Church is great in 2008!

Here's this week's notes helping individuals and cell groups to make a BIG IMPACT in 2008 - Amen!
The Word and Witness are interrelated this week so you'll probably find that one doesn't work so well without the other!

Word:
Hsa 6:3       "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth."
Read this verse together a few times, try writing it out and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through it.
Share what God has spoken to you through this verse.
Share briefly any questions you have about this verse (*see notes below)

Witness:
[On Sunday we were looking at how 2008 should be a year of rain (> fruitfulness) and considering how chaos theory suggests that small repeated changes can have a huge impact (e.g. on a weather system) - you can find out more about this by looking up 'butterfly effect' on wikipedia.org]

Give everyone in the cell group a piece of paper and invite them to write their responses to the following three questions:
1. What is a small change God is wanting you to make in 2008? (and for cell?)
2. What is one thing that God is wanting you to keep on doing in 2008? (and for cell?)
3. Huge effect - describe one big dream that God has given you (and for cell?)

Invite everyone to share what they wrote down. Read together the following verses that speak God's words into these three headings: Zechariah 4:6-10, Philippians 3:10-14, Ephesians 3:20,21.

Consider giving each other permission to help go for these things in 2008. Pray together for these dreams to be a reality.

* I quote from the IVP NB Commentary:
6:1-6 Israel’s fickle love and what God requires
There is no connecting word with the preceding verse, but this is clearly what God wants to hear. Israel acknowledges that he has torn them to pieces (as 5:14), and that only he can heal them. V 2 gives the only specific references in the OT to being raised up on the third day. Clearly this is not primarily a prophecy of an individual, the Messiah, but a metaphor of the coming to health of the nation. Nevertheless, there is a real similarity between the two situations: God works a totally impossible healing. What was done metaphorically for the nation of Israel, God’s son (cf. 11:1), was done literally for Jesus Christ, God’s Son. This passage, as well as the reference to Jonah in the fish’s belly, may have been in Paul’s mind when he spoke of Jesus as ‘raised on the third day according to the Scriptures’ (1 Cor. 15:4).
    It is much more likely that v 3a should be translated, ‘Let us know... let us press on to know...’. This is the normal primary meaning of the word rendered acknowledge by the NIV (see on 13:4-5). The people express a heartfelt desire for a personal relationship with God. This is a daring metaphor, for ‘to know’ one’s wife would normally indicate sexual intercourse. Nevertheless, Hosea and other biblical writers do not shrink from using marriage as a picture of this close and exclusive relationship (Is. 62:5; Rev. 21:2).
    God is as reliable as the sun, and brings blessing like the seasonal rains on which Israel depended for her very life. In Palestine most rain occurs between early December and early March. The winter rains come at the beginning of this period in the autumn, softening the ground for sowing. The spring rains (sometimes called ‘latter rains’) are showers from March to May which strengthen the crops. The summer is almost completely dry, and rain is eagerly sought and appreciated as a great blessing.
    In vs 4-6 the mood changes. It is as if God says, ‘Even if you said such things, you wouldn’t stay faithful and committed to me for very long. Your “steadfast love” is like the morning mist and dew, which simply disappears early in the day’ (see on 2:21; cf. 4:1; 10:12; 12:7). It is for this reason that the prophets came with stern, cutting words, to bring the people’s sin to light and to call for repentance. When that was not forthcoming, a message of judgment had to be pronounced. When a prophet speaks ‘in the name of the LORD’, the judgment announced is certain (cf. Gn. 1:3; Ps. 33:4-9; Is. 55:10-11).

Robin Plummer, 15/01/2008