7 Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:11-12 God s prophets under the old covenant (up to, and including John the Immerser) are probably some of the most misunderstood men to ever walk the earth. And, yet, Jesus here singles them out for His highest praise. He indicates that the prophets reward in heaven will indeed be great precisely because of their willingness to be completely misunderstood and ostracized by the very people that they were attempting to save. In life, His prophets were insulted, humiliated, mocked, ignored and worse. In death they were treated even more poorly. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:37-38) They were literally treated as freaks among their own people. But, Jesus, who was treated nearly identically during His own earthly existence, lifts the prophets up as the ultimate role models for us today. Why then, we must wonder, does the church so often neglect to educate its people regarding these great heroes of the faith? With the exception of Daniel in the lion s den, they are strangely absent from most children s Bible storybooks. Preachers rarely refer to them except perhaps for a passage or two from Isaiah at Christmas time. Could it be that folks are afraid to talk much about the prophets because they make us uncomfortable with their bold, brash, uncompromising faith? Prophet Love seeks to put an end to this woeful absence of the prophets in the church. Through studies of individual prophets, their writings and where they fit into the historical timeline of the entire Bible, you will walk away with a completely renewed and revitalized appreciation for God s chosen watchmen. And, in the process, you will learn to step up to the plate to carry on their all-important role of proclaiming God s message in this generation!
Prophetic ProFile Presentation The purpose of this activity is to get you to dig in just a little bit deeper into the lives of one or more of the prophets. This will give you an opportunity to really come to a sincere appreciation of what these men and women of God were all about. The outline below gives you some guidelines on what needs to be included in your final presentation. Please note that while it is important that you include all of the necessary components in your presentation, you are also encouraged to use your own creativity. Demonstrate your own unique ideas and talents in your execution of the presentation, and most of all, have fun doing it! Select which prophet you are going to do your presentation/report on. Ask your group leader for assistance if you are having trouble deciding. If you find that the information available on the prophet you have selected is limited, plan to report on two prophets instead. You may want to choose two from the same time period, geographical region, etc. Obtain a tri-fold presentation board on which to present the visuals for your report. Your group leader will get one for you if necessary. You will be doing an oral presentation in front of the discipleship group, and your visual display will be set up in the church building for the congregation to learn from after your presentation is completed. Include the following information in your presentation: -The geographical location of the prophet you studied. This may include maps of his or her travels, etc. -Details of the climate, plants, animals, etc. of the area in which the prophet lived and preached. -Information about the manners, customs, etc. of the people and time period in which the prophet lived. -A time line of when the prophet lived in relation to other biblical/historical events. -Information about the prophet s writings: his audience, his message, God s goals in sending him, etc. Perhaps outline the topics included in his writings. -Create some sort of representation of the prophet that communicates his or her message and personality. It may be an illustration, a model or diorama, a skit or other writing, a sculpture, an illustration of a passage of his or her writings, etc. Use your imagination and make it something that you enjoy putting together! When you are getting close to completing the preparations for your presentation, your group leader will schedule a time for you to share with the group. Feel free to ask for help with anything along the way!
Section One: What Is A Prophet? As you go through this study, be sure to read each Scripture passage listed carefully. Answer questions or summarize what you have read when indicated. The first step in gaining a greater appreciation for God s watchmen is to understand exactly what a prophet is. Let s take some time to nail this down. Read 2 Peter 1:20, 21 Whether we re reading about Nahum in the Old Testament or John the Immerser in the gospels, the prophets were all being moved to speak by the same Holy Spirit. In other words, the prophets were not just a bunch of really creative, dramatic types who concocted clever stories to share with the masses. Their words were not their own. Rather, the Holy Spirit gave them the words to speak straight from God Himself! Take a look at some of the following examples to get a better idea of how this worked, and write a brief summary of the passage in the space following each Scripture reference: 2 Kings 3:5-19 Nehemiah 9:30 2 Chronicles 3:15, 16 The way that God chose to speak through the prophets is somewhat unique in Scripture. The Holy Spirit operated in a different way through them than He does now when He indwells the Christian. The Holy Spirit did not indwell the prophets as He does under the new covenant. He merely gave them the words, and they appear to have had some choice as to whether or not they wanted to share those words. Again, write a brief summary of what you read in the space provided. Exodus 4:10-17 Jonah 1-4 Jeremiah 20:9 We can be assured that the words of the prophets are really God s words. If you haven t been fully convinced of this fact yet, check out some of the messages that they proclaimed. Nobody in their right mind would choose to the messages that these guys did! They were almost universally derided and ridiculed as being downers and party poopers. Why is this so? Because, they were telling the people of Israel and Judah to repent from their wicked ways and to start following the merciful God who had created and established them in the first place. Check out a couple of these examples and summarize the passage: 2 Samuel 12:1-15
2 Chronicles 18:1-27 To be a prophet, then, was probably one of the lowest, least glorious roles that a person could ever have. To make matters even more difficult for the prophets, they were called to share a message that they often did not even understand! Read 1 Peter 1:10-12 To be a prophet simply meant that you had a message from God to share, not that you necessarily understood its meaning. Sometimes the message was clearer than others, but this still put the prophets in a very challenging position much of the time. Think of the difficulty that many folks have in proclaiming the gospel of glory to the world today. It s a challenge to have the courage to share it at times. But, at least we know what it means, how to become a part of it and how the story ends. The poor prophets didn t even know what their message was referring to half the time and yet they obeyed! Now maybe we re beginning to understand why Jesus gives such high praises to the prophets. They truly were some of the toughest, most rugged and faithful men to ever walk the earth. They not only deserve our respect and honor, but also our deepest gratitude for getting out the message of God no matter what the cost. Section Two: Extreme Servants-Extreme Sacrifices Hebrews 11:38 describes the prophets as men of whom the world was not worthy. Wow, what a tribute God pays to these selfless servants. To better appreciate the extreme sacrifices that the prophets made in order to get God s message out, go through the exercise below. Read the Scripture reference on the left. Then, write down the name of the prophet described and the Extreme Sacrifice that he or she made for the sake of their message. 2 Chronicles 24:20-22 Daniel 1:8-16 Isaiah 20:1-6 1 Kings 19:1-18 Jeremiah 38:1-16 Ezekiel 24:15-22 Hosea 1:1-9 2 Kings 6:24-7:2 Matthew 14:1-12 Ezekiel 4:1-8 Amos 7:10-17 Jeremiah 37:11-17 1 Kings 22:1-28
Section Three: Prophetic Discipleship As you can see, the life of a prophet was not an easy one. Let s go back to the words of Christ Jesus regarding the prophets. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. -Matthew 5:11-12 Jesus is saying indirectly that we, as new covenant disciples, are going to be rewarded by God when we live in such a way as to be persecuted as His prophets were. Wow. Just as the life of a prophet was not easy, discipleship is not easy either. The bottom line is this: God s prophets were persecuted because they said what needed to be said. The same thing is true for us as His disciples in this generation. He is calling us to share His glorious gospel, the good news of salvation, with as many people as we can. This is the message that needs to be shared. We can be like Jonah and try to run away from our responsibility of sharing, but we won t be able to hide from God any more than he was able to. Or, we can be like the vast majority of God s prophets and say what needs to be said, bringing some to repentance and facing persecution from others who just don t want to hear it. Will we be cowards or will we be faithful disciples? God promises to take care of His faithful ones, just as He did the prophets. That doesn t mean that life will be easy-street, but it does mean that He will guide us safely through this life and into an eternal reward in heaven. Read Matthew 10:24-31 It s so easy as a teenager to think that gaining the approval of your peers is the most important thing in life. It s not. Gaining the approval of God is what s important. In fact, if you live only for the approval of those around you, you re actually living in fear of them. Fear of being rejected by them. Fear of disappointing them. Fear of falling out of their fickle favor. What kind of relationship is based upon fear? What s up with that? God wants us to seek His approval, not the approval of man. Read John 12:36-43 People who love the approval of men rather than the approval of God will not make it as disciples of Jesus. You, however, are not one of those people. Like the prophets before you, you are one of God s faithful disciples in this generation. Read Jeremiah 20:9-11 Jeremiah couldn t help but speak God s message, no matter what the risks were. God wants His disciples to be just like Jeremiah. Think about what you have learned from your study of God s prophets. In the box below, write a pledge of faithfulness to God. Share a few paragraphs with God, telling Him of your desire to be His faithful watchman in this generation. My Pledge...