Download Lesson: 1.4.15 Class Notes – Ex 35, 36.1-7

LOOK:

God has called each of us into His kingdom, which means we are a part of His church universal, which means we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to use the tools and gifts that He’s given us to partner with Him. But let me shift your thinking: I want you to consider that YOU are His TOOL to further the work of His church.

In Acts 9:15 the Lord tells Ananias to go to Paul who had been blinded on the road to Damascus, and Ananias was protesting because of everything he heard about Paul. But the Lord said, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

In 2 Tim 2:21 Paul is writing to Timothy describing the characteristics of a soldier of Christ, and one of them was being sanctified. He says, “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

There is a song that has been sung in churches over the ages that has the refrain, “Lord, let me be your instrument of peace.” Are you getting the picture that YOU are His TOOL?

As we learned today, He can equip us with everything needed to partner with Him, but we are also responsible for having the right mindset of WILLINGNESS. Are your HEARTS MOVED to serve him wholeheartedly in whatever He calls you to do?

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Download Lesson: 12.28.14 Class Notes – Ex 34

LOOK:

I hope you saw a beautiful picture of God’s grace today. Here is a summary of the process God used to restore His children:

•The trigger event for God to restore us is our REPENTANCE.

•Once He sees our broken and contrite heart, God desires to RESTORE the relationship.

•Once He decides to restore us, He’s ALL IN. He renews His covenant of love with us by:

REVEALING His compassion, grace, and abounding love by forgiving us

RENEWING His covenant with His people
 His part is to do wonders and drive out the enemies
 Our part is to obey what the Lord commands us.

•Don’t make a treaty with those who are idolaters

•Smash their sacred stones and Asherah poles

•Don’t worship any other god

•If you intermarry, don’t prostitute yourselves to their gods

•Don’t make cast idols.

REPEATS the requirements of worship
 Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread
 Don’t come to Him empty-handed. Give Him the firstfruits
 Rest on the seventh day, even during plowing season

•God REINFORCES the “why” behind His requirements – He is a HOLY God and wants us to have an unadulterated relationship with Him by maintaining purity in our own relationships with others.

In case you think God is still displeased with you and that you could never be forgiven or be back in His good graces, I hope that this passage reveals that God’s grace is alive and well and for us. His standards won’t change. He won’t lower the bar for us because He expects us to have respect for Him by obeying what He tells us to do. And there is nothing that He’s asked of us that He hasn’t empowered us to do!

A healthy theology says let go of your past sins. That means come to God with your broken heart because you know you grieved Him – not because you have to face the consequences. When God restores favor, that does not equate to “no consequences” for bad behavior! He is a just God, so He will not leave the guilty unpunished. If we will simply admit that we rebelled and sinned against Him, then watch God’s compassion, grace, and abounding love for us just wash over us. Watch Him cleanse you. Rest in His unconditional love for you. Enjoy finding favor with Him, but with a commitment to obey Him.

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Download Lesson: 12.21.14 Class Notes – Ex 33

LOOK:

Q: In light of this text, what did we learn today that would improve our own prayer life?

•Remind God of His promises

•It’s okay to pray boldly

•Openly share your concerns

•Request His presence in all that we do

•Ask for Him to show us His glory

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Download Lesson: 12.14.14 Class Notes Ex 32.15-35

LOOK:

Moses provides us a good model of spiritual leadership.

• When his people failed, he interceded for them.

• When he met with the people, he confronted them with the goal to help them turn from their sin of idolatry.

• He listened to the Lord’s instructions as to how to discipline the people instead of taking matters into his own hands.

• He was willing to sacrifice his own life to atone for the sins of the Israelite nation.

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Download Lesson: 12.7.14 Class Notes – Ex 31, 32.1-14

LOOK:

The Israelites are so much like us. We can bask in the presence of God and give Him our word that we will obey Him and follow Him when things are going well. But we are so fickle! No sooner do things start to get a little hard, or we don’t think God is showing up in our circumstances fast enough and all of sudden we’ve turned our back on Him and have placed our trust elsewhere. If God’s plans are always perfect and He knows what’s best for us, then we need to quit being impatient and let Him roll out the red carpet!

Here’s our lesson: Instead of focusing on our circumstances and our perception of God’s presence or lack thereof, we need to fix our eyes on God and lock into the following TRUTHS we know of God based on today’s Scripture:

1. God has a plan already in place for each of us. We may not understand His timing or even know all the details of it. [X-Ref: Jer 29:11-12. God told the Israelites that He would lead them into the Promised Land, yet as soon as He seemed absent, they were fashioning a golden calf to follow.]
2. When God calls us into His kingdom, He fills us with His Holy Spirit, and He equips us with the necessary skills and abilities to accomplish His will. [Remember Bezalel and Oholiab.]
3. God is a Promise-keeper. He made a covenant with His children, and we need to trust that He will continue to fulfill His covenant to us.
4. God is accomplishing His purposes through each of us in all of our circumstances. Rom 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.” When our circumstances don’t make sense, remember that God has sacred intentions underlying all of our circumstances for good of those who have been called by Him.

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Download Lesson Plan: 11.23.14 Class Notes Ex 24-30

LOOK:

What’s amazing to me is that the Tabernacle illustrates the GOSPEL message. When Jesus died on the cross and his substitutionary sacrifice was completed, He said, “It is finished.” At that moment, the veil was torn supernaturally so that anyone who placed their faith in Jesus would become His priest. Once we became His priest, He allowed us to have direct access to Him inside the Holy of Holies.

The New Testament picture of this is beautiful. You and I became the “temple” of the Holy Spirit:

• I Cor 3: 16-17 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you ARE that temple.”

• I Cor 6:19 “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own

• 2 Cor 6:14-18 (v.16b) “For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

You and I have an awesome privilege as a “priest” to LIVE INSIDE THE VEIL daily. We need to ask ourselves if our temple is free of idols. Is it free of distractions? Is our temple filled with incense to burn so that we can offer sacrifices of praise, an aroma that is pleasing to Him?

I am also challenging us to evaluate the content of our prayers and reallocate the percentages between petitions, intercessory prayer, and praise and thanksgiving, such that the highest percentage of our content goes to praise and thanksgiving. Giving God praise, glory, honor, adoration and thanksgiving is the only thing we have to offer Him that doesn’t come from Him. Praise is His love language, so let’s not withhold it from Him. Let’s pray.

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Download Lesson: 11.16.14 Class Notes – Ex 23

LOOK:

Congratulations, you have successfully completed your orientation meeting as an Israelite! You have learned the Book of the Covenant over the last three weeks, which were more ordinances to expound on the Ten Commandments.

So let’s pretend you’re an Israelite when you leave class today, and you couldn’t remember all the details of these new ordinances, but you could broadly state the principles or values God was expressing through these new laws. What principles or values would you lean on to guide you?

1. Impartiality

2. Fairness

3. Take care of the needy, the underprivileged, the widow, etc

4. Restitution is expected

5. Integrity

6. Worship God alone

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Download Lesson: 11.9.14 Class Notes Ex 22

LOOK:

Q: What is our takeaway after going through numerous rules in the Book of the Covenant?

A: V.31 gives us a clue – we are to be His holy people. [X-Ref 19:3-6]

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Download Lesson Plan: 11.2.14 Class Notes Ex 20.18-26, 21

LOOK:

We have processed the values that God expressed implicitly in His laws to the Israelites. Let’s ask the Lord to reveal in our own hearts if our value system is not aligned with His. If He does reveal a discrepancy, then let’s thank the Holy Spirit for showing us where we’ve missed the mark and adjust our values accordingly.

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Download Lesson: 10.26.14, Class Notes – Ex 20.17

LOOK:

Q: So how do we overcome covetousness? 

• First, we have to learn contentment. Here’s a definition of CONTENTMENT = WANTING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE
• Second, adopt an attitude of giving out of what God has already given you.

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