The Mid-Week Update

Lesson Recap

God Is Faithful   Psalm 105-106

Intro: Many of us know stories and illustrations of faithfulness.  Here is one.  A logger out in the Northwest had a dog that went with him everywhere-even to work.  Everyone knew the dog and adored him.  One day the man found a nice clearing and as usual said to him "Stay here, boy, and watch my lunchbox." A short time later, a fire began spreading through the woods; and the man and his coworkers had to fight the fire to get it under control.  When he arrived back at the clearing, he found his charred lunch bucket next to the body of his dog.  the man told his coworkers he had to be careful what he told the dog to do because he was so obedient.  Now that is faithfulness!   So you can see that this weeks topic of discussion was faithfulness-God's faithfulness.

Psalm 105 exalts God's faithfulness to His People, it describes God's grace and mercy towards Israel, proclaims God's wonderful treatment of Israel, and the last part of 105 was sung when David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.

Psalm 106 describes Israel's unfaithfulness toward God, recognizes Israel's failure and sin, and laments Israel;s miserable treatment of God.

God is always faithful to us, but we are not always faithful to Him.  The two psalms encouraged the people to follow God faithfully, and warned them of the dangers of unfaithfulness.  The aim of the lesson was to encourage us to be more faithful in our walk with God

 God Is Faithful  105: 7-11

In v 7 we read, "He is the Lord our God."  To Israel it meant that He is the God of miracles and provision that saw them through the wilderness journey fro Egypt to Canaan.  He is the God of Gods.  What does the phrase, "He is the Lord our God"' mean to you and me?

V8 reads, "He remembers His covenant forever."  The forever that the psalmist is referring to is the the people would get Cannan as a homeland, and that He will always be their God. We can see the forever covenant God has made with his people in the New Testament in Jn 3:16. 10: 28-29, 14: 2-3.  What examples of God's faithfulness can you think of?  When are you most aware of God's faithfulness?  God has a purpose in the trials of His children, how can we find God's faithfulness in the middle of trials? 

As a reminder, Ps 105 relates Israel's history from the perspective of God's faithfulness.  Ps 106 describes the same history but highlights Israel's unfaithfulness.

God's People Are Forgetful  106: 6-7, 19-21

In v7, David accuses past and present generations of sin.  After helping the people see that all had come short of God's standards, David gave two examples:

1. That they had fear at the Red Sea.  Fear of being trapped between the water and Pharaoh's army.
2. The sin at Mt. Horeb or Sinai when they yielded to the temptation of idolatry.

The people forgot/abandoned God in their fear and in their yielding to temptation.

God's Mercy Is Amazing  106: 40-45
Vv 40-43, what punishment did the people receive as a result of their disobidence to God?
In vv44-45, How did God prove His faithfulness to the People who had abandoned Him?
God's forgiveness does not completely remove the consequences of our sin.  Even though God forgave the people, they still had to suffer the consequences of ignoring Him and following false gods.  This principle is usually true in our day and time.  However, when Jesus died for our sins, He suffered the ultimate consequences of our sins - death - rather than our having to do so.

Conclusion:  Though we tend to be unfaithful to God, He is always faithful to us.  My goal is to live in the recognition of God's faithfulness in my life.

Quote of the Week

 "The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me." - Tim Keller

Service Event

On Saturday, Oct. 20th, our class will be having a service event at  the Food Pantry. The date is Saturday, Oct 20, 2012.  We need to show up about 9:15 a.m. and will be finished by 11:30 a.m. The job involves filling boxes with canned goods, then waiting for two trucks to arrive with fresh produce from Schnucks and Dierbergs, unload them, and distribute that to the boxes. There is a prayer time with the people who come, and then we help those who need assistance to carry boxes to their cars or baskets. After that we help set up boxes for the next week.  We need to have at least 6 people, and more than 10 gets pretty crowded. It isn't strenuous work, but it is doing something to help others.  A sign-up sheet will be in this week's SPOT folder.

Snacks

• 8/26 Perry
• 9/2 Stanfield
• 9/9 Stubbs
• 8/16 Stanfield

Prayer Reqeusts

 

• Ed Stanfield's son was not really able to keep  anything down.  He had been in the emergency room a week ago.
• Zenobia's dad's declining health and stamina for her mom
• For the Joplin mission team.
• For Don and Lori's family after the loss of Lori's mom.
• Sally LaRowe Baker as she interviews for a Full-time job in Boston

• JT Howard too a job outside of Memphis, which means they will relocate by the end of the year.  Pray for the transition for the kids.