Welcome

1. Adult II Couples Class Welcome discoverjoy.com

2. Do you do prefer working alone or with a group of people? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

3. Prayer Requests -Construction -VBS -Tony: Cancer treatments -Cathy Laster: Cancer treatments -The Savages -Country Haven Church -Pastor Reinhardt:: Traveling

4. Church Stuff Class Events Church Events • Benevolence Fund • R.E.A.P. (R-Team) • Scripture Readers Needed • Monthly Fellowships • July (Woffords) • August?? • September?? • Dinner Out Friday (NA) • 5th Sunday Breakfast (29 July) • Quarterly Service Project • Country Haven Chapel Judea project (see next slide) • Samaria Project? • Deacon Meeting Today after Services • Party in the Park (4 July) • Men’s Prayer Breakfast (7 July) • VBS Decoration Day (7 July) • Baptism Service (8 July) • Blood Pressure Checks (8 July) • Vacation Bible School (9-13 July) • Kid’s Pool Party-Porters (July 14) • VBS Family Day (July 15) • Special Prayer Service (18 July) • Creation Museum Trip (19-21 July) • Olive Grove Terrace Visitation (22 July) • Penninger Baby Shower (22 July)

5. Do you do prefer working alone or with a group of people? Adult II Couples Class Question of the day discoverjoy.com

6. You made our Judea project a success!! THANK YOU CLASS!!!

7. Chronological Bible Discipleship Iva May and Dr. Stan May week twenty-six 2Kings/Amos 2Chronicles/Hosea

8. Review Creation: God reveals His goodness through creation and His mercy in response to sin. Patriarchs: God reveals His response to the faithful-ness of men (Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Exodus: God liberates Israel, and leads them to the Promised Land and shapes them into a nation holy to Himself. Conquest: Joshua, relying on God’s presence and power, leads Israel to possess and settle the Promised Land. Judges: Every man does what is right in his own eyes, and Israel falls into a cycle of disobedience, judgment, oppression and deliverance (the sin cycle). Kingdom: Israel asks for a king and God raises up a succes-sion of kings who rule over a united Israel, beginning with Saul and ending with Solomon.

9. Divided Kingdom Era • After the death of King Solomon, the nation of Israel divides into the North-ern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) • Israel is ruled by a rapid succession of kings who completely neglect the Law and lead the people into idolatry for 200 years until they are carried into captivity by the Assyrians • Judah’s kings alternate between good and evil leader-ship, resulting in a slower devolution into idolatry and their eventual judgment by Babylon about 140 after Israel’s demise

10. Context • 60 years into Israel’s existence, the prophet Elijah begins his service and prophesies for almost 40 years • Prophesies during the reigns of Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah and Jehoram • Elisha takes Elijah’s mantle and prophesies for nearly 60 years • During the reigns of Jehu, Jehoahaz, Joash and Jeroboam • He performs miracles for widows and others outside the covenant • Rebukes Israel for their trust in idols • Israel does not listen

11. Context • Hosea prophecies for about 70 years • Serves briefly alongside the prophets Jonah and Amos • Begins with the reign of Jeroboam II and those that follow after • Continues to prophesy right up until Israel is finally taken captive by Assyria • Israel failed to listen to Hosea and the other prophets sent by God

12. Overview • Prophets play a significant role throughout Israel’s history • Sent by God as His agents to urge His people to return to a right relationship with Himself • Jesus spoke of this role of the prophets • “Therefore, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes; some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah…whom you murdered…” (Matt 23:34-35) • Israel had offended God in the same way a wife might completely alienate herself from a husband by openly engaging in adultery • God uses Hosea’s relationship with an harlot to demonstrate Israel’s wanton spiritual adultery

13. God pursues a relationship with His people when they stray, encouraging them toward repentance by the words of His prophets. Key Truth

14. THE Divided Kingdom Era Hosea 3 & 4 The Prophets, Their Role, & Message The Charge of Adultery The Cause of Adultery The Consequences of Adultery The Cure for Adultery

15. The Charge of Adultery Hosea 3:1

16. The Charge of Adultery • God’s Graphic Illustration Shows a Clear Picture of how He Views Israel’s Relationship with Him • Commands Hosea to marry a harlot (Hos 1:2) • Hosea experiences humiliation and shame as his wife openly pursues one lover after another • Hosea not only takes her back, but pays for her • The Imagery of Hosea’s Relationship wit Gomer • Illustrates Israel's spiritual adultery against God • God’s faithfulness to His erring people

17. The Cause of Adultery Hosea 4:1

18. The Cause of Adultery • Moses Compiled the Early History of Mankind and God’s Word for His People • Included God’s instructions for living a righteous and holy life before Him • Commanded Israel to read the Book of the Law aloud as a com-munity every seven years (Deut 31:9-13) • 700 Years Later • There is now overwhelming evidence for a case of spiritual adultery against Israel • They lack “faithfulness” (acceptance of divine instruction) • They have no sense of “kindness” (reproach or shame) • There is no “knowledge” (understanding of God) • They have wandered from God due to a lack of Bible literacy

19. The Consequences of Adultery Hosea 4:2-16

20. Consequences of Adultery • The Law of God is Forgotten • The people and even the priests have become Biblically illiterate • Their lack of Bible literacy leads to a disintegration of national identity as a people unto the LORD • Their Sense of Community and Purpose Vanishes • Lacking a sense of accountability, they prey on one another (2) • They are “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (6) • They are no longer able to serve as God’s priest to the world (6)

21. Consequences of Adultery • Just as Gomer Bears Children, so Israel will Bear the Fruit of Adultery • The land and animals are wasted suffering visible effects from their greed (3) • Their glory will turn to shame (7) • They will be punished by God for their evil ways (9) • Food will be available, but not enough to satisfy (10) • They will become vulnerable like a lamb in an open field (16) • Israel’s Spiritual Adultery Affectd Everyone and Everything in their Care

22. The Cure For Adultery Hosea 14:1-9

23. The Cure for Adultery • As Hosea Reclaims his Wife after her Open Adultery, the LORD Offers to take Israel Back • He pleads with Israel (1-3) • To confess their sins and “take away all iniquity and receive us graciously” • To repent from trusting in Assyria for salvation • To turn to God and declare His mercies • What the LORD promises to those who return (4-7) • Healing • Love • Turning away of anger • Growth, beauty, and reviving • Influence

24. The Cure for Adultery • A Word of Exhortation (9a) • “Who is wise? Let him understand (pay heed to) these things…” • Those who are wise will seek out the knowledge of the LORD with a heart to apply it to their lives • “Who is discerning? Let him know (experience) them.” • Those who are prudent will then seek to live by that knowledge and experience God’s blessings first hand • A Word of Warning (9b) • “For the ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them…” • To those who seek God’s righteousness, it becomes their support • “…but the transgressors stumble in them.” • Those who rebel against God will come to ruin • Israel rejects this warning and they cease to exist as nation when the Assyrians take them into captivity in 722 B.C.

25. Conclusions • The lack of Bible literacy among God’s people accelerates their spiritual decline • God sees, evaluates, and judges the sin com-mitted by His people • Any generation can go astray • God is grieved by the sins of His people in much the same way as a husband is grieved by the actions of an adulterous wife • God will not blindly allow His people to conti-nue in their adulterous ways, but acts to turn the hearts of His people back to Himself

26. Discussion God used His prophets to try to move Israel toward repentance. How might God encourage His children to repent today when they rebel? As Israel fell deeper into rebellion, what attitudes toward sin may have been at work that made it easier (convenient) to ignore God’s law until it faded completely from their national awareness? List some ways Christians commit spiritual adultery today? Should God use a visual representation of the state of the church today, what would it be?

27. Bible TRIViA QUIZ The Books of 2 Kings & 2 Chronicles(1pt) • How many times did Jehoash strike the ground with his arrows for which he was rebuked by Elisha, and how many times did Elisha say he SHOULD have struck the ground? • “And he said to the king of Israel, ‘Strike the ground,’ and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it...” (2Kgs 18:18) • When startled by Moabite raiders, what did the men do that caused the body of one they were burying to revive? • “As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived...”(2 Kings 18:21) • What did God do to Uzziah (Azariah) for entering the temple on his own to burn incense in violation of the law? • “…all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also has-tenedto get out because the Lord had smitten him.” (2Chr 26:20)

28. BONUS ROUND Bonus Questions (5pts) • What was the regular occupation of the prophet Amos? • The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa…” (Amos 1:1) • How many days did it take to walk the city of Ninevah? • “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceed-inglygreat city, a three days’ walk.” (Jonah 3:3)

29. Isaiah 5 A Song About Kingdom People Adult II Couples Class Next week….. discoverjoy.com