Week 3- Bible Study Notes

July 10, 2009

Week 3 of the bible study produced these results…the scriptures we read were:
Mark 11, Romans 12, Joshua 9 and Leviticus 10: 1-11. We had scriptures coming from every corner of the bible and yet once again they all fit together beautifully.

Mark 11 was where we began and the things that stood out to us in this chapter were:

Jesus tells his disciples to get a colt and without question they obey and find things just as Jesus said. Jesus comes into Jerusalem as the people, whether they understand the full meaning of what they are saying or not, acknowledge that Christ is the Savior. Then the gears seem to switch as Jesus curses the fig tree because it doesn’t have any fruit and then cleans the temple clock so to speak.

As Jesus goes out of the city past the same fig tree that has now withered, his disciples are amazed and it’s almost like Jesus says forget about the tree have faith in God this is just an illustration to teach you about believing and praying for something in faith. Faith and obedience runs throughout these scriptures. Trust in God!

We had a laugh over how Jesus handled the chief priests, teachers and elders in Matthew 11:27-33. They come to him thinking they have the authority and Jesus lets them know who is really in control! I love it! But we do the same thing when we come to God and say, “God! Why are you doing this?” Implying without thinking the question, by what authority do you do this to me? And the fact of the matter is that he doesn’t have to answer any of our questions, He is God.

In Romans 12, we were reminded of how we should act toward other people even if they wrong us. We learned that no one is above another and that we all have a part in God’s plan. Forgiveness is important if we want to be forgiven by the Father and revenge is God’s territory to deal with.

So to add to the thread, we have lessons in trust, faith, obedience, humbleness, and forgiveness. Sounds like we we’re off to a good start!

Joshua 9 is the story of how the Israelites got deceived by the Gibeonites because verse 14 says “… (The men of Israel) did not inquire of the Lord.” Long story short the Israelites made a treaty with these people and caused a lot of trouble for themselves down the road all because they didn’t ask the Lord what they were to do.

From here I think it’s safe to add to the ribbon of wisdom that we should continually ask the Lord about situations that arise especially where we think deception may be in operation in order to save us a lot of grief.

Leviticus 10:1-11 is an interesting story about two of Aarons sons who didn’t do things God’s way and were fried by him! Their father Aaron and his other two sons watched as God dealt with their disrespect and sloppy disobedience. Moses reminded Aaron that God’s judgments were righteous and that he should not mourn his sons who had been fried by the Lord’s presence.

Interesting enough in verse 7 Moses warns Aaron that he shouldn’t leave the Tent of Meeting because he would die because the Lord’s anointing oil was on him and after some other instruction he told Aaron that he must teach all the Israelites all that he had just learned.

To bring all this together we learned about trust, faith, obedience, humbleness, and forgiveness. We learned that no matter how we are treated we must leave that in God’s hand. We also learned to ask God what to do in situations where we feel that there may be deception involved before we make decisions.

And last but not least…God is Holy and he and his ways will be respected and obeyed and that experiences we’ve had with God must be taught to others in the faith. I’m sure that there was a lot more in the depths of the scriptures we studied but this is what the Holy Spirit revealed to us at the time and I have a feeling that there is more to come!

I love how God is leading us into very foundational things and putting them deep within us to build upon.