The Person Who Sins Shall Die

Sunday, August 16, 2015
Ezekiel 18:1-3, 31-32 NIV 

1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: " 'The parents eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? 3 "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. ... 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Lord declare about the proverb quoted by His people? (v.1-3)
2) What did the Lord tell His people to do? Why? (v.31)
3) What is it that the Lord takes no pleasure in? What does He implore His people to do, as a result, and why? (v.32)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Do you believe the Lord to be a strict and unyielding God or a loving and merciful Father? Why?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord is a merciful Father. He is also a very just God.

One Spirit, One Mind

Friday, May 15, 2015
Philippians 1:21-30 KJV

21 For to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this [is] the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh [is] more needful for you. 25 And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; 26 That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. 27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear [to be] in me.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) After writing that God would be glorified in his body, whether he lived or died, what did the Apostle Paul write about his own life and death? (v.21)
2) What was the Paul's conflict between departing this life and continuing to live? (v. 22-23)
3) What did he write concerning his life and why he should continue to live? (v.24-26)
4) What did Paul exhort the reader to do whether he was present or absent? Why? (v.27-28)
5) What did the apostle write about the conflict that we will all face as followers of Christ? (v.29-30)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Do you fear dying? If so, why?

LIFE LESSONS
7) Only the Lord knows the day that He has appointed for His followers to depart this life. In the meantime, we are to live our lives unto the Lord, for the glory of God.

Love Made Possible by the Spirit

Sunday, April 12, 2015
1 John 3:11-24 KJV 

11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, [who] was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not [his] brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down [our] lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels [of compassion] from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, [then] have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What is the message that the readers heard from the beginning? (v.11)
2) Who did the Apostle John use as an example of one who did not love his brother? (v.12a)
3) Why does the world hate Christians? (v.12b-13)
4) How do we know that we have passed from death to life? (v.14a)
5) What does John write about those who do not love the brethren? (v.14b-15)
6) Why should we lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ? (v.16)
7) How do we assure our hearts before God and know that we are of the truth? (v.17-19)
8) What enables us to have confidence toward God and to have our prayers answered? (v.20-22)
9) What has God commanded us to do? How? (v.23-24) 

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
10) How do you know that you have eternal life?
11) Who, or what, enables you to keep the Lord's command to love your brothers and sisters in Christ?

LIFE LESSONS
12) The indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to live a life of love.

Speaking as People of Sincerity

Saturday, August 9, 2014
Scripture Reading: 2 Cor 2:12-17 KJV

12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to [preach] Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
14 Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16 To the one [we are] the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who [is] sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Why didn’t Paul have “rest” in his spirit? (v.12-13)
2) What does God do for us and through us? (v.14)
3) What are our lives (offerings) to God when done sacrificially, through faith in Jesus? (v.15)
4) What are our lives (sacrifices) to those who are saved? What are they to those who will perish (v.16)
5) How do we speak as people of sincerity?

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Why do you believe that our lives are the fragrance of death to the unsaved?
7) Why do you think that our lives are the fragrance of life to the saved?
8) What happens to our witness when we handle the word of God corruptly (incorrectly)?

PRINCIPLES

9) The saved have the aroma of death to the unsaved, but the aroma of life to the saved!

10) The life of every believer is a living sacrifice to God!

11) The sacrifices that God desires from His people are a broken spirit and a contrite heart!

12) The lives of true worshippers are a "sweet aroma" to God!

13) We always have the victory in Christ Jesus, to the glory of the Father, that He may be made known!