Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Hosea 14:4-8), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [4] You might expect the Bible to cast God’s people in a positive light and all others in a negative one, but instead it regularly records the infidelity and apostasy of God’s own people. Hosea’s prophecy is a strong example of this. Why are God’s own people so unfaithful to him? Do you see yourself this way, or do you think yourself better than unbelievers? What is a common expression of your own apostasy/sin? How does your sin affect those around you? What is the ultimate significance of your sin?

• Clearly it is the human side of the divine-human relationship that needs restoration. God has taken it upon himself to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. “I will heal their apostasy.” Why can we not heal our own apostasy? How has God healed our apostasy in Jesus Christ? How did Jesus do it? If Jesus has healed your apostasy, do you still have to heal your own apostasy?

• [5-8] God describes the restoration of our humanity in botanical terms (blossoming, fragrance, flourishing, fruit, etc.). Read John 15:4-5 and Galatians 5:22-23 where Jesus and Paul do the same. Which fruit(s) seem especially foreign to your nature? Do you think it’s possible for God to give you such fruit? Should any communicant member of the church be able to bear such fruit? Why or why not?

• God likens himself to an evergreen cypress (8), which represents his eternal vitality. The Bible doesn’t mention “Christmas Trees,” per se, but Christmas Trees are traditionally meant to remind us of certain spiritual realities like this. Can you think of some attributes of God, or some facets of the Gospel, that can be represented by a Christmas Tree and its decorations? Have you used Christmas Trees as symbols this way, and had conversations with family or friends about it? How would you communicate the Gospel by talking about trees?