Group Leaders: please print off copies for group participants. Choose two or three Scripture readers for the night.Opening Question: Has anyone used a certain memory device to memorize the order of the Minor Prophets? Have two or three people share their method with the others.Read Deuteronomy 13:1-6What are the criteria for distinguishing true from false prophets?How did Jesus pass that test as the true, and ultimate, Prophet? Can you point to a specific passage in the Gospels that highlights this?Read Deuteronomy 18:20-22What are the criteria for distinguishing true from false prophets?How did Jesus pass this test as the true, and ultimate, Prophet? Can you point to a specific passage in the Gospels that highlights this?Read Jonah 1:1-3Dr. Jack Collins writes that there are “3 characteristics of a prophet: 1/ direct personal communication from God; 2/ the message concerns the things of God, and his kingdom (in my terms, the corporate entity and its mission in the world); 3/ he faithfully recorded or uttered the revelation he received.”How did Jonah meet the above characteristics? Which characteristic did he fail to meet?Dr. Douglas Stuart notes that Old Testament prophets “considered themselves as occupying a divinely appointed societal office, correcting illegal beliefs and practices.”Can you think of people in American society who have this sort of role? Who would they be? How are they like or unlike the Old Testament prophet?Read Matthew 28:18-20We are not all called to be prophets, uttering direct revelation from God. Try to describe the characteristics of the rank and file Christian based on Jesus’ commission to the apostles.How is this different than having the role of a prophet?Who can name the major roles that God has chosen for you to play in life.Tell a story of when you sense that you have done a poor job fulfilling your role.Tell a story of when you sense that you have done a good job at fulfilling your role.Do you have joy in your heart about how God is using your service to him?

Genesis 50:22–Exodus 1:14  ²² So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. ²⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." ²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here." ²⁶ So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Exodus 1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: ² Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. ⁶ Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. ⁷ But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. ¹³ So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves ¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

Choose two or three designated readers for the night. The group leader will call on them to read the suggested passages.Please print off enough questions for individuals in your group to have in front of them.If you could talk about one point from the sermon this evening what would it be?[caption id="attachment_4385" align="alignleft" width="445"] Jacob's Body is Taken to Canaan, by James Tissot, c. 1902[/caption]Read Genesis 49:29-33Why does Jacob deeply desire to be buried in Canaan? Craft your answer making use of the covenant with Abraham.The original audience of Genesis was the Exodus community heading toward Canaan from Egypt. They are the fulfillment of Jacob’s deep longing for the fulfillment of God’s promise of land. Why would this story of Jacob’s burial help them to realize that they were a special people living in a special time?Read Exodus 19:1-6[caption id="attachment_4386" align="alignright" width="247"] Little Ann Sucking Her Finger Embraced by Her Mother, by Mary Cassatt 1897[/caption]God’s covenanting people are said to be God’s treasured possession.To what extent do you grasp how special the Church is to Jesus Christ?Priests, in the Old Testament, were to bring God to the people and the people to God.As a “kingdom of priests” how were these special people to function in relation to their national neighbors?Do special roles and service always go together where you live, work and play? For example: is it the teacher’s pet who is also expected to be the servant of all the other students?Read Deuteronomy 9:4-6Does God account for our sinfulness when he affirms that we are special to him?How does Oprah Winfrey (or cultural figures similar to her) typically affirm that people are special? How is sin affirmed or not affirmed by those figures?We are also special because of the time in which we lived. Our people have longed for millennia when the age of the Messiah would come. That is the time we now are in.Read Hebrews 9:23-28How does the author to the Hebrews refer to the time in which we are living?What promises to the people of God have been fulfilled, according to this passage?[caption id="attachment_4388" align="alignleft" width="399"] Christ as a Clock, by Marc Chagall, 1957[/caption]What promise are we still awaiting to be fulfilled in the future?Do you live with an awareness of living at such a special time?Do you sense any competition with that awareness? For example, do you feel more special because you are living in the technological age than because you are living in the “end of the ages”? Do you feel more special because you get to participate in the age of America or the age of the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham? Others?What practices or habits in your life are serving to fuel Christ’s competition?How does attending this Care Group help you to know your specialness to God, to the world and the specialness of the time in which you live?What other practices in your life serve to further your appreciation for the specialness of being in Christ?

[caption id="attachment_4372" align="alignright" width="200"] Lion and cub[/caption]Genesis 49:1-28 contain some of the last words of our patriarch Jacob. What would you like your last words to be? What would you hate for your last words to be?

How does Jesus rule the way a king should rule, in contrast to Rehoboam's "leadership style" in 1 Kings 12:14? If you are stuck go to Matthew 11:25-30[caption id="attachment_4374" align="alignright" width="300"] Oxen Yoked with Burden[/caption]

 [caption id="attachment_4336" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pyramid and Sphinx[/caption]Our passage this week features the people of God after leaving Egypt in the Exodus. Talk about an aspect of Egyptian history that you find particularly interesting. For example the pyramids, the Sphinx, mummies, the Nile, Coptic Orthodoxy, etc.Rev. Muldoon said that the Israeilites were failing to let God be God. Considering the larger sweep of the story of the Exodus up to this point and then 17:1-3 how is it that they are failing to do this? Why is this a sin? What would it mean for them to allow God to be God? Why would this be better?This can be applied to how we treat one another as God’s image-bearers also. Why is it important that we allow other people to be who they are rather than to be someone/thing else? How could doing so honor God?Psalms were originally given to God’s people to be sung as a community. In this way the words would be owned and embodied by the people at appropriate times. Read Psalm 88. Why is this not teaching God's people to grumble? How is this different from what Israel did in Exodus 17?Is there a difference between grumbling and complaining or lamenting? What is it?Rev. Muldoon said that “all sin must be punished.” How did Exodus 17 prefigure how the sin of God’s people would be punished?[caption id="attachment_4335" align="alignright" width="300"] Big Electric Chair by Andy Warhol, 1967[/caption]Read Paul’s letter to the Colossians 2:13-14. How many sins are we responsible for now or in the future?How does Colossians 2:13-14 help you to understand that your relationship with God is based on what Jesus has done rather than what you do? How might this give us freedom in the way that we covenantally-relate with God day-to-day? Try to give a specific and concrete example.

1. We've heard about Joseph's and others dreams the past few weeks. Not to say your dream was intended to tell the future, but what is an interesting dream you've had in your life? Do you remember the characters, setting and plot? Describe for the group.2. Were you disturbed or comforted by the message that God will disturb false peace in order to achieve true peace?3. What is "false peace"?4. What, then, is "true peace"?5. How does this help to make sense out of Jesus' teaching that "blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God"?6. How is it true that we are like our Father (sons of God) when we seek reconciliation? Restricting ourselves to Genesis, how has God shown he wants reconciliation in history?7. Have you ever known someone who would rather live with false peace than pursue true peace through reconciliation?8. Have you seen reconciliation happen in a church?9. Have you tried and succeeded or failed in true peacemaking? How?10. Why is peacemaking a particularly important aspect of adult Spirit-ual formation?11. Do you see where God might be graciously working events so that you might pursue true peace in conflicted relationships?

41 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, ² when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. ³ After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. ⁴ And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. ⁶ After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted—thin and scorched by the east wind. ⁷ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.⁸ In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹ Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. ¹² Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. ¹³ And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.”¹⁴ So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”¹⁶ “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸ when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. ¹⁹ After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. ²¹ But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.²² “In my dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven other heads sprouted—withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. ²⁷ The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.²⁸ “It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰ but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. ³¹ The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. ³² The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.³³ “And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. ³⁶ This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.”³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ So Pharaoh asked them, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

Joseph in Charge of Egypt

⁴¹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command,  and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. ⁴⁸ Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.⁵⁰ Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” ⁵² The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”⁵³ The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”⁵⁶ When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. ⁵⁷ And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

[caption id="attachment_4291" align="alignright" width="253"] Rainbow, by Billy Apple, 1965[/caption]Last week’s sermon focused on God’s promise to restore and transform the earth by smelting away the impurity of sin at the return of Jesus from heaven (a Restorationist view).  This is in contrast to the popular view that God’s relationship with the earth will end when he totally destroys it at Christ's return creating a different one afterwards (an Annihilationist view). First we looked at the big picture, noting how a Restorationist view does better justice to the unfolding drama of creation, human rebellion, and redemption. We were created into a web of good relationships that were broken by human rebellion. God is in the business of destroying sin and Satan in the efforts to redeem his good work of creation, which includes human beings. On an annihilationist view the relationship between God and the earth is lost, Satan has corrupted and marred the earth and gets what he always wanted – ultimate destruction of God’s good work of creation.We then looked at 2 Peter 3:3-13. Noting that Peter is making a comparison between the Flood in Noah’s day and the coming judgment of the ungodly we concluded that the future judgment is not a destruction of God’s good work of creation but “destruction of the ungodly” (v. 7). The extreme heat and burning will be of all evil and effects of death thereby restoring and even transforming creation into the place where righteousness will be established forever (v. 13).What do you find most beautiful about God’s creation during this Autumn season?If the sermon was to have been abbreviated to one or two quick points which ones would you say should be included no matter what?In Genesis 9:13 what is included in the covenant that God made with Noah? How does this illustrate the relationship between God and the earth?Acts 3:18-21 – How much will be restored by the Spirit when Jesus returns?Romans 8:19-25 – What is presented as groaning with human beings it longs for God’s redemption from the effects of sin?Colossians 1:15-20 – How much was created through Christ? How much is restored through Christ’s death and resurrection?In 1 John 3:8b the Apostle writes that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Whose works did the Son of God not come to destroy?God has obviously placed a value on his good work of creation.  Should creations value be measured by God or by humanity?[caption id="attachment_4293" align="alignright" width="300"] The Girl with the Mushroom Under the Rainbow, by Konstantin Somav, 1922[/caption]How is creation’s value to God different from or the same as its value to humans?