see just how determined the Israelites were to remain unfaithful to God.... and see what God has to say about it.

20.5 Finally, as a group, read Hosea 11:1-11. Here, we see God love for Israel overflowing in spite of their sin and his previous words. Discuss God's message to Israel in this chapter and invite the group to see for themselves the wealth of God's characteristics evident in this chapter.

Week 20: Summary
We began this session recognising Hosea as the 'Prophet of Love' yet, through him we discover something bigger - and better: a God of Love. And there is there is even more that we have found - and continue to find - out about this God through Hosea:

• He is a Father to us
• He leads us into the wilderness
• He wants us to know Him
• He brings hope

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

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.