Sometimes a question comes across my desk and my immediate reaction is, “We need a three-month seminary course to answer this question.” Today’s question by a dear friend falls into such a category. “Why is there evil in the world?” Realize the answer on this […]
“Promises to Obey – assembling a ‘to do’ list,” from the lesson series, Return from Babylon | scattered & gathered, June 2020
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Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.
28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, 29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord (ESV);
New American Standard Bible: Nehemiah 9:38 NASB, Nehemiah 10:28-29 NASB, Nehemiah 10:35 NASB
New International Version: Nehemiah 9:38 NIV, Nehemiah 10:28-29 NIV, Nehemiah 10:35 NIV
The Message: Nehemiah 9:38 MESSAGE, Nehemiah 10:28-29 MESSAGE, Nehemiah 10:35 MESSAGE
New Living Translation: Nehemiah 9:38 NLT, Nehemiah 10:28-29 NLT, Nehemiah 10:35 NLT
Do you keep or break promises? If you break them, you are certainly not alone. We have all broken promises before – to our family, our friends and to God. Broken promises have a disastrous effect on our relationships with others and within ourselves.
Enjoy a one page summary of the lesson. You can print copies for use with your group.
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[su_pullquote align=”right”]Points to Ponder
1) How do you feel when someone breaks a promise to you? What does it do to the relationship that you have with the person?
2) Sometimes promises are broken for legitimate reasons. When this happens, how do you explain that you will do your best to not let it happen again? How can you best ask for forgiveness?
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So why do we continue to break promises? First, most people begin with good intentions. We want to please the people that we know and love. We want to do a good job at work or school. While there are some people who intentionally mislead others, most just aren’t able to follow through.
Second, we make our promises based on what our “best self” would do in the circumstance. But our “best self” is rarely at work in keeping the promise. Begin today to work toward keeping your word. If remembering is a problem, find some high tech ways to be reminded of the actions that are needed. Explore the reasons behind why you have difficulties keeping your word.
[su_pullquote]Verse to Memorize
For all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV). [/su_pullquote]
For Nehemiah, the people of faith signed a covenant to live their lives with God. First they agreed to walk with God. Henry Ford once said, “Those who walk with God always reach their destination.”
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Words to Wrangle
The people of God are called out to be a people who are different than the world. We are a part of the covenant between God and man. The idea of the covenant was a written affirmation of the verbal agreement. The signatures of both parties made the agreement legally binding. Have you entered into such a covenant with God? Have you thought about writing down what you agree to keep as a part of your covenant? [/su_pullquote]
Next they promised to observe all the commandments of the Lord. Don’t you love how Nehemiah writes the phrase “the commandments of the Lord, our Lord?” We see things all the time, but there are times when we pay attention and times that we don’t. There are times we see God as almost impersonal – away from us, perhaps watching, reigning from afar. But there are times when we understand it is personal – this is our God, He is concerned with my welfare. He wants me to succeed.
Finally, the people pledged to obey. It takes more than observation of God’s ways, it takes actually doing what He asks. The word implies being compelled by a legal or moral duty, but it is actually a term used in biology.We need to obey because it is our very nature.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Conclusions to Consider
1) A primary truth in this lesson is we keep our promises because of the certainty of God’s promises. Make a list of promises that God has made and how you recognize they were kept and fulfilled? Can you share one example of how God has kept a promise to you?
2) We can trust God, no matter the circumstance, because God always keeps His promises. Would you agree or disagree? Why? Do we really believe that statement?
3) We are participants in the new covenant with God. In what ways have you put your signature on the dotted line of the contract? [/su_pullquote]
It describes something that is restricted to a particular function because of its purpose and design. The lungs are made to breathe air, not water. We are obligated to be faithful and obedient to God by design.
The declaration is made by the entire company of people, filling in the blanks that are implied in Nehemiah 9:38. Everyone, from the oldest down to the youngest who could understand, was standing before God and sharing in this oath. They reinforced the oath with a curse, in essence calling down disaster if they should go back on their word.
| Return from Babylon: | Lesson Four |
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At least weekly, a Christian publication, blog post, sermon or podcast, or website strives for relevance by relating circumstances of the day with biblical events and teaching. “Is the coronavirus a result of God’s wrath against individuals or nations?” Thought-provoking content stirs our interest and […]
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[su_box title=”KBS Course: Hitting the Ceiling”]There is ample material here to develop a lesson on prayer for your group or personal study. If you wish to take your study even further, Hitting the Ceiling can be a five lesson study. Click on any of the rotating pictures to access the course. The courses can be purchased for individual study or presentation within a group.[/su_box]
Sometimes controversies leave you feeling as if you haven’t got a prayer. The high school in Liberty, South Carolina isn’t really that big. There are 636 students in grades 9 – 12. That ranks it about 8514th in size among all high schools, 142nd in the state.. About 130 students were planning on graduating that spring day in 2013. Roy Costner IV was one of those seniors.
[su_pullquote align=”left”]Our Scripture:
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16 ESV).[/su_pullquote]
According to NBC affiliate WYFF, Costner was the class valedictorian and had approached the podium with his pre-approved speech tucked in his hands. His next action stunned the gathered school officials, guests and family members. Costner held up the papers containing his speech and ripped them in two before the crowd. He thanked his parents for their upbringing and then began reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Christian News reports that as Costner prayed, many of those gathered broke out into applause. “You couldn’t even hear him during the prayer anymore because everyone was clapping and cheering,” said Logan Gibson, who attended the ceremony.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Points to Ponder
As we begin to think about today’s lesson, consider
1) Has there ever been a time in your life where a prayer became controversial? What were the circumstances?
2) What are your feelings about the government restricting public prayers? Are there reasons that the prayers should be restricted? Under what circumstances should public prayers be permitted? What good do restrictions do? Any?[/su_pullquote]
It has been over fifty years since school-sponsored prayer in schools was ruled unconstitutional. More than 20 years ago the Supreme Court decided that public schools cannot sponsor prayer at graduation ceremonies. According to a Pew Research poll, 65% of Americans think attempts to keep religion out of schools and government have gone too far
Who would have imagined that prayer would be controversial?
Prayer is a characteristic that is shared among world religions and philosophies. But what is prayer? Why is it important? Why do preachers, teachers, authors and religious leaders emphasize its importance? Do you pray? How often? Why do you pray? What do you think will happen?
Let’s spend some time in this study series talking about prayer. Five lessons will affirm for us some very important biblical truths. Here are a couple of important things for us to consider about prayer so that we are on the same page as we begin the studies.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Words to Wrangle
Discuss these three concepts:
1) What do we expect when we go to God with a prayer?
2) How would you define “prayer?”
3) Look at a couple of the Scriptures on the far left menu. What do these Scriptures reveal to you?[/su_pullquote]
In other words, what difference do we expect prayer to make? To whom does it make a difference – to those who know the right words to use? But also, what difference do I expect to play in the answer process? What do we expect to happen and to whom?
On the one hand we take this for granted. We think, “Sure God hears my prayers.” But on the other hand, we may rationalize that God could not possibly hear the prayers of “someone like me.” Therefore we aren’t surprised when we don’t receive the answer we seek.
It is our nature to want the people who listen to us to agree with us. Even when we praise Him, we expect Him to sit back, grin and nod, “Yes you are right. I am all that and I don’t believe that anyone has said it so clearly in years. Good job!”
We have thought about the situation and we are sure that we know best. “God I know you are busy. Here is what I thought would work best.”
We don’t like pauses or silence in our conversations. If God doesn’t answer quickly, we are afraid that He is ignoring us. The image in our mind may well be that of a child trying to talk to his father while the father is reading the paper or working in the garage. We know he is sort of listening, but we know his mind is on something else. In some ways we may view picture our prayers as an interruption to God.
We feel this way because we draw our understanding of prayer on our understanding of how we communicate with other humans. If I speak a line in a physical conversation which expects an answer, and I don’t receive one, I feel ignored, disrespected or perhaps disgraced.
How would you define prayer? If you are like most, you will quickly answer, “Prayer is conversation with God.” It sounds good, but did you know that the Bible never defines prayer?
We quickly understand the reality. Prayer defies every lesson of conversation and communication that we know. Prayer does not have a dialogue structure. We do not hear God’s physical voice during prayer. If there is no voice, there is no tone, pitch, pace or volume. There are no gestures. There is no eye contact.
No body language is expressed. As we define the communication process, there is no process.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]Conclusions to Consider
1) What new concepts about prayer have you learned today? How will they change your prayer life?
2) Share among yourselves prayer requests within the group. Take a few moments to go before the Lord in prayer.[/su_pullquote]
Let’s try to agree on a definition that is biblical in nature. Prayer is obedient agreement with God. It is our way of agreeing with God’s plan for our lives and our obedient way of acknowledging God’s role or position in our lives.
In defining prayer in such a way, it at once speaks to several theological truths. Be acknowledging that it is “obedient” we proclaim that it is only through God’s invitation that we dare to speak to the Creator and Lord of the universe. In His presence, our inclination would be like John, to fall on our face in silence (Revelation 1:7). With Isaiah we would pronounce, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell with a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Instead we approach God’s throne of grace because He bids us to do so.
By using the word “agreement” we narrow the type and focus of the communication that will take place. Agreement is at the heart of the kindred words of “confession,” “praise,” and “petition.” We whole-heartedly agree with what God has said about human existence in general and our personal circumstance in specific.
As this week draws to a close, let’s spend a little bit of time thinking about the quality or characteristic of life that we want to count this week. Up until now our focus has been on why we are counting – and what we […]