Week 1

RAISING THE WHITE FLAG

Surrender

Leader Prep

Memory Verse

When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies. Jeremiah 15:16

Digging Deeper

If you did not have an introductory session, read the Digging Deeper Introductory Article, "Where Does Jeremiah Fit in the Biblical Timeline?" Also read Digging Deeper Week 1, "The Profile of a Prophet." Note any interesting facts or insights that you would like to share with the group. (Seepages 23-25 for highlights; read the full articles online at AbingdonWomen.com/Jeremiah.)

Materials Needed

• Jeremiah DVD and DVD player

• Stick-on nametags and markers (optional)

• Empty basket, index cards, pens or pencils (Group Activity)

• Recording of "My Hope Is in You" by Aaron Shust, device and speaker for playing (optional – Group Activity)

• Index cards (optional – Prayer Requests)

Session Outline

Note: Refer to the format templates on page 7 for suggested time allotments.

Welcome

Offer a word of welcome to the group. If time allows and you choose to provide food, invite the women to enjoy refreshments and fellowship. (Groups meeting for 60 minutes may want to have a time for food and fellowship before the official start time.) Be sure to watch the clock and move to the All Play icebreaker at the appropriate time.

All Play

Ask each group member to respond briefly to this question: During your school years (K-12), what did you want to be when you grew up?

Read aloud or paraphrase:

Jeremiah grew up being groomed to be a priest like his father before him. I'm sure being a prophet proclaiming controversial messages that would alienate his family was not on his list of career choices. Did things turn out like you thought they would as you dreamed of what you wanted to be when you grew up? (Pause briefly for responses.) Let's see what it actually meant to be a prophet of God in Jeremiah's day.

Digging Deeper Insights

Share with the group the insights you gained from the Digging Deeper article(s). If you did not have an introductory session, you might consider drawing the chronological timeline found at the end of the Introductory Article on a large white board before the session begins (optional). Also highlight interesting facts you learned about biblical prophets. If you choose, encourage group members to read the full article(s) online (AbingdonWomen.com/Jeremiah).

Prayer

Before playing the video segment, ask God to prepare the group to receive His Word and to hear His voice.

Video

Play the video for Week 1. Invite participants to complete the Video Viewer Guide for Week 1 in the participant book as they watch.

Group Discussion

Video Discussion Questions

• What are some things we are often tempted to make our "safe place"?

• What happens to us when we rely on human strength rather than on God? How are we like a stunted shrub in the desert? How have you experienced this in your own life?

• What happens to us when we surrender to God, draw near to Him, and make Him our hope and our confidence? How are we like a tree planted by the riverbank? How have you experienced this in your own life?

• How can we "plant" ourselves next to God? What role does surrender play in this?

• According to Jeremiah's words in Lamentations 3:21-23, why can we dare to hope?

Participant Book Discussion Questions

Note: Page references are provided for those questions that relate to specific questions or activities in the participant book.

Before you begin, invite volunteers to look up the following Scriptures and be prepared to read them aloud when called upon. You might want to write each of the Scripture references on a separate note card or sticky note that you can hand out.

Scriptures: 2 Peter 1:19-21; Matthew 5:17-19; Luke 9:23; Jeremiah 20:7-18; Matthew 5:1-12; Jeremiah 15:10-18; Jeremiah 17:5-8

Day 1: No Excuses

• Have volunteers read aloud 2 Peter 1:19-21 and Matthew 5:17-19. Review your comments related to these verses and the quote from Frances Schaeffer (page 11). How do these words inspire you to study the Book of Jeremiah? What relevance do you think Jeremiah's book has for us as believers today?

• As you saw God's calling and encouragement to Jeremiah in Chapter 1 of his book, how did that encourage you about God's calling and plan for you? Have you recently heard God calling you to do something?

• What are some excuses you have made when God has called you? (page 13)

• Is anyone willing to share some of her big dreams and aspirations and/ or the next steps of obedience God may have revealed to you in prayer? (page 15)

Day 2: Surrender and Popularity

• What was your popularity level in high school? Do you think cliques and popularity still play a role in the age group you find yourself now? Why or why not?

• Have someone read aloud Luke 9:23. How does God's message of surrender in Jeremiah's prophecy parallel the gospel of Christ?

• When you have followed God, have your trials ever seemed to increase? (page 19)

Day 3: Confirmation

• In what ways has God confirmed His leading in your life? (people, Scripture, circumstances, and so on)

• Has God ever given you instructions and you could get no peace until you followed through? What did God ask you to do? Why did you resist? What did you experience when you obeyed? (page 22)

• Have someone read aloud Jeremiah 20:7-18. Review Jeremiah's hope and despair statements. (page 21) How can you relate to these statements in your life right now?

• Give some examples of how God's message of hope through surrender contrasts our modern world's view of winning at all costs.

Day 4: Defining Success

• Look at your true/false responses on page 26. Can you relate with Jeremiah because of a current struggle with frustration or depression in your life? Share as you are willing.

• How did you fill in the blank: "If I could just __________________, then I would be happy with my life"? (page 28)

• Have someone read aloud Matthew 5:1-12. How does God describe the "blessed" life or individual, and how does this differ from our culture's definition of success? (page 29)

• How does the world's definition of success creep into your thinking?

Day 5: White Flag Anxiety

• Have someone read aloud Jeremiah 15:10-18. What are your current complaints before your God? How did God's promises to Jeremiah bring you comfort and faith regarding your own current complaints? (page 31)

• What action step did you check that you could take to devour God's Word more fully? (page 32) (Perhaps encourage each group member to share her step with one other woman in the group for accountability.)

• Have someone read aloud Jeremiah 17:5-8. According to the illustration in these verses, where is your tree planted right now? Is it close to the riverbank, in the desert, or somewhere in between? What needs to change in your life to move your tree closer to the riverbank? (page 37)

Optional Group Activity (for a session longer than 60 minutes)

Place an empty basket at the front of the room and provide index cards and pens or pencils for each participant. Ask each woman to think of one thing that is keeping her tree from being planted right next to the riverbank and to write it on a card. Say: What is hindering a closer walk with Jesus in your life? Is there a person, an addiction, an activity, or some type of idol that is elevated above God? God wants to have first place in your life. Write it on an index card, offer it up to God, and then rip it up and put it in the basket at the front of the room. This will be a physical illustration of a spiritual desire to let nothing stand in the way of a close walk with your God.

During this time of reflection, you might want to play a song in the background. "My Hope Is in You" by Aaron Shust is a wonderful praise song that uses Jeremiah's illustration of the tree as its theme. You might download it and play it through a Bluetooth speaker if you have one. (This would be a good thing to ask your apprentice leader to help with!)

Prayer Requests

End by inviting the group members to share prayer requests and pray for one another. Use index cards, popcorn prayer, or another prayer technique included in Tips for Tackling Five Common Challenges (page 14) to lead this time with intentionality and sensitivity.

DIGGING DEEPER INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

Where Does Jeremiah Fit in the Biblical Timeline?

See AbingdonWomen.com/Jeremiah for the full article and a chronology timeline.

To best understand the message of Jeremiah, let's use broad strokes to review some basic Bible history. The first five books of the Bible (Genesis through Deuteronomy) are referred to as the Pentateuch and tell the story of the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, the giving of the Law, and the captivity of the Jews in Egypt. These are the stories of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) and others such as Noah, Joseph, and Moses. The Pentateuch ends with Moses' death and the people at the end of their forty years of wilderness wandering.

After Moses died, Joshua led the Israelites to conquer and inhabit the Promised Land of Canaan. There the people fell into a cycle of disobedience that inevitably led to punishment followed by repentance; but, soon after, they would repeat the pattern of sin, punishment, and obedience. This was the time of the judges. The books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth tell of these times.

The next time period is that of the kings and prophets. Samuel anointed the first king of Israel (Saul). The books of First and Second Samuel record the stories of Saul, David, and Solomon as kings of the united nation of Israel. In First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles we read the stories of the Divided Kingdom.

During the Divided Kingdom, Israel had nineteen evil kings. God sent many prophets to warn the Israelites of their sin, but they were conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. because of their disobedience. God sent prophets to proclaim His Word to try to draw them back to Him (for example, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Jeremiah).

Jeremiah, known as the "weeping prophet," came on the scene during the reign of King Josiah in the Southern Kingdom of Judah to warn the people of their idolatry, apathy, and disobedience. He delivered God's messages telling them to surrender to the king of Babylon. Jeremiah foretold the return of God's people to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. His ministry lasted some forty-plus years.

DIGGING DEEPER WEEK 1 HIGHLIGHTS

The Profile of a Prophet

See AbingdonWomen.com/Jeremiah for the full article and a prophet comparison chart.

God called men and women as prophets with the specific purpose of delivering God's messages to His people. Often the prophets are divided into categories based on when their ministry occurred.

1. The Standard Preexilic Prophets. "The prophets included in this group are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. They are described as 'preexilic' because their times are located prior to (or during) the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of 586 B.C." These prophets are referred to as standard because their messages contain similar themes of disobedience, judgment, and hope.

2. The Non-standard Preexilic Prophets. Obadiah, Nahum, and Jonah are preexilic prophets, but they address foreign nations instead of Israel and Judah.

3. The Postexilic Prophets and Daniel. "Typically, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are identified as the 'postexilic' prophets because they delivered their messages after the return of the exiles to Jerusalem following the Babylonian/Persian exile." Daniel gets placed in this group because his message lines up most closely with the postexilic prophets.

Not all prophets authored Old Testament books. The early prophetic accounts appear in First and Second Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. The prophets who wrote Old Testament books fall into two categories of Major and Minor Prophets. Major or minor reveals nothing of their importance but speaks to the length of their writings. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel retain major prophet status simply because their books are longer.

Prophets lived in direct communication with the Creator God who knows all things past, present, and future. These forthtellers spoke the future as the Lord directed them. Prophets often recorded visions of common objects that had spiritual meanings. They used demonstrative physical actions to communicate the messages God gave them.

"The word prophet is from the Hebrew ... (nabi). The derivation of this word is a matter of controversy, but the essential idea in the word is that of an authorized spokesman." One source explains, "A person became a prophet by becoming aware that God was speaking to him and having to transmit the message. The consciousness came in different ways and was communicated through the prophet's own unique personality. Jeremiah says simply that the hand of the Lord touched him and words were put into his mouth (Jeremiah 1:9)."

The prophet's words usually included three elements:

Past Sin – The prophet specifically named the sins of the nation.

Present Responsibility – The prophet issued a call to repentance and described the consequences of continuing in sin.

Future Hope – The prophet gave the hope of blessing for those who turned from sin and back to the Lord.

The messages of the prophets related to the people of their own times and circumstances and also echoed far into the future, with many messianic prophecies quoted in the New Testament.

Jesus stands out from among the rest as prophet, priest, and king. Much more than just a prophet delivering God's message, Jesus fulfills what all the other prophets spoke. Revelation 19:10b says, "For the essence of prophecy is to give a clear witness for Jesus" (emphasis added). He is the only way to true relationship with God. As we follow and trust Him, Jesus helps us grow and calls us to speak His message to others.

Week 2

RECOGNIZING COUNTERFEITS AND THE REAL DEAL

Idolatry

Leader Prep

Memory Verse

Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies! On the day of reckoning they will all be destroyed. But the God of Israel is no idol! He is the Creator of everything that exists, including Israel, his own special possession. The Lord of Heaven's Armies is his name! Jeremiah 10:15-16

Digging Deeper

Read Digging Deeper Week 2, "The Queen of Heaven," and note any interesting facts or insights you would like to share with the group. (Seepages 32-33 for highlights; read the full article online at AbingdonWomen.com/Jeremiah.)

Materials Needed

• Jeremiah DVD and DVD player

• Stick-on nametags and markers (optional)

• Small poster board (1 for each small group/pair) and markers (Group Activity)

• Index cards (optional – Prayer Requests)

Session Outline

Note: Refer to the format template on page 7 for suggested time allotments.

Welcome

Offer a word of welcome to the group. If time allows and you choose to provide food, invite the women to enjoy refreshments and fellowship. (Groups meeting for 60 minutes may want to have a time for food and fellowship before the official start time.) Be sure to watch the clock and move to the All Play icebreaker at the appropriate time.

All Play

Ask each group member to respond briefly to these questions: What piece of jewelry do you especially enjoy wearing lately? What does it look like and what do you like about it? (If some ladies say they don't wear any jewelry at all, ask them to describe the piece of clothing in their closet that they like the most and tell why.)

Read aloud or paraphrase:

This week we saw God use jewelry as an illustration of things we value. We also talked about the story of the fake pearls in which the little girl was asked by a loving father to give up something she treasured. He may have seemed unkind at first, asking her to give up something that brought her such pleasure. However, we saw that he wanted to offer her something better—something real and lasting—and this helps us understand God's heart in asking us to give up things that seem good in the moment but ultimately don't fill the ache inside. Have any of you ever loved some particular piece of jewelry that eventually got lost, was broken, or turned funny colors over time? (Pause briefly for responses.) God wants to offer us real and lasting peace in a relationship with Him that never fades or falls apart. Let's see how the women of Judah turned to a god called the Queen of Heaven and how we can relate with their quest for beauty and power.