Faith as our Foundation - Seamless Session Three

We've just spent two weeks (of a seven week study) studying Genesis. I figure old Angie Smith is gonna have to pick up the pace a wee bit if we're going to make it to Revelation in the next five weeks! I confess that I peeked ahead to this week's homework to see where we'd end up. I've had several people mention that they'd like to read the entire portion of Scripture that we're studying along with the book. So if you're one of those people who wants to read ALL of the Scripture, get ready, because this next week we're going to be studying Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth and part of 1 Samuel. I hope you read fast, friend! Here's the great news about that: This study really whets your appetite for MORE of Scripture. You may not be able to keep up with the pace we're about to set with the book, but the fact that this overview study of God's Word is leaving you hungry for more is a very good thing. You don't have to read any certain amount of Scripture as we study, but I do challenge you to read the Scripture! If you're able to do this study without cracking open your Bible, you're missing the point! The point is this: We grow to love God more when we grow in our knowledge of Him through His Word. We're using Seamless as a guide through the Bible because it grows our knowledge of His Word and in turn, it grows our knowledge of and love for Him.

Since we're all fired up to read more of His Word, crack open your Bible to Hebrews 11. If you studied with us in class this week, you heard me read this aloud. Whether or not you heard it this week, I want you to take a few minutes and read it yourself. Yes, the whole thing. And if you have a copy of the Message Bible, I'd love for you to read it from there. It's really neat.

Here's Hebrews 11:1 from the Message. "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living."

Over the past two weeks in Genesis, Angie has guided us through this firm foundation of faith. As we studied Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Rachel and Leah and Joseph and all the others in between, we've seen this amazing heritage of faith that we have as believers. Hebrews 11 gives us a great summary of what we've just covered and why it's so important.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says, "Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that - heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them."

When God told Abraham to go, Moses could've said no. When God told Noah to build, Noah could've said no. When God told Sarah to wait and trust, Sarah could've taken matters into her own hands and used her maidservant to have a baby for her. And actually, that's exactly what she did! Can you imagine how the story would've read if she had said "yes, Lord!" and then sat back and trusted and waited? Each of these people had a choice - follow or don't follow, obey or disobey. Some of them chose wisely and some didn't. Some reaped the benefits of obedience and others reaped the consequences of disobedience.

We're in the same boat with them. You're allowed to turn back to your old self. God will never make you come to Him. He will never force you into a relationship with him or demand that you obey. He always gives you a choice. You can look down that long hall at your old self, fearing the future, dwelling in the past. Or you can fix your eyes on Him, the one who is faithful and true, and your faith will open up a beautiful life of walking with the Lord.

Let me encourage you with this - If you haven't been able to come to Bible study on Wednesday mornings at 9 am, do your best to get there next week. We've had such precious times of worship, fellowship and Bible study together (not to mention Melissa's chocolate chip banana muffins!). I want you to put your excuses away. We've all got them. It doesn't matter if you've never been before. It doesn't matter if you came once and then haven't come back. It doesn't matter if you don't know anyone or you're in your grungy clothes or you haven't done your homework. We need you to come and walk this road through Scripture with us. Please come. And if you truly can't come because you're too far away or stuck at home, please feel free to comment here or send me an email with comments and questions. My email address is amberirving00@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you.

This week we're studying Week Three. It starts on page 60. If you'd like to download Angie's video from today's session (Session Three), you can do that here for $2.99. Thanks for coming, studying and reading with us.

A Passionate Pursuit - Seamless Session Two

I have so enjoyed studying Genesis along with you over the past few weeks. I'll admit I'm wondering how Angie is going to take us all the way through Scripture when so far we're only about 11 chapters into Genesis (Plus a bit of Job too!). I love digging deep into Scripture like we did with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon in the spring. But catching an overview of the whole Bible is a pretty neat thing too! I love how I'm already seeing how there's a beautiful thread woven through God's Word!

Last week I told you about The Jesus Storybook Bible. This week in class, I read the chapter called "The Terrible Lie" aloud. It's the story of Adam and Eve and the trouble they got into. We studied it this week in our homework and it's probably a story you've heard a million times. But take seven minutes and watch this: The Terrible Lie. 

Don't you just love how even in the very beginning, it all points to JESUS?

In Genesis 3:9, after Adam and Eve had tasted the forbidden fruit, God asks his children, “Where are you?” Angie Smith points us to the idea that God wasn’t asking them to identify their physical location, but to identify the condition of their hearts. I want to propose another theory.

God’s first question, “Where are you?” is so much more than three little words. The entirety of  Scripture rests on God’s passionate pursuit of his children, even when they are entrenched in sin. He pursued Adam and Eve after that first bite of forbidden fruit and He pursues us in the middle of our mess. Before they had even heard of the concept of repentance, God pursued them. Before they knew their need for a Savior, God pursued them. Centuries before God would offer Jesus as the propitiation for the sins of mankind, God would pursue Adam and Eve in their sin. They didn’t have to be perfect. They didn’t have to clean up first. They were naked and afraid and God wanted to know, “Where are you?” It wasn’t that He didn’t know where they were. He wanted to show us that he wanted them back.

Another important point to note is the importance of confession in our relationship with God. God, being all-knowing, knew exactly where Adam and Eve had been and exactly what they had done. He wasn't asking them because he needed them to tell him. He asked them because they needed to confess their sin. In the same way that a mother asks her child, "What have you done?" when she sees chocolate cake all over his face, God asked his children, "What have you done?" when their sin was all over their faces. 1 John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God doesn't need us to tell him anything he doesn't know - He knows it all! Confession of sin is necessary to restore our relationship with him. Sin gets in the way. Confession clears it up. We confess our sins to Him so that we can walk in right relationship with Him. You see? God really wanted them back!

God’s passionate pursuit of his children is a beautiful theme that we will see run throughout Scripture. He chases us even when we have no intention of being caught. He chases us when we are enjoying our sin. He chases us when we don’t even know of our need for a Savior. He chases us when we have turned our hearts toward idols. He passionately pursues us, even to the point of coming to earth as a man, as God in the flesh, to live and die as a ransom for us all. Oh, how he loves us. How he pursues us! How he longs for us to turn to him!

Adam and Eve didn’t have that chance because God had not yet put into place a system of sacrifice as payment for sin. But soon we will see that everything is being set into motion to pave the way for Jesus to offer himself as the ultimate sacrifice. It all points to HIM.

This week we'll continue our study through the Patriarchs, Abraham's clan, Joseph and more! It's gonna be great! Thanks so much for studying with us!

If you'd like to purchase the video we watched over session 2 by Angie Smith, you can do that here. Or you can just continue to read the blog and do the homework in the book. If you don't have a book, we have plenty available for pick-up in the church office. Books are a suggested donation of $15. 

Seamless Session One

Turn to Obadiah.

How many of you became paralyzed with fear just now? When your Bible Study teacher or pastor tells you to turn to a book and you have no idea where that book is, you might think, "Where is Obadiah?" "Will I look stupid if I turn to the table of contents?" "I’ll just act like I know where it is." "I’ll just watch her and see where she turns!" The Bible can feel like an intimidating book sometimes, especially if you’re new to reading it! This is a place where you can ask questions and find answers. Don't be afraid to admit you don't know something!

            Now turn to Hebrews 4:12 – really this time! 

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

            

In the past God spoke to humans through dreams, angels and miracles. He does still use those methods today, but our primary contact with God is through the love letter he wrote for us, His Word, The Bible.

1.     God’s Word is LIVING. He can speak to us through His word one way when we are 21 and a completely different way when we’re 51. Every time we open His Word, we can read something for the hundredth time and it will be as fresh as if we’d just read it for the first time. It is this way because God is a living God!

2.     God’s Word is ACTIVE. God’s Word is not something you passively hear and then ignore. It actively works in our lives, changes us, and sends us into action for God.

3.     God’s Word penetrates the SOUL and SPIRIT.  It goes deep into places in us that we didn’t even know existed. It penetrates our hearts in a way nothing else can.

4.     God’s Word judges the THOUGHTS and ACTIONS of the heart. We may think we have a secret, but God knows all. And His Word reveals those secret places to us.

His Word is LIFE! This study is going to guide us on a journey to see the thread that holds all of Scripture together. Have you ever read the Jesus Storybook Bible? It’s a fantastic, EASY, read that shows how Jesus makes an appearance in ALL of Scripture. It shows how every story points to him! I love to read it to my kids, but I love to hear it for myself! I encourage you to find a copy for your family.

            I want to tell you a little bit about how this Bible Study Group came to be. God has been working in my heart over the last year especially, giving me a desire to teach his word more and more.  He’s shown me that many of our preachers and teachers today are failing at preaching His Word. As I led a group of ladies through a study of 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus (you can find those studies here on the blog!), I saw over and over that Paul warned us about false teachers. False teachers don’t often come declaring blatantly evil messages. Rather, they sneak in and twist the truth just enough to make us confused. It was a big problem in Paul’s day and it’s a big problem today!

Turn to 2 Timothy 4:2. Paul tells Timothy, 

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

So let me tell you what this Bible study is NOT going to be:

1.                    Entertainment. I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not here to entertain you. I’m going to take Paul’s advice and preach the Word!

2.                    Sharing. We are going to have some great discussion. But if all we do is read the Seamless book and talk about our feelings, we have MISSED the point. When we do share, it will be about God’s Word.

3.                    Recruiting. I’m not going to try to get you to change from your church to my church. I love my church, but I’m not trying to recruit you. I want to encourage you to go to a Bible believing church with a pastor who preaches the Word. If you have a church like that already, I want to encourage you to keep going! If you don’t have a church right now, we’d love to have you here.

4.                    Counseling. We do want to discuss, but this isn’t the place for you to air your dirty laundry. If you need to speak with a counselor, I’m happy to point you in the right direction. We are here to discuss God’s Word.

So as God was laying all of this on my heart, a group of ladies from the Shiner/Gonzales area began to meet together to pray about beginning a Community Bible Study in Gonzales. I’ve heard so many ladies tell me that they long to see a unified BODY of believers in Gonzales- believers from churches all over our surrounding area that could come together to worship and study God’s Word together.  We’re focusing hard on starting a group in the fall, complete with a structured children’s program and solid Biblical teaching. I had several ladies ask me to teach something this summer, so I put the word out and I’ve been BLOWN AWAY by the response. The women of Gonzales are obviously hungry for God’s Word and hungry for fellowship with other believing women. (If you'd like to be involved in a leadership capacity with the group that is praying about starting a Bible Study group this fall, please see me privately!) 

This is an OPEN group with an open invitation to anyone who wants to come and learn more about the Bible. Please invite your friends! If you'd like to purchase a book from the church, they are $15 and can be picked up in the church office or from me. Please don't let cost stand in the way of you participating. We'd be happy to help you with the cost if you need help.

Each week we'll be watching a short 15 minute video by Angie Smith to accompany our study. If you'd like to download the video for today's session, click here and select Session One to see what we watched in class. Each downloaded video is $2.99. You can absolutely participate fully in this study without watching the video, but I want you to have the option of watching it if you'd like.

These questions were discussed in Bible Study this morning from page 10 and 11 of your study book:

What drew you to this study?

How did Angie’s experience of feeling lost or stupid trying to study the Bible resonate with you? What have been your own challenges in studying the Bible?

What do you hope to gain as you study and participate with this group in the coming weeks?

How as a group can you help one another avoid discouragement and feeling overwhelmed and stay accountable to stick it out for the whole study?

What are some steps you will take this week to devote yourself to the work of this study?

What is one thing you want your group to know about you?