Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Ezekiel 13:15-20 NIV
15 So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, "The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16 those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign LORD." ' 17 "Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18 and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? 19 You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live. 20 " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) After chiding His people for not building a wall of defense around their nation, what did the Lord declare that he would do to the wall and the false prophets? Why? (v.15-16)
2) What did the Lord tell the Prophet Ezekiel to do and to say to His people? Why? (v.17-20)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
3) Have you ever heard a servant of the Lord (a prophet) declare judgment against a nation and another proclaim something different? If so, how did you respond to each prophecies?
LIFE LESSONS
4) The Lord expects His people to believe His true prophets. True prophets do not sell, or compromise, their prophetic gift to gain man's approval.
5) Only those who know the ways of the Lord, as revealed through the Bible and His Spirit, will discern which prophecies are true and which are false.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Exodus 23:1-8 NIV
1 "Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. 2 "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, 3 and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. 4 "If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it. 6 "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. 8 "Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What were the Lord's commands concerning false reports and false witnesses? (v.1)
2) What did the Lord command about doing the wrong that others do? (v.2)
3) What was the Lord's command about favoritism? (v.3)
4) What was the command concerning another's property (v.4-5)
5) What did the Lord command about lawsuits and bribery? What was God's reason for each law? (v.6-8)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Have you ever spread gossip against another individual without knowing all of the facts? If so, what happened?
LIFE LESSONS
7) God is the only absolutely Righteous Judge of any and every situation.
8) The Lord's commands were give to help His people to love Him and to love others.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Micah 2:4-11 KJV
4 In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed [it] from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. 6 Prophesy ye not, [say they to them that] prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, [that] they shall not take shame. 7 O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? [are] these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? 8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. 9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. 10 Arise ye, and depart; for this [is] not [your] rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy [you], even with a sore destruction. 11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) After warning the wicked (evil) of pending disaster, how will others react to His wicked people and what will become of their land? (v.4-5)
2) How do the people respond to the words of the Lord through His prophet(s)? (v.6)
3) What does the Lord ask, and tell, His people? (v.7)
4) How do the people of God respond to the Lord's judgments against them? (v.8-9)
5) Why does the Lord allow His people to be taken from their land (homes)? (v.10)
6) What kind of prophet would God's people prefer according to the Lord? (v.11)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
7) How do you respond when a prophet of God foretells of disaster within your life, within your church, and/or within your nation?
LIFE LESSONS
8) The Lord sends His servants (the prophets) to convict His people of their sins with the hope of their collective confession, repentance, and restoration.
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Proverbs 11:1-10 KJV
1 A false balance [is] abomination to the LORD: but a just weight [is] his delight. 2 [When] pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly [is] wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. 4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. 5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in [their own] naughtiness. 7 When a wicked man dieth, [his] expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust [men] perisheth. 8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. 9 An hypocrite with [his] mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. 10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, [there is] shouting.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What is an abomination to the Lord and what is His delight? (v.1)
2) What comes with pride and what comes with humility? (v.2)
3) What guides the upright and what destroys the unrighteous? (v.3)
4) What does wealth profit anyone in the day of God's wrath? (v.4a)
5) What is written about the wicked and about the righteous? (v.4b-10)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Are you among the wicked or the righteous? How do you know?
LIFE LESSONS
7) The only hope that the righteous, or the wicked, will have in the day of judgment will be the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Psalm 9:15-20 KJV
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit [that] they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 16 The LORD is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall [not] perish for ever. 19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. 20 Put them in fear, O LORD: [that] the nations may know themselves [to be but] men. Selah.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did the psalmist write about the heathen (non-believers)? (v.15)
2) What is the Lord known by and how does that effect the wicked? (v.16)
3) Who are the wicked and what will become of them? (v.17)
4) What does the psalmist write about the needy and the poor (v.18)
5) What does the psalmist ask of the Lord and why? (v.19-20)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Do you believe that you, your church, and/or this nation is about to be judged by the Lord? If so, why? If not, why not?
LIFE LESSONS
7) The Lord will judge any individual, church, and/or nation that ignores Him and the people He loves.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Psalm 7:9-17 KJV
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. 10 My defence [is] of God, which saveth the upright in heart. 11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry [with the wicked] every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch [which] he made. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What does the psalmist ask the Lord to do to the wicked and to the righteous? Why? (v.9)
2) Who defends the psalmist? (10a)
3) How does the psalmist describe the Lord? (v.10b-13)
4) How does the psalmist describe the wicked? (v.14-16)
5) What will the psalmist do for the Lord? (v.17)
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
6) Are you more like the psalmist, or the wicked?
7) Do you know of anyone who has acted wickedly and received the chastening of the Lord? If so, describe one such individual.
LIFE LESSONS
8) The way of the righteous will be blessed, but the way of the wicked will be difficult.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Psalm 7:1-8 KJV
1 [[Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite.]] O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: 2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending [it] in pieces, while [there is] none to deliver. 3 O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; 4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) 5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take [it]; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. 6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me [to] the judgment [that] thou hast commanded. 7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high. 8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity [that is] in me.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) What did King David ask the Lord to do for him and why? Why did the kexpect the Lord to help him? (v.1-2)
2) What did David want the Lord to do to him and under what conditions? (v.3-5)
3) What did the king implore the Lord to do for him according to his righteousness? Why? (v.6-8
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
4) Have you ever acted wickedly toward another brother, or sister in the Lord, without cause? If so, what was the result?
LIFE LESSONS
5) The Lord expects His people to live peacefully with all people and blesses those who do.
