Sharing with All

Thursday, September 10, 2015
Isaiah 1:15-18 NIV 

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 18 "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) After rebuking the people of God because of their rebellious ways, what did the Lord say that He would do when they prayed to Him? Why? (v.15)
2) What did the Lord counsel His people to do to restore relationship with Himself? (v.16-17)
3) After repenting of their wicked ways, what would the Lord do concerning the former rebellious ways of His people? (v.18)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Have you, your church family, and/or this nation repented of rebellion against the Lord? If so, how?

LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord cannot pardon the evil ways of His wicked and rebellious people until and unless all have repented of their sin and do that which pleases the Lord.
6) The Lord is pleased when we care for the least among us.
7) The greatest evidence of genuine repentance is a heart to share the love of Christ with those who have been marginalized in our lives, our churches, and our nation.

How Shall We Return?

Sunday, August 30, 2015
Malachi 3:1-10 NIV

1 "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 "So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. 6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. "But you ask, 'How are we to return?' 8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What will the "messenger" do for the Lord and where will the Lord go to? (v.1)
2) What questions are asked of the readers? (v.2a)
3) How is the Lord described in this passage and what will He do for those who serve Him? Why? (v.2b-4)
4) Why will the Lord appear on earth? (v.5)
5) What does the Lord say about Himself and His relationship with His people? (v.6)
6) How have the people of God transgressed against the Lord, how can they be restored to Him and what will He do when they are obedient to His will? (v.7-10)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) Do you tithe your time, talent and/or treasure? If not, why not.

LIFE LESSONS
8) The Lord blesses His people to be a blessing to all people, but espectially to those in the household of faith.
9) The Lord prospers those who bless His people with His overflowing goodness, mercy, and love.

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.

If You Will Not Listen

Thursday, August 6, 2015
Jeremiah 26:1-7 NIV 

1 Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: 2 "This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.' " 7 The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) Who was Jehoiakim the son of and what happened early in his reign? (v.1)
2) What did the Lord say to Jeremiah the prophet? (v.2)
3) What did the Lord tell the prophet to say to His people? Why? (v.3-6)
4) Who heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the Lord? (v.7)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) Have you ever heard a prophetic word, from the Lord, concerning yourself, your church, and/or your nation?
6) if so, what do you generally do in response to those prophecies?

LIFE LESSONS
7) The Lord sends His servants (the prophets) to warn His people of impending judgment to allow them to repent of their transgressions against Him.
8) When the people of God repent of their sins, the Lord God will relent from allowing calamity to befall them.
9) When God's people refuse to heed the words of the prophets, judgment is certain.

The Lord Will Come as Redeemer

Sunday, August 2, 2015
Isaiah 59:15-21 NIV 

15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along. 20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD. 21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants--from this time on and forever," says the LORD.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) After the people of God acknowledge their transgressions against God, what is their spiritual condition? (v.15a)
2) What did the Lord God observe and what was His response? (v.15b-18)
3) What will the Lord do for His penitent people and those who fear (revere) His name? (v.19-20)
4) What does the Lord declare to His people (v.21)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) What is the spiritual standing of your local church, this nation, and/or yourself with the Lord?
6) What, if anything, will you do to return to right relationship with the Lord?

LIFE LESSONS
7) The Lord God defends those who recognize (acknowledge) their need for His salvation and/or deliverance.

God Delights in Showing Clemency

Sunday, July 26, 2015
Micah 7:14-20 NIV 

14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago. 15 "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders." 16 Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears will become deaf. 17 They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 20 You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the Prophet Micah ask the Lord to do for His people? (v.14-15)
2) How would the nations respond? (v.16-17)
3) What does the prophet ask the Lord and say about His relationship with His people? (v.18-20)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) How has the Lord shown His faithfulness to you, despite any spiritual weaknesses, or transgressions, that have manifested in your life/

LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord longs to be gracious to His people and will relent from allowing calamity to befall us when we confess and repent of our transgressions.

Zion Speaks

Saturday, July 25, 2015
Micah 7:8-11 NIV

8 Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. 9 Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and upholds my cause. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. 10 Then my enemy will see it and will be covered with shame, she who said to me, "Where is the LORD your God?" My eyes will see her downfall; even now she will be trampled underfoot like mire in the streets. 11 The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What do the people of God say to those opposed to them about their spiritual condition and hope? (v.8-9)
2) What do the people of God anticipate will happen to those who opposed them? (v.10)
3) What do the people of God expect to happen after they have repented of their sins and been restored to God? (v.11)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Have you as an individual, your local church, or this nation ever turned from the Lord? If so, how were you restored back to God.

LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord God longs for His people to return to Him.
6) The people of God can only be restored to God through confession and repentance.
7) The Lord God will restore whatever may have been lost after His people have forsaken their evil doings.