Here is a devotion to help you get ready for our final session of Made to Make a Difference. It's Called "Do Good Quietly." While you're at the site, check out the weekly update which has an important announcement about a project we are doing this Sunday.
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Hello All, Here is a message from Reilly Jones and the youth at Sunday School this past Sunday (April 17th): God has put on our hearts that we need to expand our youth/young adults ministry at FBC. Please be praying this week about how we can successfully run an end of the school year/summer kick-off party that includes those who may not normally go to church. Be thinking about dates for the event as well as effective activities/games, and publicizing the event. Text Reilly @ 812.350.9170 for more details if you've been gone and please try to be here next Sunday (April 24th) to continue sorting out details. It sounds like God is tugging on our hearts to help us discover how we are "Made to Make a Difference." Here is the link to last Sunday's video. Remember to use my email ([email protected]) and the password "media123" if you've never accessed rightnowmedia.org. Here's some follow up devotionals from last weeks "Blast the Walls" lesson. Devo #1 Let's take a closer look at the nation of Samaria, and specifically the walls that went up between the Jews and Samaritans. Why did they hate each other so much? The history goes back nearly to the time of King Solomon. That wise king oversaw a golden age in Israel’s history, but after his death, the nation split. The southern part, which became known as Judah, maintained its capital at Jerusalem and continued to worship at the Temple there. Spiritually, they had their ups and downs, but there were a fair number of ups. The northern part became known as Israel, but sometimes also known as Samaria, after its capital city. Spiritually, there were very few good times and many bad times. Because they were cut off from the Temple in Jerusalem, they had to improvise, setting up different sites for worship. But they also experimented with worshiping other gods like Baal, a deity of rain and sex. In the year 722 BC, the mighty nation of Assyria sent its armies through the region, conquering the northern kingdom of Israel/Samaria. The southern kingdom, Judah, was miraculously spared. When the Assyrians conquered a nation, they tried to completely erase them. They did that by carrying off the inhabitants and dispersing them to other countries and then bringing people from other countries to inhabit the conquered land. So if there were any Israelites left in Samaria, the bloodline quickly vanished as they mingled with the new settlers who came from all over. They were a very mixed race. Religiously, they maintained some of the old traditions. They revered Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had once lived in these lands, but they often strayed from Moses’ leadership. They had a basic faith in the God of Jacob, but they didn’t study the Jewish law. So their religion was also shaped by other local traditions, like Baal-worship. Over the years the whole region, north and south, was conquered by several invaders—Babylon, Alexander the Great, the Romans—and there were regular skirmishes between Judah (now known as Judea) and Samaria. This added to the resentment between the two nations. Read Nehemiah 4:1-2. Nehemiah was a Jewish governor trying to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Sanballat was the Samaritan governor. How did Sanballat feel about Nehemiah’s project? How do you think this would make the Jews feel about the Samaritans? By the time of Jesus, there had been five more centuries of this kind of bickering. Jews scornfully viewed Samaritans as half-breeds who practiced a phony religion, with just enough Jewish background to be dangerous. Devo #2 Read Luke 9:52-56 Jesus is traveling through Samaria. Here’s one geographical detail. Many Jews had settled around the Sea of Galilee in the far northern part of Israel. In fact, Jesus’ home town of Nazareth was there, and he did most of his ministry in that region. So now Samaria was in between two Jewish areas, which caused some trouble whenever Jews had to travel from one to the other. Some Jews would take the long way around, crossing the Jordan River. Jesus just went through. Why do you think the Samaritan village didn’t welcome him? What did James and John want to do? How did Jesus feel about that? Devo#3 Isn't it interesting that after the incident we read in Luke 9:52-56, Jesus soon after tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Turn to Luke 10:25-37 You probably know this story, but I challenge you to read it as if it were the first time. So in this story, one man is lying on the side of the road bleeding. Another man helps him. One of them is Jewish, the other Samaritan. Who’s who? Jesus was telling this story to a group of pretty strict Jews. How would they feel about the fact that the hero of the story was a Samaritan? This is one of the coolest things about this parable. We think Jesus is saying we should reach out to help the poor victims of racial prejudice. But he’s actually showing them reaching out to help us. The Jewish religious leaders walked right past their own countryman, for fear of being tainted by his blood (and remember that Jesus was talking to a group of religious leaders). It was the Samaritan who had nothing to lose. No one in those parts considered him “holy” anyway, so he could bind up the wounds of a sufferer. Jesus told this story in answer to a question. What was the question? Based on this parable, and whatever prejudices exist in our world, how would you answer that question? Who is your neighbor? Here are some follow up devotionals to the Sunday School Lesson "Poverty is a Priority." I've broken them up into 3 days if you want to do them a section at a time or feel free to do them all together or whatever pace works for you.
If you haven't seen the video click here to watch the video. Use pastor Dave's email address ([email protected]) and the password "media123" to sign in. Day 1 Turn to Luke 4:16-22 Here we find a dramatic moment. Jesus is in his home town, and he’s been asked to do the Scripture reading. At what point in Jesus’ ministry did this occur? In what way did this Scripture “come true” that day, before their eyes? In a way, Jesus was launching his ministry, and this was his mission statement. He was “proclaiming freedom.” The fact that he was here on earth was an indication that the time of God’s favor had come. How did people react at first? How did they react later (vs. 23-30) Why do you think they reacted like that? Day 2 So let’s look deeper at the Scripture that Jesus read in the synagogue Turn to Isaiah 61: 1-4 What’s the tone of this message? How does it make you feel? Who is the “me” in these verses? Who’s saying this? Prophetic writings are weird like that. You don’t always know who’s talking. And it could mean one thing to Isaiah and another thing to Jesus. So this could be the prophet, talking about his own ministry. But the preceding chapters of Isaiah talk about a “Suffering Servant” who would give his life for his wandering people (see Isaiah 53). Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. It’s possible that Isaiah was still talking about the Messiah-figure who would come and help the people of earth. By the way, the Hebrew word Messiah means “anointed one.” Specifically what changes are being discussed here? What effect will this person have? What do you think is "the year of the Lord's favor?" For that answer we need to dig deeper. Day 3 Turn to Leviticus 25: 8-13, the third book of the Bible. We find an ancient tradition spelled out in the Jewish law. What is this about? What was supposed to happen? What effect would that have, for land to revert to its original owners? Remember that this was the Promised Land, which God carefully divided among the tribes of Israel. It was God’s land, and he knew people might buy more land if they got rich or sell if they needed money, but God wanted to ensure that the next generation would get a clean slate. Every fifty years, land went back to the original family that owned it. That way, people wouldn’t get locked into wealth or poverty. Read verses 35-38. How were the Israelites supposed to treat the poor? There are a couple of interesting details in this passage. First is the comparison to the “alien or temporary resident” (v. 35). Elsewhere, God gives instructions for treating foreigners with kindness (see Leviticus 19:33-34). A second detail is that this passage is not about giving handouts, but giving a second chance. Food could be sold, but without profit. Loans would be paid back, but without interest. Elsewhere the need to give alms to the poor is upheld, but here the emphasis is on avoiding (or climbing out of) the poverty trap. Read verses 39-43 How do you feel about this instruction? You might be shocked that it talks so freely about slavery. But see what it says. If a farmer has some bad years and can’t afford to buy seed or equipment, he might agree to work as a servant in someone else’s household. This was common in the ancient world. But what would happen to these “economic slaves” when the Year of Jubilee came around? So if you were a slave in ancient Israel, how would you feel in the Year of Jubilee? The Year of Jubilee was designed as a resetting of society. God knew that the rich would get richer and the poor poorer, sometimes through sinful practices (on either side). He also knew that this inequality would last from generation to generation, unless something was done. This special year would correct that, and give everyone a chance to start over. We have no evidence that it was ever followed. We don’t know that it wasn’t, but you’d expect that such a major economic adjustment would be reported somewhere else in Scripture. It’s not. So let’s bring this back again to Isaiah and Jesus. Isaiah says that this “anointed one” will “preach good news to the poor,” “proclaim freedom for the captives,” and “proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor” (Isa. 61:1-2). How does your understanding of the Year of Jubilee fit into that? Jesus reads that Isaiah passage and claims it as a kind of mission statement. Do you see any similarities between Jesus’ ministry and the Year of Jubilee? If this was Jesus’ mission—preaching good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted, and proclaiming Jubilee freedom—should it be our mission too? How so? Hello All,
I hope you've had a chance to study some of the scriptures from the previous devotion, but now we are looking ahead to Session 2 of Made to Make a Difference entitled Poverty is a Priority. I hope you'll join us for Sunday School this week. Turn to Acts 6 and read the 1st verse: Let's observe what is taking place in this verse. It reveals two positive things are happening in the early church while at the same time a conflict has arisen. What are the two good things and what is the conflict? Who is the conflict between? What was the conflict concerning? Here are some things you need to know. There was a kind of culture war going on among the Jews of the first century. It was sort of conservative vs. liberal, though that oversimplifies it. Some of them had adopted the Greek language and wore the fashions of the larger world culture. These were the “Grecian Jews.” Others viewed that as sinful, and they preferred to speak the Hebrew language, wearing the clothes and following the customs that Jews had followed for centuries. So, church leaders were being accused of discrimination—not racial prejudice, but cultural. “You don’t like the way we dress or talk, so when it’s our turn to get food, you turn away and give more to the people you like.” Now read Acts 6:2-4 Who were "The Twelve?" Who did they gather together? What were the Twelve saying they needed to focus on? What was their solution to the problem at hand? Read Acts 6: 5-6 How did the group deal with the suggestion? Final Observation: Those chosen were are all Greek-style names, which suggests the Twelve had understood the complaint of the Greek-speaking widows and therefore chose people who “spoke their language.” Hey All,
It was good to see several of you in Sunday School on April 3rd and I hope we can build momentum from here as we continue to study Made to Make a Difference. If you couldn't make it, I want to challenge you to come the following weeks and you can get caught up with the video by clicking here. If you don't have a rightnowmedia.org account, simply use my email ([email protected]) and the password media123 to login. Meanwhile over the next few days here are some Bible readings in Acts related to our Topic. Below is a list of the passages followed by a brief background of what's happened in the Book of Acts prior to what you will be reading. Read one or more of these passages daily. Then think about and/or journal on the four questions at the bottom for each passage. Passages Acts 4: Read entire chapter (Peter and John had just attracted public attention by healing a lame man.) Acts 8: 1-3, 26-40 (So far, the church had stayed put in Jerusalem, but church leader Stephen had just been stoned to death.) Acts 10: Read entire chapter (At this point, all Christians were Jewish. The church had not yet reached out to Gentiles, since they considered them “unclean” or unholy.) Acts 16: 16-40 (Paul and Silas were taking the gospel into Europe for the first time.) Questions What world-changing qualities did Jesus’ followers demonstrate here? Where did they get these qualities? What difficulties did they face? What lessons did they learn? |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.
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