Sunday, June 19th, 2011: Nehemiah 1:8-11....

Nehemiah is not telling God anything that He doesn't already know...
Verse 8 refers Leviticus 26:33 & Verse 9 refers to Deut. 30:2-5

QUESTION in the final verses of Chapter 1, what two things does Nehemiah ask of God?

ANSWER: In v 11, he ask for the Lord's ear to be attentive to Nehemiah's prayer. Secondly, to give success & grant him mercy in sight of the King.

QUESTION: How does Nehemiah view himself in relation to God?

ANSWER: verse 10, Nehemiah describes himself as God's servant

QUESTION: How do you view yourself in relation to God?

I read an interesting "big picture" survey of Nehemiah this week... this writer described Nehemiah as a type of Jesus. We will see this in Nehemiah, when he gives up his royal status-filled position as cup bearer to go & rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We discussed last week that Nehemiah means "Yahweh consoles" or "Yahweh comforts" and this is certainly what Jesus is and does for us.

In all that Nehemiah says and does in this chapter shows an attitude and actions of a man alive to God.

QUESTION: Are you alive to God? Are you one that is spiritually reborn and living by the Spirit?

We see in verse 11 that Nehemiah states, "he was the King's cup bearer"

Nehemiah in being willing to leave his position of cup bearer reveals he cared more for God's people & the restoration of God's glory than of himself.

TOUGH QUESTION: Would you be willing to leave your life, if it would restore God's glory and His people?

The church is meant to be a representation of God's glory. The question we need to ask is what has happened? Today, in many cases, the church is not much of different than the world.

Are you willing to leave the comfortable to see God restore His church? Are you willing to be a modern day Nehemiah?

All College & Career students will go in with the Young Adult class this week. We will return to Nehemiah on July 3rd.

Sunday, June 12th…Nehemiah Introduction and Chapter 1: 1-7

 

We will learn in this chapter that Nehemiah was cupbearer to the King.

QUESTION: What is the significance of the cupbearer?

ANSWER: The cupbearer was actually someone with high rank. His position was to make sure the royal table, especially the King was not poisoned. Part of his job included, tasting the wine before serving to King to make sure it was safe for the King.

As we progress through Nehemiah, knowing he was the cupbearer and its significance will be important.

The author of Nehemiah is said to be Nehemiah and is written in 1st person account.

Vv 1-4: What has happened in Jerusalem?  It shows in verse 3 that Jerusalem is in ruins and the people are in distress.

QUESTION: What is Nehemiah’s response?

ANSWER: Verse 4 shows that Nehemiah weeps and mourns. He also fasts and prays.

Our class discussed how Nehemiah included himself and his sins in the prayer of repentance.

We will continue our new journey in Nehemiah on June 19th.

We will see that Nehemiah is a prayer warrior and what leadership he has as we continue.

Sign on church this weekend said, “Christ wants Warriors not Worriers”

Sunday, June 5th, 2011…James 5:16-20

 

In verse 16, we see therefore and we must remember to ask “What is it there for?” We see this is there because we just read in verse 15, “And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” James is thorough and he is once again taking us a little deeper into maturity.

This confessing to one another is, in my opinion, not saying we confess all to everyone all the time. We should have a few in our lives that we confess all too.

Norma Becker states, “If people are praying for one another…they will keep short accounts with God and will not deteriorate into a situation that needs a restoring process.”

QUESTION: What are your thoughts on Norma’s statement?

QUESTION: Why are the prayers of a righteous person powerful?

ANSWER: The person finds there dependency on God not themselves!!

Because their complete dependency is on God their prayers will be seeking God’s intentions instead of their own. This person doesn’t pray for their will to be done but God’s.

James’ illustration of Elijah is an example of a righteous man’s fervent prayer. However, Elijah was not righteous in himself, any righteousness he exhibited was confidence in the God he prayed to.

Elijah’s prayers were not an ability to pressure God to do something. Instead his prayers were an example of Elijah being given the privilege to participate in God’s work.

Vv 19 & 20: Continuing in sin can be a serious issue…This why James discusses the restoration of a brother or sister who wanders from the truth.

Remember that we can not sin so badly that God will not forgive us, YET w need to turn away from our sin, repent and turn back to God to receive God’s forgiveness.

James covered a lot on spiritual maturity in these 5 chapters. When in difficulty it is so easy to forget the character of God.  However, as we close the book of James; may we remember what our lesson writer, Norma Becker said,

“James encouraged his readers, including us to stand with confidence, serve with compassion, speak with care, submit with contriteness (sorrow for sin) and share with concern.”

Spiritual maturity involves every aspect of LIFE.

We start Nehemiah next on June 12th.

Sunday, May 29th: James 5:13-15…

 

We jump back into James wrapping up his letter by reminding his readers and us to participate in God’s Work. The key to growth in love and trust is made possible through PRAYER.

Whatever our circumstances, James response is to PRAY!

Verse 13: James says, “Is anyone suffering?” Let him pray.

James doesn’t quality the kind or severity of suffering for that doesn’t matter. It also, doesn’t matter if it a little suffering or a lot of suffering…if suffering is involved then God is intimately concerned about us.

At times when suffering, we can be tempted to think God is absent or doesn’t care. This is COMPLETELY UNTRUE!! We need to run to God in prayer. James doesn’t outline any particular principles to live by for the suffering to be alleviated. He simply tells them to pray & communicate with our living God. Please notice James says pray & communicate…it is possible to pray without truly communicating and to communicate without true prayer.

James then ask in verse 13, “Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise!”

QUESTION: Why does James tackle being cheerful & happy?

ANSWER: When things are going good, we have a tendency to forget to give praise for the good God does. We need to remember to have an attitude of gratitude.

Vv 14-15: James know tackles if anyone is sick.

First, James shows in verse 15 that not all illness is caused from sin. James wants us to know that God is concerned with ALL those who are sick. It doesn’t matter if it is physical, spiritual, or caused by sin or not? What matters is that one of HIS CHILDREN is sick.

What is interesting in these two verses is James starts like in verse 13 & 14 by telling them to PRAY! However, when James reaches this portion he bring in others to pray over the sick also, Why?

QUESTION: Why do you think James specifies to call the elders of the church to pray over the sick?

ANSWER FROM OUR LESSON WRITER: The lesson writer gave the following view:

“It may be possible that the sick not only feel alienated from God but also from the church. Some people may believe their illness in some way indicates spiritual failure and that the church will withdraw from them”

MY RESPONSE: “Whoa to any church that would behave in that matter (i.e. saying illness indicates spiritual failure and withdrawing)”

Unfortunately, I am sure there are some churches that do behave in the above manner and we must pray for them.

QUESTION: Why does James call the elder’s prayer, “a prayer of faith”?

ANSWER: Once again, let’s look at our lesson writer’s answer for this question:

“The prayer of faith is one that hands ALL over to the Savior God, confident in His (God’s) character and purposes rather than counting on the strength of one’s own believing”

GOD SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH!!! Yet, we must realize this comes with maturity. Remember the book of James is teaching how to be spiritually mature.

One last thing the “prayer of faith” doesn’t mean ‘instant’ healing…even though God can do that if He so chooses. This prayer knows where one’s ultimate healing resides and it will be given but not on our terms but God’s!!!

We will finish James this coming week. See you then…