week of 12/25

Unit 16  Session 4

GOD'S PRESENCE IN ALL PLACES

1 KINGS 8-9 ; PSALM 33 ; ISAIAH 7

God is present in all times and places for His people's good, most clearly evidenced in His dwelling with His people in Christ.

We have seen the devestating effect of sin and judgment in the destruction the Lord brought upon Judah and Jerusalem. He used the Babylonians to crush His own temple, conquer His own people, and to take many of them captive into exile. It would have been easy for the exiles to see themselves in a foreign land, under a foreign king, and surrounded by foreign gods and believe that God was no longer with them. But nothing could be further from the truth. God is present everywhere; God hears, cares for, and promises to dwell with His people.

Points to consider:

✞   God is present to hear from His people.

     * What are some ways we experience the 

        presence of God now that are mere 

        reflections of what is to come?

✞   God is present to care for His people.

     * How do we sometimes reveal that we 

        think we can save ourselves by our 

        own merit?

✞   God is present to dwell with His people.     

     * What are some reasons we might find 

        it difficult to trust God?

     * How should understanding that God 

        sent His Son as our Savior to save and 

        be with us affect our view of God?

week of 12/18

Unit 16  Session 3

GOD'S JUDGMENT OF THE PRIDEFUL

DANIEL 5

God stands against the proud and will humble them.

Previously, we looked at Daniel 1, where we saw young Daniel and his three friends resolve to be faithful to God. In this session, we jump ahead a few decades to Daniel as an older man. Because of his resolve to remain faithful to the Lord, God blessed him and his time in exile. Here we will see God once again use Daniel as the conduit of His revelation as he pronounces judgment on King Belshazzar for his stubborn and foolish pride.

Points to consider:

✞   The Lord confronts those who profane 

     that which is holy.

     * What are some ways you see an attitude 

        of pride in our world today?

✞   The Lord rebukes those who exalt 

     themselves instead of Him.

     * How can all sin be connected to the idea 

        that we exalt ourselves above God?

     * What are some ways we can grow in our 

        efforts to reflect God's holiness?

✞   The Lord judges those who are found 

     to be deficient.     

     * How should our own deficiency apart 

        from Christ affect the way we see the 

        sin of the people around us?

week of 12/11

Unit 16  Session 2

GOD'S REWARD FOR THE FAITHFUL

DANIEL 1

Faithfulness to God is not easy, but it is rewarded.

In our last session, we saw the people of Judah at the very beginning of the Babylonian captivity. God had warned them time and time again that if they worshiped and served other gods, He would remove them from the land. And that's exactly what God did. In today's session, we still find ourselves at the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, but instead of hearing God speak through a prophet from outside Babylon, we will see God work through the lives of four young men in Babylon as they resolved to remain faithful to the Lord in a seemingly impossible situation.

Points to consider:

✞   Faithfulness to God is tested.

     * What opportunities from the world tempt 

        believers today to defile themselves?

     * How should the reality that we can't work 

        to justify ourselves before God change the 

        way we see our work for God?

✞   Faithfulness to God is affirmed.

     * What are some ways God affirms faithfulness 

        even if He doesn't provide for or rescue His 

        people from trials?

✞   Faithfulness to God is rewarded.      

     * Why should we see God's using us with our 

        gifts and talents as a reward?

week of 12/4

Unit 16  Session 1

GOD'S PROMISE TO HIS PEOPLE

JEREMIAH 29 - 30

A day will come when God will bring ultimate freedom, healing, and restoration.

The history of Israel, in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, contains many ups and downs. God would do wonders in the sight of His people. They would love God and worship Him. But soon they would forget. Go sent godly leaders, judges, kings, and prophets to woo them back. But as the people continue to stray from Him, God eventually allowed their enemies to take His people into exile and captivity because He is a holy and just God. But in His love and faithfulness, He continued to speak though prophets, like Jeremiah, to encourage His people because He was still with them and freedom was coming.

Points to consider:

✞   The day of the Lord will bring freedom.

     * How should the doctrine of glorification 

        affect the way we live now?

✞   The day of the Lord will bring healing.

     * How does sin affect a person's relationship 

        with God?

     * Why might we find it difficult to rest in God's 

        promise of healing?

✞   The day of the Lord will bring restoration.      

     * How have you seen God's restoration in your 

        life and in the lives of those around you?

week of 11/27

 Unit 15  Session 4

GOD'S IMAGE IN THE NATIONS

GENESIS 5 ; PSALM 139 ; LUKE 10:25-37 ; 2 CORINTHIANS 3

All people possess value, having been made in the image of God.

One key to fully comprehending the wrath and judgment of God is to grasp the nature of humanity. The Bible begins with the story of creation. Filled with many astounding details of how God formed this world and all He filled it with, it is easy to miss one colossal truth embedded within the creation narrative. When God made humankind, He did something different. Every other action was performed without one critical factor found only in the creative act of Adam and Eve, namely, God fashioned humans in His image. Both male and female were constructed to reflect Who God is, providing humankind with a unique and special status within all of God's work.

Points to consider:

✞   All people are made in the image of God.

     * What are some implications of knowing God 

        made every human being in His image?

✞   All people are valued because they are 

     made in the image of God.

     * What are some ways we can prove ourselves 

        to be good neighbors?

✞   All believers are being transformed into 

     the image of Christ.       

     * How does sin keep people from experiencing 

        freedom?

     * What are some ways we need to work on 

        beholding the glory of God in Christ?

week of 11/20

Unit 15  Session 3

GOD'S JUDGMENT THROUGH THE NATIONS

2 CHRONICLES 36

God sends judgment upon all who are obstinate against Him.

In 586 B.C., Nineveh and Assyria have been destroyed and the nation of Judah has fallen under Babylonian control for about two decades. The northern kingdom of Israel is long gone, and the kings of southern Judah have been a mixed bag. Some have followed God, but most have not. God has given Judah a very long leash with ample opportunities to repent of their unfaithfulness. Yet they have broken their covenant with Yahweh, and God's wrath has been stirred - this time against His own rebellious, obstinate people. In His righteousness, God removes His protective hand. Judah's time is up, and destruction comes swiftly through the hands of the Babylonians.

Points to consider:

✞   Obstinate people refuse God's ways.

     * What are some detestable practices of the 

        nations that tempt believers today?

✞   Obstinate people reject God's word.

     * What are some means God uses to speak to 

        us and direct us back to Him?

✞   Obstinate people experience God's judgment.       

     * How might the destruction of the temple have 

        been interpreted by the remaining people 

        of Judah?

     * How should God's promise of a remnant for 

        Judah bring hope for us in our darkest days?

week of 11/13

Unit 15  Session 2

GOD'S JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

NAHUM

God will punish all sin so that none may accuse Him of unrighteousness.

Over a century after Ninevah's repentant response to God's warning through Jonah, God gave Nahum a final word for the Assyrian capital. We don't know how long the city's contrition lasted, but it eventually faded. In 612 B.C., the Babylonians decimated Ninevah and - thanks to Nahum - God's people saw it coming. This book of prophecy is a record of God's message to His people suffering under the oppression of Assyria. To Ninevah, this was a severe indictment. But these words pointed the hearts of God's people to the holiness, justice, and faithfulness of the Lord, who would certainly, decidedly, and finally avenge the many wicked wrongs wrought by the Assyrians.

Points to consider:

✞   The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.

     * Why is it good that God is a jealous God?

     * What emotions might rise to the surface 

        knowing God will punish all wrongdoing 

        one day?

✞   The Lord will be a stronghold for those who 

     take refuge in Him.

     * What are some ways we should expect to 

        experience God's care for us?

✞   The Lord will be vindicated before the nations.       

     * How should believers in Jesus respond to 

        the promise of destruction of God's enemies?

week of 11/6

Unit 15  Session 1

GOD'S HEART FOR THE NATIONS

JONAH

God loves all peoples and sends out His Word so that they might repent of their sin.

Many use the story of Jonah, a picture book favorite, as a cautionary tale of the consequences of disobedience. Yet the book of Jonah is more than a tale of a man on the run who ends up in the belly of a fish. God gave Jonah, a prophet during the rule of Jeroboam II (793 - 753 B.C.), the great honor and responsibility of declaring His words to His people. He enjoyed the role of prophet during a time of relative ease and safety. But when God called him to go and speak out against his evil enemies, Jonah bolted in an attempt to shirk the responsibility he had previously embraced.

Points to consider:

✞   A wayward prophet leads others to worship the Lord.

     * How have you seen the decisions of Christ-followers 

        positively or negatively affect unbelievers around 

        them?

✞   A stubborn prophet draws others to repent to the Lord.

     * Why might we give into the thought that some people 

        are too far gone for God to redeem?

✞   A hard-hearted prophet receives compassion from 

     the Lord.       

     * What are some difficult lessons you have had to learn 

        from the Lord?

     * How might we grow in our desire to see all people 

        repent and believe in Jesus?

week of 10/30

Unit 14  Session 4 

A HUMBLED HEART

PSALM 119 ; PROVERBS 28 ; 2 CORINTHIANS 6-7

Repentance is an act prompted by sorrow in which a person turns from sin to Christ.

The past few studies have taken us from the theme of judgment to the theme of grace and back again. From a king to a nation of people, the need for humility is evident. So where should all of this take us? To a humbled heart. We've seen the kindness of God in the past few studies, though kindness and judgment aren't thought to live in the same house. With God, however, they do. The apostle Paul said God's kindness is intended to lead us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). It is to repentance we now look.

Points to consider:

✞   Repentance is the result of godly sorrow.

     * Why should repentance, whether someone 

        else's or our own, result in rejoicing?

     * What are some ways we can recognize the 

        difference between godly grief and worldly 

        grief?

✞   Repentance is the act of turning from sin.

     * What are some ways sinners do not "prosper" 

        when hiding their sins?

✞   Repentance is proven by obedience.       

     * Why does repentance require that obedience 

        follow? 

week of 10/23

Unit 14  Session 3

A HUMBLED PEOPLE

ZEPHANIAH

God saves and restores all those who repent and turn to Him in faith.

The prophet Zephaniah brought one major message to God's people: the day of the Lord was coming. That day was a day of judgment, but it was also a day of grace. God's people and the nations were faced with the reality of God's coming judgment, and Zephaniah's message called all people to repentance to find grace in the face of judgment. The Lord is patient, but His judgment does not delay. It comes soon, so the prophet's call was timely and urgent: Humbly come under the refuge of God's grace or be destroyed by your pride.

Points to consider:

✞   The Lord saves the repentant.

     * Why does humility please the Lord?

✞   The Lord restores the faithful.

     * What are some ways our speech is 

        tainted by the effects of sin?

     * Why is pride such a devestating 

        attitude and sin?

✞   The Lord purifies the humble.       

     * What should sanctification look 

        like in this world plagued by sin?  

week of 10/16

Unit 14  Session 2

A HUMILIATED NATION

ISAIAH 13 - 31

The Lord seeks to show mercy and compassion even to His disobedient people.

God's people always had a tough time obeying. Faithfulness should have marked their lives, but often rebellion was the major key. How did God respond? Did He throw them out and bind Himself to another group of people? By no means! God remains faithful though His people are faithless. God remains true though His people stray. God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithful love and truth, staying true to a thousand generations of sinful men and women who love Him. God is just and true, and He is loving and merciful, but He does correct and judge - all to bring us to repentance.

 

Points to consider:

✞   The Lord will be vindicated in judging iniquity.

     * Why might we find it so hard to abandon 

        our self-reliance and trust God alone?

✞   The Lord will be praised for judging iniquity.

     * Why should the promise and fulfillment of 

        God's judgment cause people to worship 

        the Lord?

✞   The Lord will be merciful after judging iniquity.       

     * What does it mean to wait for the Lord?

     * How has God's mercy changed the way you 

        live and see the world? 

week of 10/9

Unit 14  Session 1

A HUMILIATED KING

2 KINGS 11 - 12 ; 2 CHRONICLES 22 - 24

Faithfulness is proven over the long-term, and later lapses of faithfulness will be judged.

Ahab, king of Israel, and his wife, Jezebel, brought great wickedness and idolatry into the land, leading their people far astray from the one true God. And Ahab's influence spread to Judah when his daughter, Athaliah, married Jehoram, the king of Judah. Through the word of Elisha, a general from Israel named Jehu brought judgment upon all the house of Ahab, killing the wicked kings of both kingdoms who were descended from him. The power vacuum in Judah was quickly and violently filled by Athaliah, the queen mother, but even she did not escape God's judgment and was replaced by the rightful king, Joash.

 

Points to consider:

✞   A faithful king restores the proper worship of God.

     * What are some excuses people might have for 

        delaying spiritual restoration in their lives and       

        churches?

✞   A forgetful king reverts to the worship of idols.

     * What are some things we can do to avoid the 

        wayward path Joash took with his life?

✞   A fallen king receives the judgment of God.       

     * What does God's response to Joash's rebellion 

        teach us about God's character?

     * What should a life of faithfulness look like for 

        a believer in Jesus Christ?

week of 10/2

Unit 13  Session 5

THE FUTILITY OF IDOLATRY

ISAIAH 44 - 46

Idolatry is a rebellion against God, born in the hearts of people when they worship parts of creation rather than the Creator.

Isaiah prophesied during a relatively good time for the Southern Kingdom of Judah, but the Northern Kingdom of Israel was in its death spiral leading to their eventual fall to Assyria. Still, idolatry remained a struggle for both kingdoms in varying degrees until both met their demise in exile as God's punishment. One place Isaiah addressed this issue was a portion of his prophetic book aimed ahead to a time after the people had been deported to pagan lands. Through Isaiah, the Lord made the case that idols, whether local or abroad, were nothing but a dead distraction from the one true God.

Points to consider:

✞   Idolatry begins by rejecting God.

     * Why do people, even believers, succumb 

        to the temptation of idolatry?

✞   Idolatry leads to a futile religion.

     * How has the Lord been your Rock?

     * Why must we remember that every act 

        in service to an idol is ultimately futile?

✞   Idolatry results in foolishness.       

     * What are some of the empty promises 

        of idols that only God can fulfill?

week of 9/25

Unit 13  Session 4

ELIJAH'S POWER

2 KINGS 4 - 6

God works through His people to do great things for His glory.

Elijah left the earth by God's appointment, and by God's will, he passed on his title and his spirit to the new prophet, Elisha. This prophet is now filled with the same power as his predecessor and is present in Israel. The majority of kings that follow in Israel are still wicked in the eyes of the Lord, and the people follow them. So Israel still needsa prophet to call them to repentance and obedience to Yahweh. Through Elisha, God continues to demonstrate His power so the kings, people, and nations will know Yahweh is the Lord God. And Elisha remains faithful in obedience to God, following the footsteps of his mentor.

Points to consider:

✞   The man of God brings life from death.

     * How should the reality of God's 

        resurrection power affect the lives 

        and actions of people today?

✞   The man of God multiplies bread for the people.

     * What are some ways you have seen the 

        Lord provide for your needs?

     * What are some ways we can serve the 

        Lord for His glory?

✞   The man of God heals a skin disease.       

     * What are some ways we can show kindness 

        in the world and point people to Jesus?

week of 9/18

Unit 13  Session 3

ELIJAH'S SUCCESSOR

1 KINGS 19 ; 2 KINGS 2

Those who seek to be faithful to God's call do so empowered and equipped by His Spirit.

Elijah had been a faithful prophet, obedient to God and consistent in calling Israel to repentance and their own obedience to God. He spoke directly about the sins of the people and performed miracles that demonstrated the Spirit of God was with him. Now the end of Elijah's time on earth was near. He was still following the Lord faithfully, and his protege, Elisha, was right by his side. The nation of Israel still needed a prophet, still needed someone to declare God's truth to them. God had said it would be Elisha, but how would Elisha fill Elijah's rather large shoes?

Points to consider:

✞   Faithful to the call.

     * What are some ways disciples of Jesus 

        should demonstrate their faithfulness 

        to Him?

✞   Power for the call.

     * What are some physical places that 

        hold spiritual meaning for you?

✞   Equipped for the call.       

     * Why do we need the Holy Spirit to 

        fulfill our gospel mission in the world?