Life Group Application on Faith/unbelief (Numbers 14:39-44)

Today’s Bible study explores the difference between belief as embracing God’s promise (God’s best) for your life vs. unbelief as rejecting God’s promise for your life while trying to create your own vision of life.

The context of the passage for Numbers 14:39-44 within chapter 13 and 14…

• God commanded Moses to send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which he was giving to the Israelites (13:1-2).
• 12 leaders from 12 tribes were chosen to explore the land (13:3-16).
• The object of the exploration was to learn about the condition of the land, the type of people living in the land, the type of protection for their towns, the productivity of soil, and to bring the fruit of the land (13:17-20).
• he account of their exploration (13:21-25).

Pick five people to read these sections 13:26-33 (two reports), 14:1-9 (Reactions to two reports); 14:10-19 (God’s first response & Moses’ intercessory prayer); 14:20-38 (God’s response to Moses’ prayer); 14:39-44 (People’s insincere confession and presumption)

In the table below, compare the responses from the majority, the minority and God

	… of the majority (10 spies and the people)	… of the minority (Joshua, Caleb, Moses and Aaron)	Differences between the two groups in …	Differences in God’s responses to …
Report				reports
Reaction				reactions
Faith or unbelief in God’s promise				Faith / unbelief to his promise

God’s loving promise to give the land flowing with milk and honey was God’s best for the Israelites. Yet, we see the majority rejecting to get hold of God’s promise unlike Caleb and Joshua.

• What inspires you about Caleb and Joshua in how they insisted on going after God’s promise? What inspires you about Moses’ prayer?
• Where do you see the gospel in this story?
• What do you need to change in order to respond in faith to God’s promise, God’s best for you?

Yahweh Mekeddeshem (Exodus 31:13) life application, 7/24/2009

Read Exodus 31:12-18

Some are too young to even know that there was a time when “Google” wasn’t even a part of everyday vocabulary. Google hosts a fact sheet on itself. As for the meaning of “Google,” it plays on the term “Googol,” which is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros (10¹⁰⁰ = 10000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,
0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000,0000000000).[i] And, it says that the company’s mission is to organize the immense amount of information available on the web. Information overload is the reality today and Google is capitalizing on us trying to make sense out of the complex web of highly hyperlinked world.

In the ancient world of Israel, it wasn’t Google that helped them make sense, but God alone.

Consider Yahweh Mekeddeshem (Exodus 31:13), which means, “I am the LORD who makes you holy, to set you apart holy, to sanctify you.” Today, this will be like God saying to us, “The way you are going to make sense is not by immersing yourself in the world of information and entertainment overload. The way you are going to make sense is by drawing near to me into my kingdom where I am your Creator, your Deliverer, your Provider.

• How do you think taking the Sabbath, which meant stop working and resting on the seventh day, allowed the Israelites to make sense?

Read Exodus 23:10-12 about the Sabbath year.

• Who benefited when the Israelites faithfully observed the Sabbath rest of the land on the seventh year?
• Taking the Sabbath year of rest required trusting in God to provide and learning to express God’s generosity. How does the act of trusting and being generous help you make sense?

Read Matthew 11:28-30.

• Take time to discuss what’s confusing, unnerving, or disappointing in your life and how you are trying to make sense of it all.
• The Sabbath rest faithfully obeyed allowed the Israelites to live out the set apart life unto God. Share what you are doing to take regular, on going, proper rest in Jesus?
• The image of shedding your heavy weariness and burdens while picking up the easy and light yoke and the burden of Jesus Christ is what is like to shed selfishness to gain the ministry of Jesus as the light and the salt in the world. How are you moving from selfishness to grace-giving generosity?

---

[i] http://www.google.com/press/facts.html

Life Group Application: Yahweh Nissi - The LORD is my Banner!

Read Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy 25:17-19, 1 Peter 5:6-9

• The Old Testament’s account of the Amalekites illustrates the spiritual reality of the battle that we Christians face and must prepare for. What is the enemy’s strategy to capture its prey? Who does the enemy go after?

• “When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind.” (Deut 25:18) The Israelites’ weariness, being worn out, lagging behind speaks to the spiritual condition that made them vulnerable to attack by the enemy. And, the context of their weariness and being worn out was that they complained and grumbled against God and doubted God who delivered and provided for them numerous times. How does the attitude of complaining, grumbling, doubting make you lag behind? Share the nature of the spiritual battles you face?

• When the Israelites rallied around the concerted effort to raise up the banner (Moses’ raised up hand and the staff), they were winning. What would it look like for you to declare God’s name, Yahweh Nissi, “The LORD is my Banner,” and come rally around the LORD? And, how would it affect your spiritual outcome?

CMC Life Group: Yahweh Yireh, the LORD will provide!

Read Genesis 22:1-19

Genesis 22	Read the verses below and write down your own observation on how they relate to the Genesis account.
Genesis 22:6… the wood… placed… on his son Isaac…	John 19:17
Genesis 22:9…Isaac’s silent trust in Abraham and ultimately in Yahweh	Isaiah 53:7 Isaiah 53:10 1 Peter 1:19-20
Genesis 22:10… Abraham didn’t hold back his son Isaac from God.	Hebrews 11:17-19 Romans 8:31-32

• Yahweh Yireh tests you… Why did God test Abraham?
• Worship your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… Abraham to his servants in Genesis 22:5, “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” In Genesis 22:10, you see Abraham drawing the knife to slay his son, not withholding Isaac from God. How does Abraham’s response to God’s command reflect the heart of worship?
• Trust your Provider, Yahweh Yireh… How did Abraham trust Yahweh Yireh? How did Isaac trust Yahweh?

Share & Apply…

• Share how Yahweh Yireh has tested you or is testing you to reveal your heart and what you are made of?
• Worship is matter of priority. How are you worshiping Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
• Reflecting Hebrews 11:1, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see,” what does it mean for you to trust Yahweh Yireh, your Provider?
• Pray for each other that worship and faith in Yahweh Yireh is restored and revived.

Life Application on Adonai Yahweh, the Sovereign LORD

Read Ezekiel 37:1-14.

As it is with the personal name of God, Yahweh, you won’t come across Adonai in English Bible translations. Adonai is translated in English Bible as “the Lord,” and Yahweh is translated as “the LORD.” The difference is Adonai with capital “L” with lowercases “ord” while Yahweh is translated with all capitalized “LORD.” However, when Adonai and Yahweh occur together (some 213 times in Ezekiel), instead of translating it as “the Lord the LORD,” English translations seek to differentiate for clarity. So, you will find in NIV, Adonai Yahweh is translated as “The Sovereign LORD.”

This helps us know that Adonai translated as “the Lord” and “Sovereign” speaks to the reality of God as One who has authority to reign over his creation, his people, namely us.

Brueggemann in his book Hopeful Imagination said,

The key to Ezekiel’s proclamation of God is this: God will not be mocked.  God will not be presumed upon, trivialized, taken for granted, or drawn too close.  God takes being God with utmost seriousness… God refuses to stay where God is not honored.[i]

• Can you think of ways that you may have presumed upon, trivialized, taken for granted, mocked Adonai, dishonored the Lord?
• Read Ezekiel 33:31-32… there is direct correlation between knowing God as Adonai, the Lord and how we hear and respond to his word. You can hear Adonai when you read his word or hear sermons. When you hear because you’ve read Adonai’s word or have heard sermons, then you have opportunities to put God’s word into practice. Share how you are doing with this.
• Read Ezekiel 37:4-5… What is the crucial step to receiving breath that gives life for dry bones in this passage? What are you doing about it to ensure that you hear God’s word?

Commit to hear from Adonai and put his word into practice…

Ezekiel ends with the vision of the new city in the future and the name of the city will be known as “THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezekiel 48:35).

Imagine when people observe your life, they realize with you “THE LORD IS THERE.” Imagine people seeing the reality of Adonai, the Lord, in how you think, how you speak, how you react in good times and bad times, how you made decisions, how you relate, how you do your life. This will happen when you commit to hear from Adonai and put his word into practice.

Make a concrete plan on how you intend to get to know Adonai by reading his word and putting it into practice.

---

[i] Walter Brueggemann, Hopeful imagination: prophetic voices in exile, Fortress Press, 1986, p. 53-54.

Life application on El Roi, God who sees

One of the things that set apart David from Saul was that David inquired of the LORD [Yahweh] because he wanted to follow God’s will for him (c.f. 1 Samuel 23:4, 30:8, 2 Samuel 2:1, 5:19, 5:23). In this way David was a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14) who waited for God to make things clear for him before he acted because he valued God’s opinion over his own or anyone else’s opinion.

We get into spiritual problems when we take shortcuts thinking that El Roi, God who sees us, is too slow to act and we or other people are smarter to know what to do with our own lives now than El Roi, God who sees. Has Instant gratification, demand for results and productivity, and pride blinded us to the virtue of waiting on El Roi, God who sees?

Taking shortcuts in spiritual journey is antithesis to the journey Jesus wants us to be on, through the small gate and on the narrow road that leads to life, that only a few find it (Matthew 7:14). The consequence of taking shortcuts in spiritual journey is that we become fools who cannot see El Roi God who sees us, who notices us and cares for us.

Read Genesis 16 and …

Consider the two stories, one of Abram and Sarai, the other of Hagar.

• Describe Abram and Sarai’s sins in this passage.
• How did their sins prevent them from seeing God, El Roi, God who sees?

In contrast, Hagar was able to see El Roi, God who sees at work in her life.

• What sets Hagar apart from the attitude of Abram and Sarai?
• What insight do you have about God in the way he interacted with Hagar?

Personalize

• What does it look like for you to take shortcuts impatiently instead of waiting on El-Roi, God who sees?
• Share your experience of meeting El Roi as Hagar did.
• What does it mean for you that God is El Roi, God who sees?

Pray

• Ask God to instill in you the patient obedience of Christ instead of taking shortcuts godlessly.
• Ask God to experience more of him as El Roi, God who sees, who searches you and knows you, who knows you when you sit and when you rises, who discerns your going out and your lying down, who is familiar with all your ways (Psalm 139:1-3).

Life application on El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency

El-Shaddai is translated in English Bibles as God Almighty. The name captures the attribute of God who is all sufficient in his power to carry out his will according to his nature. According to Exodus 6:3, God appeared to Abraham as God Almighty, El-Shaddai. Consider Abraham’s spiritual journey in different stages of his life and see how he came to know God as El-Shaddai, God Almighty of all-sufficiency.

Great Start: Read Genesis 12:1-9 and consider when Abraham met God at the age of 75 when he was known as Abram.

• From the promises God made with Abram at the age of 75 in verse 2-3, to make him a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to make him a source of blessing for all people, what attribute do you see in God?
• From what God told Abram and the way he responded to God, how would you describe Abram’s faith?

Testing: Read Genesis 12:10-20 and consider how Abram acted in Egypt.

• What do you think motivated Abram to pretend Sarai was his sister?
• What does this say about his faith in God?

Read Genesis 16:1-4 when Abram was about 86 years old.

• What does the action Abram and Sarai took to have a child say about their faith in God?

Purified faith: Read Genesis 17:1-10; 17:15-21. El-Shaddai gave his promises to Abraham at 75 years old. Now at the age of 99, God came and reaffirmed his promises to Abram and solidified his promises by changing Abram and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah and through circumcisions.

• Why do you think God waited 25 years to give Abraham and Sarah a child to begin fulfilling his promises?
• Abraham had feeling of doubt in 17:17 and yet we see him undergoing circumcision in obedience in 17:23-27. Can you draw a spiritual principle from this?

Life application

• Share your testimonies when you have experienced God’s all-sufficiency.
• God uses our pains, trials, waiting, fears, and doubts in our spiritual journey to perfect our weak faith in his all-sufficiency. Pray together to know him deeper as your El-Shaddai.

Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

El-Shaddai (God Almighty of all-sufficiency)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, May 31 2009

Genesis 17:1, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD [Yahweh] appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty [El-Shaddai]; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’”

All-sufficiency… Today, I want to introduce to you another new name of God from the Old Testament.  El-Shaddai captures God's attribute of all-sufficiency. Elohim the Creator God and Yahweh the relational and holy redeeming God is God Almighty, El-Shaddai who is all-sufficient God.

1. El-Shaddai: Only all-powerful God can be all-sufficient God.

Let me start off by showing you a clip from Bruce Almighty featuring Jim Carry and Steve Carell.  It is about Bruce getting back at Evan after being endued with divine power.

God who is not all-powerful cannot be all-sufficient. In God’s name El-Shaddai, we see God as all-powerful. El-Shaddai is a Hebrew compound word formed by El and Shaddai. El is even more generic word than Elohim and it means God with power and strength occurring about 228 times in the Old Testament.

Here are some examples that show El as mighty God in his power and strength. Psalm 77:14, “You are the God [El] who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.” Psalm 68:35, “You are awesome, O God [Elohim] in your sanctuary; the God [El] of Israel gives power and strength to his people.” Psalm 18:2, 30, 32, 47, “my God [El] is my rock, in whom I take refuge… As for God [El], his way is perfect… It is God [El] who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect… He is the God, [El] who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies.”

As El-Shaddai, God is powerful in his might. This attribute of power is well reflected in the translations of El-Shaddai in English Bibles as God Almighty. We might assume that El-Shaddai, God Almighty must be able to do anything and everything. But, the truth is El-Shaddai doesn’t do anything and everything that would not reflect who he is. For example, Can God lie? Titus 1:2 says, “God, who does not lie,” and Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that he should lie…” Andrew Juke says, “Almightiness is the power to carry out the will of a Divine nature… He must be able to carry out His own will and purpose to the uttermost.”[2] Another word, in whatever God does he is always true to who he is. He doesn’t act inconsistently to his attributes. El-Shaddai, God Almighty, is always powerful to carry out his purpose according to his will and his character to completion. 

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in Shadow of the Almighty about Jim Elliot who was killed by Auca Indians in Ecuador along with his four other missionary buddies. The title comes from Psalm 91 which invites readers to consider God’s protection for his people. Specifically, the book’s title comes from Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty [Shaddai].” The psalm further spells out how God protects his people against fowler’s snare, the deadly pestilence, the terror of night, the arrow, the plague… Psalm 91:10-11, “no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angles concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” Psalm 91:13, “You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

Now consider the five young missionaries who were speared to death in the hands of Auca Indians. Doesn’t it seem to betray God’s promise from Psalm 91 to protect his people from physical harms? Was God Almighty, El-Shaddai, not powerful enough to protect these five young men from being killed? John Piper notes in his sermon that Elisabeth Elliot “called her book Shadow of the Almighty from Psalm 91:1 because she was utterly convinced that the refuge of the people of God is not a refuge from suffering and death but a refuge from final and ultimate defeat.”[3]

When we take a long view of life, God’s ultimate goal is to present each of us to himself as pure and blameless overcomers who are molded into the image of Christ. El-Shaddai is powerful to carry out his purpose in spite of all our temporary setbacks, difficulties, trials even seemingly untimely death like Jim Elliot and his four friends.

Satan told Jesus in Matthew 4:6, “If you are the Son of God… throw yourself down. For it is written.” He then quoted from the same Psalm 91, specifically he quoted from Psalm 91:12, “He will command his angels concerning you… they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” (Matthew 4:6, c.f. Luke 4:10-11). To this Jesus answered, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the LORD your God to the test.’” I like what VanGemeren has to say about this. He says that he who knows and trusts in the power of God and God’s protection walks securely while acting responsibly. So, testing God by subjecting themselves to harms and troubles to see how far God would go to protect them is no sign of faith.[4] To test God like this is to view El-Shaddai, God Almighty as nothing more than an insurance against accident rather than truly all-powerful God.

2. El-Shaddai who is all powerful is all-sufficient God.

As the word El helps us understand El-Shaddai is all powerful God, Shaddai helps us understand El-Shaddai is God Almighty who is all-sufficient God.

God told Moses in Exodus 6:3, “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but by my name the LORD [Yahweh] I did not make myself known to them.” In the generations belonging to patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they knew of God as El-Shaddai. So going back to Genesis 17:1 where God’s name, El-Shaddai first appears 17:1 we see “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD [Yahweh] appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty [El-Shaddai]; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’” Later God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, from “exalted father” to “father of many nations.” So, we read in Genesis 17:5-7, “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”

El-Shaddai who promised Abraham to increase his numbers, to make him father of many nations, and to make him very fruitful is God Almighty, is all-powerful God who is all-sufficient to bless Abraham abundantly.

When you read the rest of Genesis, you can see this promise for El-Shaddai’s abundant blessing passing down through the generations after Abraham to Isaac, to Jacob, and even to Joseph.

Genesis 28:3-4, in Isaac’s blessing for Jacob, “May God Almighty [El-Shaddai] bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham…”

In Genesis 48:3-4, when Jacob was ill and wanted to bless his sons, he retold his son Joseph of what El-Shaddai, God of all sufficiency promised him, “God Almighty [El-Shaddai] appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.”

In Genesis 49:25, we see Jacob blessing Joseph, “your father’s God [El], who helps you… the Almighty [Shaddai] who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.” El, God who is mighty to help you is, Shaddai, who blesses with abundant blessings for he is all-sufficient God.

El-Shaddai, is all-sufficient God who seeks to bless you abundantly. Do you know El-Shaddai?

3. To know El-Shaddai, God of all sufficiency, you must give up your self-sufficiency.

Consider Genesis 17:1 again. Yahweh revealed himself to Abraham and told him, “I am God Almighty [El-Shaddai]; walk before me and be blameless.” To understand this verse we need to consider the context of God revealing himself as, “I am God Almighty [El-Shaddai] and commanding Abraham, “walk before me and be blameless.” Nathan Stone says, “Abraham’s faith had been marred by the fleshly and self-sufficient expedient to which he had resorted. The mighty all-sufficient One demands and deserves our complete faith-a wholehearted faith.”[5]

God first appeared to Abram in Genesis 12:1 where God told Abram to leave his country, his people, his father’s household to the land which he was going to show him. And, in Genesis 12:2, we see God making the promise to make Aram into a great nation, to bless him, to bless all peoples through him. And, we see in Genesis 12:4, “Abram left, as Yahweh had told him.” So, early on, we see Abram walking in faith.

But, as time went on, his faith was tested. When he got to Egypt, he was fearful of what might happen to his wife Sarai. So, he told her to lie to the Egyptians by saying she was his sister. Abram did this because he didn’t fully understand El-Shaddai was all-sufficient God, powerful to protect him and his wife. Abram took the matter into his own hand rather than trusting El-Shaddai, all-sufficient God. When we take matters into our own hands, we don’t make things better, we make them worse. Pharaoh thinking that Sarai was available took her into his palace to make her own. God intervened by inflicting serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household and Sarai was protected, untouched (Genesis 12:10-20).

How about the time when Sarai told Abram in Genesis 16:2, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I cam build a family through her.” And, Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So, there was Ishmael born to Abram not by Sarai, but by her Egyptian maidservant Hagar. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagan born him Ishmael (Genesis 16:16). Over ten years has passed since El-Shaddai promised Abram would become a great nation. And, El-Shaddai’s promise wasn’t fully realized yet in their lives. They kept their faith in El-Shaddai’s promise to them. But, as time went on without immediate fulfillment, their faith in all-sufficient El-Shaddai was tested. We see how much their faith had wavered when we consider Sarai who assumed that El-Shaddai kept her from having children. What’s not written explicitly we can understand implicitly that Sarai and Abram didn’t trust in El-Shaddai as truly all-sufficient God to fulfill his promise to bless them with a child.

What was El-Shaddai doing in Abram and Sarai’s life? He waited until when all seemed to have failed. This is precisely when God revealed himself to Abram as El Shaddai in order to perfect him in his weakness.[6] It is precisely when things were dark and hope was fading that God intervened to change Abram and Sarai’s names. When we are weak and have little to go on, it might be a blessing in disguise for we may experience El-Shaddai as Abraham and Sarah did.

Andrew Juke said, “Thus His Almightiness comes to us in what appears to be our helplessness. The less of self, the more of God.[7] Nathan Stone agrees, “to experience God’s sufficiency one must realize one’s own insufficiency. To experience God’s fullness one must empty self… The less empty of self we are, the less of blessing God can pour into us; the more of pride and self-sufficiency, the less fruit we can bear.”[8]

4. Conclusion

Has God renamed you as he did with Abram and Sarai, to chang them to Abraham and Sarah because now they finally understood El-Shaddai is all sufficient and all powerful to fulfill his promise to bless them?

---

[1] http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:R6h3hAJK2oYJ:www.ccel.org/ccel/smith_hw/comfort.XVII.html+all+sufficiency+God+illustration&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[2] Andrew Jukes, The Names of God. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1889, p. 63-64.

[3] http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/BySeries/1/454_My_Name_Is_God_Almighty/

[4] VanGemeren, Willem A. “IV. Forms of Protection (91:11-13)” In The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Volume 5. 601. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, © 1991.

[5] http://ldolphin.org/nathanstone/

[6] Andrew Jukes, The Names of God, London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1889, p. 62

[7] Ibid., p. 72.

[8] http://ldolphin.org/nathanstone/

Life Application on God, Elohim, the Creator (Genesis 1:1)

J. J. C. Smart, "my mind often seems to reel under the immense significance this question has for me. That anything exists at all does seem to me a matter for the deepest awe.”[i]

God, Elohim, the Creator who created out of nothing

William Lane Craig in his article makes philosophical and scientific reasons to answer why something exists rather than nothing. He reasons three alternatives to answer this question.

1. The universe either had a beginning or had no beginning.
2. If it had a beginning, this was either caused or uncaused.
3. If caused, the cause was either personal or not personal.

 

And, he concludes, “If the universe had a beginning, it is inconceivable that it could have sprung uncaused out of absolute nothingness… the cause of the universe must be personal in order to have a temporal effect produced by external cause. This confirms the biblical doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing).”[ii]

The Old Testament calls this “eternal, uncaused being for which no explanation is possible” who created out of nothing, God Elohim (<yhOa). The doctrine of creation out of nothing by God Elohim tells us that we owe our existence to him, that he has every right to account our lives as our Creator, that he deserves our worship, and that we cannot limit him nor tame him at our disposal.

• How do you try to put limits on Elohim and try to tame him at your disposal?
• How does knowing God as your Creator, Elohim affect your prayer life, your outlook and purpose in life, and your heart?

Pray

• Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Ask God Elohim, the Creator, to stretch your mind, emotion, thinking and action with the truth of who he is.

---

[i] J. J. C. Smart, "The Existence of God," Church Quarterly Review 156 (1955): 194.

[ii] http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1980/JASA3-80Craig.html

Life Application: Redemption, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Ephesians 1:7, 13-14)

To welcome, accept and appreciate the redemption in Jesus Christ, we must face the objective reality of about the human condition, our condition in captivity without the redemptive work of Jesus.

Consider the Israelites, their life in Egypt before God intervened in Exodus. When God met Moses at Horeb the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1), he revealed to Moses his reason for intervention. Read Exodus 3:7-10:

“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So, I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

The captivity of the Israelites illustrates the captivity of the humanity, our captivity apart from the Redeemer. Before the Israelites could turn to God, they had to realize that their lives were in shambles with misery, suffering and oppression needing redemption. Before you can welcome, accept and appreciate the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, there are two things you must do.

• You must believe in God’s objective assessment about your hopeless condition in bondage to sin and its terrible outcome to face God’s holy wrath and his judgment apart from Christ (Read Romans 1:29-32 & 2:5-8).
• You must believe Jesus Christ paid the ransom with his own blood, his suffering and death to break your bondage to sin and deliver you from the guilt and punishment of sin.

People who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, do not realize they are in bondage to sin and that the terrible judgment awaits them. How about you?

How are you different from the majority of people who see no need for Jesus to redeem their lives?

Another aspect of redemption is its future orientation. Redemption began at the cross but it will be completed at the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:13-14). Considering this future orientation of redemption, to fully welcome, accept and appreciate the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, another thing must take place.

• You must let today’s failures and sins drive you to Jesus, your Redeemer. You must look at your current condition honestly without deceiving yourself by explaining away sin as something benign or acceptable or simply ignoring it as though it doesn’t exist; Be brutally honest about your sinful heart, conflicts, failures! But, don’t stay there with self-pity. You must let your failures and sins drive you to Jesus, the only one who can forgive you and perfect you. The complete redemption awaits you tomorrow in Jesus and you need to live today with the living hope and trust in God’s future plan to perfect you in his Son. Let today’s failures and sins drive you to Jesus, your Redeemer.  Redemption means we can now approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

How honestly do you examine the condition of your heart?

When you are confronted with your own inadequacy, failures, and sins, what do you do?

Life Application: Grace to become a servant of the gospel (Ephesians 3:7-13)

God’s grace that shapes you to become a servant of the gospel

We often think of God’s grace in the sense of being saved (c.f. Ephesians 2:8, “For it is by grace you have saved, through faith…” Grace activates salvation. But, from Ephesians 3:7-13, what we see is that grace not only activates salvation in our lives, but it also shapes us to become a servant of the gospel.

Paul said in Ephesians 3:7, “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.” Paul received salvation by God’s grace in faith. But, it didn’t stop there. God’s grace that saved him shaped his identity to become a servant of the gospel. This grace that shaped him to become a servant of the gospel was Paul’s focus in Ephesians 3:7-13.

As a servant of the gospel, he was passionate about communicating the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery (Ephesians 3:8-9). Simply, he was passionate about communicating the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ clearly as possible to the people who weren’t Christians.

Andrew Kim in his sermon this past week at our church asked, “What is the gift of God’s grace in your life today?”

Considering the dynamic aspects of God’s grace,

• grace which has activated salvation in your life
• grace which shapes you to become a servant of the gospel

Explore the following questions:

1. How are you experiencing God’s grace to shape you into a servant of the gospel?
2. How are you growing in passion to communicate the gospel clearly to non-Christians? If you don’t think you are growing in this area, what do you think is preventing you from being shaped into a servant of the gospel?
3. Can you explain the gospel clearly to a non-Christian?

Read together “Two ways to live,” which clearly lays out the gospel

Pray

• Ask God to help you experience his saving grace freshly and to experience his grace so that you become a servant of the gospel.
• Ask God to help you learn to clearly communicate the gospel to non-Christians.

Life Application on “You are chosen to speak well of God.” (Ephesians 1:1-14)

Recapture

Gripped, fascinated, inspired, compelled and moved by God, Apostle Paul broke out praising God in Ephesians 1:3 and explains why God was the object of his praise from verse 4-14.

To praise or to bless means to sp_______ well of a person and Paul had many reasons to praise God for the way he has chosen. Here are the seven observations about God’s choice.

• His choice ­­­­lo___ ago (Ephesians 1:4)
• His choice in his cha________ (c.f. Deuteronomy 7:7-8)
• His choice for re____________ (Ephesians 1:5)
• His choice to pre___________ (Ephesians 1:13)
• His choice for co______________ (Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11, 2 Peter 2:9)
• His choice and our res__________ (Ephesians 1:1, 4)
• His choice for his g_________ (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

Reflect & apply

• What aspects of God’s choice speak to you and why?
• Praise flows out of being fascinated and captivated by God. Share with each other what has captured your imagination about God this past week.

Pray

• Ask God to capture your heart and mind, to be genuinely fascinated, inspired, compelled, and moved by who he is and what he does.
• Ask God to give you opportunities to speak well of him to non-Christians.

Life application on being secured by the resurrection hope (Psalm 16)

Recapture

Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that true security in life comes from God. In Psalm 16, we see David facing two dangers that could have made his world insecure, namely the dangers of loosing his life and compromising his faith. Yet, David was far from being a complete basket case paralyzed by fear and insecurity. Instead, David found security in insecure time.

• How was David secured by relationship with God? (Psalm 16:2 & 5)
• How did David’s delight in God’s people help him be secured in God? (Psalm 16:3)
• How did David find security in God through God’s truth? (Psalm 16:4, 7-8)
• How was David anchored by the hope of deliverance from death? (Psalm 16:10)

Reflect & apply

For David, it was the hope of deliverance from death that anchored him securely in God. But, for Christians, our hope is the resurrection from death in Christ. God mightily has demonstrated his power over death and sin by raising Jesus from death. This amazing act of God is the foundation for all our hope.

• What makes your life insecure these days?
• Where and how do you find security in insecure time?

Pray

Lord, help us be secured by the hope of resurrection in insecure time!

Life Application on "You are created to give grace with your words" (Ephesians 4:25-29)

• Recapture

This past week, we explore what it means to put off and put on in regard to words we speak. The idea of giving grace with words comes from Ephesians 4:29. Paul tells us to put off unwholesome, rotten talk that’s good for nothing. He calls us to put on talk that builds up others who listen to us in order to benefit them. To benefit someone with our words means to give grace or impart grace to that person with what we say.

We don’t normally think of words that we speak possessing this kind of power to grace others as well as power to spoil and damage relationship.

Three reasons to put on giving grace with our words are:

1. because we are created to belong to each other as members of one body, namely Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:25).
2. because we are created to yield good fruit by rejecting rotten words (Luke 6:43, Ephesians 4:29).
3. because we are created to give grace with our words (Ephesians 4:29).

And, three practical ways to give grace with our words are:

1. speaking truthfully (Ephesians 4:25)
2. rejecting rotten words (Ephesians 4:29)
3. building others up (Ephesians 4:29)

• Reflect & apply

1. Discuss the times when you felt touched by God after talking to someone… How did this person model for you what it means to give grace with words?
2. What do you need to work on in the way you speak to others in order to embrace and welcome your identity in Christ to give grace to others with your words?

• Pray

Ask God to transform your words at home, at work, at school, at play, at church into grace giving words.