Tag Archives: lesson

Ex 2:11-25, Ex 3

LOOK:

Do you have an Evite from God calling you to do something larger than yourself? Larger than your education? Larger than your life experiences? Larger than your work experience? Larger than your belief in yourself? Larger because of the time commitment required? If the invitation to do something extraordinary wasn’t larger than ourselves, then why would we “need God?” What kind of calling is that? What if I told you that His call will always be larger than ourselves?

There are plenty of Scripture passages that remind us that anything He calls us to do is never done in our strength or flesh. John 15:1-5 reminds us that Jesus is the true vine and we are the branch. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. In Phil 1:6 Paul reminds us that we can be confident that “he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” In I Thess 5:24 we read that “The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. How many times does He remind us of His promise to never leave us or forsake us?

It’s time to click “YES.” When God calls us, it’s because He already had a plan to use us to accomplish His purpose or will to advance His kingdom. I marvel at the fact that God uses our past to prepare us for our future. Do you think it was helpful that Moses got to be raised as the Prince of Egypt and to get the best education available? Do you think it was coincidental that Moses accepted with humility being a shepherd over a few sheep in a Gentile land? Nothing that happens in our lives goes to waste. He calls us at His appointed time with the appointed task He’s giving us. Our sense of readiness is not what He looks at! If God waited on us to feel “ready,” none of us would get His invitation to accomplish something extraordinary with His presence and His empowerment. His plan was already made in advance as we talked about last week, so the question becomes, “Are you willing to accept what He has for you?”

 

Please click “YES!”

EXODUS 1, 2:1-10

LOOK:

We serve a sovereign God who has chosen to reveal His love story to us. And for every person He has created, we are a part of this story. Today we see the fulfillment of God’s word to Abram 400 years prior to the Israelites enslavement in Egypt. We see midwives who embrace their place in God’s story. We see God’s chosen leader, Moses, born and entrusted into Pharoah’s palace. God divinely acted in each of these situations. He’s doing the same for us. If your chapter is hard, He’s divinely seeing you through it. If it is a happy chapter, don’t forget that God is divinely seeing you through it.

Reflection Qs: Are you willing to embrace your place as we go through different chapters in our lives? Will you trust His benevolence through each chapter? (Rom 8:28) Look again to God’s Word to you: “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)

ACTS 28

LOOK: I am asking you to ponder this: Paul was an itinerant missionary who only had the Lord to count on for his provisions. He didn’t always know what to expect from location to location. Some populaces embraced him and the gospel message, while others were hostile to him and tried to kill him. He endured beatings, prison, three shipwrecks, YET he was never short on provisions. All of his physical needs were met, his relationship needs were met, and his spiritual needs were met. The Lord was always with Paul through dreams, visions, visits from angels, and the Holy Spirit who resided in him.

Contrast his life as an itinerant missionary to ours. We are born-again believers who live in a country where we have freedom to worship wherever we want. Of all the believers around the world, I bet we have the most flexibility to share the good news with those around us. Yet, many of us haven’t even shared the good news with anyone. In a culture of abundance, we live a very isolated existence. We’re functioning through social media and computers while our neighbor across the street, who we don’t know by name, is spiritually perishing.

The Great Commission is a command to all of us: “GO and make disciples…” As a reminder, “go” can be interpreted “as we are going.” We need to have a mindset of being an itinerant missionary just like Paul and trust God to provide whatever we need to share the gospel.

What I just shared is what I perceive as our failure point, but it is a personal pain point for me. I am very comfortable with articulating the gospel message, but my failure is not taking the time to cultivate relationships with those outside of the Christian circle. If I am going to win people for Christ, I need to invite people more often for lunch or coffee. I have to be intentional to be faithful to the Great Commission. I am confident that God will provide the words and whatever else I need to share the gospel. Will I trust Him?

Q: Give me your reactions. What are your thoughts?

Q: How are we to live in light of this text?

ACTS 27

LOOK: Some of you may be going through a storm in life that doesn’t seem to have an end, and you’re feeling hopeless and powerless. But today the Lord has brought us an important message that we need to live by daily: “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”

Our lives will be forever changed when we choose to live FEARLESS because God is always with us and taking care of us. If every believer lived fearlessly, we would not only feel different, but we would live more empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The rationale for the above proposition is found in the content of Acts 27:
1. God cares for us by remaining sovereign in our lives. He is always in control.
2. God cares for us by placing a hedge of protection around us in the toughest storms of life.
3. God cares for us by not allowing anyone or any circumstance thwart His purpose for us.
4. God cares for us by providing for our physical needs. He is always our faithful Provider.
5. God cares for us by speaking to us in our darkest hours with words of encouragement.
6. God cares for us by giving us the endurance to get through our darkest hours.

There’s a saying in Christian circles, but I don’t know who gets credit for it: When we ask the Lord to help us in the storms of life, He will either calm the storm, or He will calm us in the midst of the storm. When our trust is in God, we will have the “peace that surpasses all human understanding that will guard our heart and mind in Christ Jesus.”

Q: What are behaviors we can exercise to move toward internalizing “Do Not Be Afraid” as the default setting of our heart and mind? [Pray DAILY; Find devotionals that focus this topic.]

Q: If you catch yourself feeling fear or anxiety, what can you do differently to live in light of this text? [Invite the Holy Spirit to help you overcome fear as soon as you become aware of it.]

ACTS 26

LOOK:

Lead the class through the rationale of why the resurrection message is vitally important:

  1. The resurrection of Jesus is the crux of the Christian message. [Philosophical Reasoning]
    1. Without the resurrection, we have no story to tell!
      1. The consequences of denying the resurrection. (X-ref I Cor 15:12-19)
      2. The Christian hope. (X-ref I Cor 15:20-34)
    2. Jesus, who was God in the flesh, conquered death. You and I don’t have the hope of eternal life unless Jesus was raised from the dead.
  2. The Physical Reality of Jesus’s resurrection validated by Himself and other witnesses.
    1. There were over 500 witnesses
    2. As Paul said, “it didn’t happen in a corner!” (Acts 26:26)
    3. Jesus revealed Himself – See Luke 24:19-35
  3. The resurrection was NOT a surprise!! [Prophetic Fulfillment]
    1. Jesus admonishes Cleopas and a friend – Luke 19:25-27
    2. Paul said in Acts 26:22-23 “the prophets and Moses said this would happen.”
    3. Jesus in Luke 24:46 said, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations…”

Q: Are you willing to be more intentional about integrating the resurrection of Jesus more consistently when you share the good news with others? Do you understand that Jesus’s resurrection is the most powerful reason behind why we have the hope of eternal life?