God's Tough Love: A study guide through the Minor Prophets

By Scott Franks

For many Christians, the minor prophets are like "flyover country" in their Bibles, a mostly obscure and unknown place between the familiar stories of the Old Testament and the gospels. It's true that this is not easy material. It includes rich literature, complex poetry, social editorial and fiery sermon. It requires some understanding of the socio-political and religious landscape of a time and place very foreign to us. Yet the parallels and applications for modern Christianity, our churches, and our society are startling to say the least.The Minor Prophets are actually some of the most practical texts in the Old Testament, with much to say about topics like our relationship to God, social justice, and how we use our money. They also address the tough theological questions like why God would use unholy tools for holy purposes, or if God uses natural disasters and wars to punish nations.This book is not meant to be a commentary, so we will not cover every verse of every book in the prophets. This is also not an academic book of history, though it does include enough history to put the prophets in context. This is a study guide that attempts to provide a working understanding of the Minor Prophets, one prophet per lesson, written to fit a typical one-hour class or small group study. This is written in a very teachable format with open-ended questions that will draw out discussion, and some key points or applications that should hopefully come out of the discussion. I concentrated these lesson plans on passages that seemed to have the most obvious applications to modern Christians. Our goal is to portray these prophets as vital and living voices within their society (and ours) and rewarding portraits of God's love. A whole series could be done on the Messianic components of the Minor Prophets. While I do occasionally highlight some of these, I did not attempt to point out each and every one. May God bless you as you open His Word and the eyes of His people.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1491295899
• ISBN13: 9781491295892
• Release Date: December 2013
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.2" x 8.5"