Don't take that away!

Here's the link to the Sermon: What is the thing you can't live without?

Reading: Amos 8

1. What did the Lord show to Amos in Amos 8:1-2, what did it mean and how does those verses apply to us today?
2. In Amos 8: 3-6 there is a description of the Israelites attitude to the Sabbath and other holy days.
   1. Discuss the difference between the Lord’s Day and the Sabbath. How should we keep the Lord’s Day?
   2. What was the thrust of God’s words through Amos in these verses?
3. What does the Lord say in Amos 8:7?
   1. How does that fit in with other verses offering forgiveness?
   2. Which verses can you find where God promises to forgive?
4. What is the Lord going to do in Amos 8:11-12? Has this happened already or is it a prophecy, yet to be fulfilled? Discuss and explain.
5. Amos and some of the other Minor Prophets can be a bit challenging in places. What would we miss if we didn’t tackle the less well known parts of the bible?
6. As a group consider whether there are areas of teaching which people would like to (or feel they ought to hear), [Group leaders – please feedback any comments]

Courageous and Compassionate

Here's the link to the Sermon: Courage and Compassion

Reading: Amos 7

1. Take a few minutes to recap on what Amos has taught us so far.
2. Verse 1 - what is a vision, and what is it not?
3. What do the visions in verses 1-7 show about God's judgement?
4. What does this teach us about prayer - can you make God change his mind?
5. Discuss the meeting with Amaziah. What does this show of Amos' character, attitude and behaviour, and what should we learn and apply from it? 
   
   

Because God loves us, He corrects us...

Here's the link to the Sermon: God loves us and corrects us

 Reading: Amos 3 

1. Who is God speaking to here?
2. Read through verses 3-6: what is the message in these 7 questions and answers?
3. Does God bring disasters? Discuss various the thoughts on this and draw a biblical conclusion.
4. Has God told us everything that will happen? (verse 7)
5. This passage is full of judgement, discuss
1. what had the people done?
2. was God's judgement fair, discuss why or why not?
6. How does this passage apply to our lives as a nation, a church and individuals today? or to put it another way - how ought this challenge us?  

God always hit's the bullseye!

Here's the link to the Sermon: God always hits the bulseye!

 Reading: Amos 1-2 

1.  If you were being interrogated by the "bible police", what could you tell them about Amos? i.e. who, when, what, where, why, how...
2. look at the pattern laid out in Amos' imagine what the original hearers of the message would have felt as the message unfolded?
3.  Describe the society in Amos' day; how does it compare to the UK today?
4. God will judge all nations and all people:
1. discuss what this means;
2. what responsibility do we have for shaping our society?
3. how does this impact us as individuals?
5. How does God judge believers compared to non believers? (Luke 12:48)
6. God cares about the attitude of our hearts, what wrong attitudes might we have and how can we encourage/challenge each other over these (in love!!)

 

An Active Faith

Here's the link to the Sermon: The Real Deal

 

Reading: James 1:22-25

 

1.    What is the difference between believing and doing?

2.    What is the consequence of professing faith but ignoring God’s word?

3.    The truth of the Bible is useless until it is obeyed (AW Tozer). Discuss this statement.

4.    What are the things our society believes are acceptable that God does not. How should we deal with these issues?

5.    Like many passages we discuss, this one is easy enough to talk about in general, however our verse for the year strikes at the very heart of our personal faith and our priorities – it challenges us with words like obedience, commitment and discipleship. In the sermon we mentioned a number of things, and there is an excerpt pasted below. Take a look at the excerpt, perhaps add other bullet points in, then discuss how important our individual attitude is when it comes to examining ourselves and why we should regularly examine our own lives:

So we need to be people who respond to God’s instructions. We need to examine our own lives. How? Well let’s be practical:

·        Is there a sin you need to confess? 

·        Do you need to stop ignoring a problem and admit it as such? God does not expect you to be perfect but He does want you to be honest.  We need to admit when we have fallen short of God’s standard. In what ways is God calling you to change your course? 

·        Is God pushing you to change a certain attitude or behaviour?

·        Does He want you to reach out to someone, to forgive something they’ve done wrong, or simply to give of yourself to show kindness?

·        Is God calling you to step out in faith?  Perhaps He is calling you to use your gifts more?

·        Maybe He wants you to mend a relationship?

·        Are you praying regularly with others in our church?

·        Perhaps He is calling you to make regular worship a priority…

The real test of a believer is how we respond to what God tells us to do.  The real test of faith is not what we say, but more what we do in response to what God says.

Turn around or be turned over

Here's the link to the Sermon: Turn around! 

 

Reading: Jonah 3

1. How should we react when God gives second chances to a) others and b) ourselves?
2. God demands that preachers preach His message. In which ways might we fail to do that and what are the possible results?
3. Why do you think Jonah’s message was so effective?
4. What is true repentance? How can it be recognised?
5. Discuss fasting, what is it, what might be sensible things to fast from, and why?
6. If God is unchanging (Num 23:19), then why does he seem to change his mind here?

God, You're right!

Here's the link to the Sermon: God, You're right! 

 

Reading: Jonah 1:17 - 2:10

This week the study is less directed, but there is a lot in this passage, so please don't rush through, but take some time to look at the things we didn't have time for in the sermon and also to remind each other of those things we did look at...

1. How long was it before Jonah prayed?
2. Take a look through Jonah's prayer and discuss any points that arise as you read through, line by line.
3. In the sermon we looked at a number of important points for us to apply to our lives today, and there may well be others, spend some time discussing these as a group.
4. What was the question we were left with at the end of the sermon?

Running Away From God

Here's the link to the Sermon: Running Away? 

 

Reading: Jonah 1

1. What do we know about Jonah (more detail from the sermon)?
2. What did God want Jonah to do? Why?
3. Consider what it means for God to be omnipresent.
4. Who might be your equivalent of the Assyrians (people you struggle to love as God loves)
5. Whose life/lives was Jonah endangering by his actions, and what should we learn from this to apply to our own lives?
6. Sometimes in a church it is right for us to throw the Jonah's out of the boat. Discuss this statement. What does it mean for the life of a church? What is the result if we fail to handle church discipline properly.
7. What were the main points that came out of this passage for you, either as a result of the sermon or in your own personal study? discuss some of them as a group.