Questions and Activities for Small Groups

By Michael C. Mack

1. Who gave you your name? What does it mean? Who, if anyone, are you named after?

Read Hosea 1:1-11. 

2. If you had been a neighbor or family member of Hosea, how would you have reacted to his marriage and to the naming of his children? 

3. What real-life object lesson would the marriage relationship of Hosea and Gomer teach to the Israelites, many of whom were worshiping Baal and other false gods? What warnings do you receive from this living parable? 

4. Read James 4:4. In what ways can we as Christ’s bride (see Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelations 19:6-9) be adulterous or promiscuous? 

5. What does Hosea’s faithfulness—first, to God and second, to his wife—teach you about your own fidelity? 

6. What decisions do you need to make today in response to God’s grace—his unconditional love for you, his warnings to you, his faithfulness in the midst of your unfaithfulness, his desire for restoration and an abiding relationship with you? 

7. How can you extend the same grace to others? 

Michael Mack leads church training events and consults with churches through his ministry, Small Group Leadership (www.smallgroupleadership.com).