Sermon Discussion Questions
Hosea 11:1-12:1
1. Describe your perfect parent (either one you had or one you wished you’d had).
2. READ Hosea 11:1-12:1
3. This chapter reads like a conversation between God and His child, Israel. Look at the following verses (11:1, 3a, 4, and 8-9). How has God treated Israel? What pictures and situations does He describe in His relationship with His child? What characteristics of His personality can we take comfort and encouragement from here?
4. Now read the following verses (11:2, 3b, and 5-7). How did Israel respond to God’s love? What do we see of our own sinful nature in the way we also have responded to God’s grace over time?
5. Verses 10-12:1 reintroduce some of the animal images we have seen before but they have changed. The LORD has been like a lion to Israel, but how will the Lion act towards Israel now? Israel has been a double-minded, nervous dove but what will happen to her now? Who is the actor in these verses and what encouragement should we take from the words in 11:11c: “I will return them to their homes”?
6. Reflect together on the sovereign mercy of God. Spend time praising God for Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Lion of Judah: our only rescue which He not only freely offers us but also brings about by His own plan and work at the Cross of Easter and the empty tomb of His resurrection.
7. In the light of God’s fatherly mercy to you, spend time praying for those who taught you to walk and although fallen, did their best to love you. Pray for our church family that we would do well in showing the love of God to our community.