BibleSF

Amos - Upholding God's Justice / BSF PPKD Lesson 13

Amos is a book about judgment,a topic most of us would rather avoid. It’s like that uncomfortable feeling of being in the room when dad is giving my brother a scolding knowing I am next.

The prophets wrote to us about judgment because it is one of the most critical and important messages in the Bible, and the reason Christ came to die for us. Judgment follows because God cares about justice. Can you imagine what would happen in world where justice didn't exist and people were let off on every despicable violation and abuse against the weak, vulnerable and poor? If God wasn't just, we could not believe in His Love. Therefore, God's hate of sin, which is a violation of God's justice, is an important attribute of God that will continue to show us the beauty of God forever. People have an undeveloped understanding of sin though. Without understanding the gravity of the our sins and our sinful situation, we wouldn’t understand the beauty and enormity of Christ’s Atonement for us. Amos is a prophet speaking to the larger world about sin and its consequences.

While we play around with sin and feel comfortable with it God tells us it’s a matter of life and death.

Jonah, the Reluctant Prophet - BSF PPKD Lesson 12

Passage Reading: Jonah 1-4

Does obeying God really matter? Does it matter if I submit to God's will or rebuff and run away from it? How can my little life make any difference in the larger scheme of things. And why should I be happy about God's grace and mercy with the deplorable peoples of the world. Shouldn't they get their just desserts?

Today, we have the un-prophet, the prophet who was a prophet in name but didn’t behave as a prophet should. He ran away from his mission and had to be dragged back to carry forth a message which has become the resounding cry of God in Christ to the nations in this Age of Grace.

Jonah was in a sense the antithesis of what a prophet should be like. Now before we start wagging our fingers against Jonah, we must take a step back and realize that Jonah’s story is a story of all of us in the church. There are many of us who are un-Christian as an "uncola" while freely going about thinking we are very Christian. We believe one thing but act in a totally different way, in many cases in opposition to the very things we know to be true about the heart of God. There are those who run away from God in body and those who run away from God in the spirit, but we won't get far because God is at the center of our most vital life purpose. Yes, Jonah’s attitude is nothing for us to snicker at as if we were looking at something peculiar and foreign to us: Jonah is US!

Let's look at what this means for us, and how we ought to live in repentance in the broader view of God's work. Let's look at God's eager desire to forgive those who seek repentance.

Our Lecture on Lesson 11 PPKD today is presented by Dr David Talley, Talbot School Of Theology, who gives us an overview of God's ministry through prophets. He explains who prophets are, what their work entailed, and how to distinguish true from false prophets. 

Passage readings: Amos 3:7; 2 Chronicles 36:15; Romans 15:4

The outline of his talk is as follows:

3 Kinds of Prophets Found In The Bible

1) Prophets whose messages were not recorded

2) Prophets whose messages are preserved in a book of the Bible

3) False prophets whose messages were self- serving and not of the LORD

Kinds of Prophets Found In The Bible

1) Prophets whose messages were not recorded

- E.g., prophets we read about in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles

- None of their prophetic sermons were recorded

2) Prophets whose messages are preserved in a book of the Bible

- Two types:

. Major: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel

. Minor: Hosea Through Malachi = “the 12”

3) False prophets whose messages were self- serving and not of the LORD

- Not called; assumed the role

True or False Prophet?

True

1) Mediator/bridge between God and man

2) Prophecy only what comes true

3) Speak in the name of the LORD

4) Never call for rebellion against the LORD

5) Consistent with God’s already-revealed Word

6) Signs to verify message

7) Good shepherd

False

1) Divination or witchcraft were disqualifiers

2) Speak presumptuously or in the name of another god

Characteristics of Prophetic Messages

1) Not about the prophet

2) Address specific sins

3) Time period varies; some are timeless

4) Content varies by needs of people

5) Directed to leadership AND God’s people

6) Very poetic

7) Primary concerns: lack of love for God and/or neighbor; repentance

8 ) Relevant to us, as well = God’s eternal purposes

5 Prophetic Components

1) A statement of God’s legal suit against His people

2) An announcement of judgment

3) A call for repentance

4) A proclamation of the good news of God’s mercy in spite of Israel’s disobedience

5) An affirmation of God’s faithfulness to His covenantal (Mosaic) commitment

The Focus of Written Prophecy

1) The immediate contemporary situation of the people

2) The immediate future of the people

3) The references to Christ and His Kingdom begin to increase

4) An ultimate focus on the future = ‘new heavens and new earth”, which will one day be ushered in

Two Approaches To Avoid

1) An approach which stresses the predictive element

2) An approach which stresses the contemporary situation

Key Truths:

1) Our questions about HOW prophesy was received are secondary. Of primary importance is the MESSAGE they brought to a people who desperately needed to hear from the Lord.

2) Any messenger of God will speak a message that is consistent with God's already revealed word.

3) Prophecy is God’s message to the present in light of His ongoing redemptive purposes and plan for humanity.

Lesson 10  A Promise / Covenant Keeping God, Elisha, and Many Kings

Passage: 2 Kings 6:8–14:29; 2 Chronicles 21–25

Doctrine: God's Covenant

God cares about His Covenant but the Israelite kings failed to understand God's will for the nation as a witness to the nations and empires around them. They showed little desire to bring Israel in alignment to God's greater plan. Despite this, God continued to make his grace and mercy available to the kings and the entire profligate nation because He was committed to His Covenant with made with them through the patriarchs. Today, we're going to look at what this all means for us today.

What's makes a covenant different from a promise? A covenant in Scriptural terms is different from promises in that a covenant is rooted in a big picture of God’s ultimate plans and objectives. A promise can be localized and limited without impinging or imposing on a person's larger set of obligations or commitments. But a covenant is more encompassing and is a lasting work based on God’s character transcending time and space. It is multifaceted, multilayered, and universal.

God’s covenant is so important in the Bible, without understanding His covenant nothing in Bible imagery or symbolism tie together at all without it. Whether Noah’s Ark, the Temple and its rituals and practices, God’s redemption in the Exodus, and the eternal atonement of the Messiah’s work on the Cross, none of these would be interconnected without understanding His Covenant. God's Covenant is God’s design and logic of all His Word. The Gospel message is the telling of God’s covenant in Jesus, and the Salvation rescue is He undertaking today which builds His Kingdom.

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Elisha's Miracles Demonstrating God's Compassion to Ordinary People

Passage: 2 Kings 4:1- 6:7

Have you ever thought about just how quickly we would all fall into utter despair and hopelessness if it wasn’t for the reality of God’s love and presence in Jesus? I look at the utter despair of the wise writer of Ecclesiastes who had everything a man could want and he concluded, "Vanity vanity, all is vanity."  Reflect on the pagan Moabite king from last week who was so much in despair, he sacrifice his living first born son to a false idol, the highest thing this king could appeal to for help. People everywhere are directing their cries for help in all the wrong directions except to the God of the Scriptures. Despair is dark and heartbreaking but it reveals the gravity of our need. It causes in us a deep mourning that no amount of nice sunny days can alleviate and a spiritual hunger that nothing else can satiate. If the light in your heart is replaced with mourning, it’s a depression that will require God’s love to rescue.

In this week's reading, we will learn about God who reveals Himself as our Father. His compassion is an integral part of His love for humanity which bears His image and was created for an intimate relationship with Him. We learn that God's miraculous interventions in our lives provide for not merely the problems we see but also the greater problems and needs we don't see, are blind to, and wouldn't have ever understood if God did not awaken us to them.

PPKD Lession 8: Elijah and Elisha

2 Kings 2-3

What would happen if God reacted to our grave mistakes and shortcomings the way we wish every sin and evil in the world would be immediately eradicated as soon as they happen? We would be in ignorance of many important truths. We would not know the character of His grace. We never know how truly detestable and horrific sin was and why God cared so much about sin's hold of our lives. We could never appreciate what Jesus came to do to atone for and save us from our sins. And finally, then... because we could not know the great cost of grace, we could not begin to sense His great love for us.

Today we’re looking at Elijah, his magnificent departure from this world, and Elisha’s call to fill Elijah’s position as the prophet to the king of Israel. Having prophets in the kingdom was a gift, they were a living demonstration of God’s grace on the northern kingdom that was constantly going after foreign idols and false gods. The prophets did not have to live in the northern kingdom rules by these terrible, vain-glorious kings, they could have easily moved to Judah, the southern kingdom to live a more comfortable life under king Jehoshaphat where there was the comfortable and easy routines of true worship at the Temple and among the Levites. But they stayed where the need was great because of God’s ministry of grace to a lost and dying people. You may wonder why you are in the place you are at, when things are hard and people are against you or your trust in and devotion to God's Word. But the places of ministry is among those in need, not in places of our own comfort. We will look at the ways these dedicated "stealth" prophets and ministers of God’s work in today's study.

Out-tro: Dear to the Heart of the Savior (hymn)

Jehoshaphat's Reign in Judah - Obedience and Compromises

Lecture 7

Why is idolatry such a hateful sin in the Bible? Why does it keep coming up again and again, and the kings keep falling into it as if they're totally unaware of its dangers?

We'll see in this lesson how idolatry causes a deep distortion in our sense of purpose and view of ourselves. And most importantly, it erodes our knowledge of God and His heart.

Imagine then what idolatry can do today when sin’s disordering work invades and corrupts the workings of normal society riddle with idols, and how easily it invades the institution of the church.

Today, we’ll see this distortion is at the center of the good king Jehoshaphat. King Jehoshaphat tried to reinforce ways to make people aware of distortion by creating a civilian program of learning around God’s Word. He instituted an education program under qualified men and later also expanded this program to set up judges among the priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families (19:8). Amariah the chief priest was the head judge in spiritual matters while Zebadiah son of Ishmael was the judge in administrative issues (vs 11).

While he was zealous for his people to follow God’s Word, he himself fell into compromise with pagan idolators who he allowed to marry into his family.

Out-tro: Sarah Grove He's Always Been Faithful

Israel's Kings: Turning Away from God

1 Kings 22 - 2 Kings 2

Are leaders important? Are you a leader? What kind of ripple effect do you have on those around you?Today we’re looking at God’s persevering patience and grace on Israel’s defiant leaders, king Ahab and his successor Ahaziah. Leaders play an important role in society. They create archetypes of the kind of models that we aspire to imitate and emulate. Leaders are stewards of power so they can practice just and good decisions, set public policy that orders right and good relationships in society, instill social norms and promote healthy values. Leaders are also vision setters. They communicate important group purposes, goals, and aims by painting a clear picture of where they would like to take everyone. God works through leaders to teach His people His truths: about godliness, righteousness, and justice. Even when we fail, God waits for us, delaying his judgment so we can find clarity to humble ourselves, repent, and submit to God’s Way of ordering our lives and our society. God used even terrible kings of Israel to teach us that

1. Rejecting God's truth results in serious self-deception

2. Rejecting God's power and intervention results in judgment and self-destruction

PPKD Lesson 5 Elijah's Crisis, Israel's Calamity. 1 Kings 19-21

Why is God so gracious so that bad people don't immediately get the judgment they deserved?

Elijah saw the power of God's power at Mount Carmel. Then after Jezebel's decree to have him killed, Elijah ran to Mount Horeb where many years ago, God commissioned the Israelites through Moses, gave them the Law, and reminded them of His Covenant. Exhausted, depressed Elijah received a mental and spiritual "reset" and renewal from God at Horeb, giving him new direction and purpose.

Thank you God for times like Mount Carmel when you strike down our idols and teach us true worship, and for times like Mount Hebron when You strengthen us to new resolve and dedication, nourishing our vision and calling as Your people.

In this lesson, we see God's grace on the obedient and on the rebellious. We learn that God's lavish grace is given not because the people deserved it, but because God shows us the length, depth, and breadth of his kindness and mercy despite our faithlessness. God tenderly provided for Elijah in his ministry, and God patiently protected the Northern Kingdom of Israel and its king despite its perverse idolatrous culture so that they would know by His miraculous protection that the Lord who watches over them is the only true God.

Out-tro music: Scott Brenner, Levites That is why.

People of the Promised, Kingdom Divided Lesson 4

Elijah: Prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel : 1 Kings 15:25 - 18:46

Elijah, one of the most notable of the prophets that God sent to Israel after a time when king after king escalated idolatry and evil work to a critical point. Consequently, the people suffered and the land wasted.We read that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, committing sins worse than their fathers. We know how important leaders are in setting policy and creating an environment for thriving and learning; paganism and idolatry created fertile ground for every wicked imagination to obscure God and hinder the blessing God sought to give them.

Imagine now how a nation can become a playground for wickedness to flourish under a evil king who allow all kinds of idols, superstition, spiritual uncleanness and wickedness to become the norm in the land. Think of the trauma of the innocent, the abuse of the most vulnerable, and the ongoing attack against those who are seeking to keep themselves undefiled and unpolluted from the world - how lonely it would be for the few of God’s people to live surrounded by people indulging in the every kind of impurity and perversion that comes to their minds.

Even with the best learning and training from the ivory towers of knowledge, leaders can lead their people through continued deterioration, division, and decline. But it’s not all doom and gloom, because God greatly desires our rescue and works powerfully in our weakness to use us as instruments of His glory.

Ref:

Out-tro song: Fill the world with love, from "Goodbye Mr Chips"