SERMON BASED SERIES

MAD ABOUT YOU
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INTRODUCTION

The prevailing message in Christianity is that God loves us. Yet, there are vivid examples throughout the Bible of God expressing his anger and wrath. What does that tell us about God? Is it as easy as assuming that when we live obediently he's happy, and when we fail to make morally-sound decisions, he gets upset? Or does this tension in God's relationship with us tell us something deeper about his character? Moreover, when God does get mad, what does he do with his anger? The story of Hosea shows us that God does something unbelievable and unthinkable with his anger.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Apart from seeing the crime and injustices in the world, what makes you angry? What is it that people do that really upsets you?

  2. Do you tend to hold in your anger or do you lash out at others? What do you do with your anger?

  3. Read Hosea 5:14. Is God justified in his anger? How might God feel betrayed by his own people?

  4. Read Hosea 3:1-3. Hosea buys back his own wife. How does this story illustrate God's relationship with us?

  5. Do you agree with this statement? "People don't understand the full extent of God's grace until they've reached rock bottom."

  6. In this story, Gomer undeservedly receives mercy and forgiveness. How does the story of Hosea and Gomer serve as a picture of Christ's love? What does the story of Hosea compel you to do?

THINK ABOUT IT

The more we understand our waywardness and our need for forgiveness, the more we appreciate Christ's work on the cross. God gave us a glimpse of that reality through the story of Hosea. And by the end of the story, hopefully, we realize that we aren't objects of his anger, but examples of his mercy. How does understanding God's wrath better help you appreciate God's mercy?

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

This week, find one way you can be more merciful or forgiving to someone who would normally not deserve it.

CHANGING YOUR MIND

The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites..."
Hosea 3:1