bible study

Another Chance Podcast Notes: God’s Incredible Equation for Success

These are the notes for the Another Chance Podcast (Episode 30, June 2, 2021).  The notes are actually copied from a men’s Bible study I recently facilitated.

Hope they are a blessing to you!

——————-

                                  God’s Math

I came across some old notes in my Bible which I thought would be excellent to share as we begin a new year. The notes say, “God’s Math for a Successful Life:
Deuteronomy 6:5-6, + Deuteronomy 10:12-13, = Deuteronomy 11:13-15.
This can be translated as,
Love God + Be Obedient = True Success

First off, God’s brand of success is a matter of the heart
Here’s what Jesus says: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Love God
The first portion of the equation is Deuteronomy 6:5-6, it was spoken by Moses just after he presented the Ten Commandments – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.

Remember, we love Him because He first love us
– For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
– God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him…We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:16-19).
Question: How did you first become aware of God’s love for you? How did you respond?


Plus, Be Obedient
The above verse, plus Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says, What does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Our Obedience is based on His love for us
– And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).
– “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him (John 14:23).
Question: How have you grown in obedience to the Lord?


Equals, True Success
The sum of the equation is found in Deuteronomy 11:13-15, …then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.  

 Walking in love and obedience will bring you an abundant harvest

– Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6,7)
–  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22).
Question: How is God’s brand of success showing up in your life?

 

Bible Study: Being a Disciplined Disciple – Training to Triumph

As I was preparing for the men’s Bible Study I oversee I know I heard God say he wanted me to prepare a study on discipline.

So, I launched into research on the consequences of sin and disobeying God’s Word.

It seemed like the study was going nowhere.

True, there ARE consequences to our sin (and sometimes harsh consequences), but the Lord was not interested in talking to my men about that.

Instead He wanted to discuss self-control, self-restraint, and preparation.  The kind of stuff that builds character.

The kind of stuff that will make us a more effective soldier on the battlefield during the challenging times.

With that in mind, here’s what I’ve put together for my guys. It’s longer than most of our studies (I like to get the men in and out in an hour) so we’ll likely dig into this one for a couple weeks.

Please feel free to use this for your personal study, or to share with a group of friends!

————-

Discipline: Training to Triumph!

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it  (Hebrews 12:11 NIV).

As disciples of The Messiah, God calls us to be disciplined in order to build character into our lives and train us to be effective messengers of the Gospel.
This study is designed to enlighten, encourage, and equip us to be the mighty men our Father desires us to become.

                                                                                                       —————-

Discipline Through the Hard Times
– Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?(Hebrews 12:7).
– Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:3).

Question: How has God used various forms of personal hardship to build your character?

 

Testing our Faith, Building Perseverance
– Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,  whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4).
– …we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance (Romans 5:3).
– Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring (2 Thessalonians 1:4).

Questions: How have “trials of many kinds” tested your faith?  How were you able to endure those trials?
Why is perseverance an important element to our faith?

Discipline through Temptation
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,  he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it
(1 Corinthians 10:13).

Discipline: The Follow Through
– Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22-24).

Question: How do we become men who apply the Word of God into all aspects of our lives?


Discipline: Training to Slay Giants
David had undergone years of hard discipline and training prior to facing off and slaying Goliath. This account from 2ndSamuel is meant to encourage and equip us for all of the battles we may face:
King Saul says to young David: “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (2 Samuel 17:33-37).

Questions: What positive discipline was instilled into your life even prior to coming to know Jesus as Savior?
Were there poor disciplinary traits that God had to remove once you yielded your heart to Him?
What Goliaths are attempting to stand in the way of the plan God has for your life?

Getting past regret in YOUR life – What the Bible Says – A Bible Study for You

Each Saturday, for many years, I’ve led men in a Bible study.

Some of you know my story, most of you don’t.

The thumbnail sketch is that I grew up as a non-practicing Jew. My life began unraveling when I was in college. I had seen some awful stuff involving the deaths of several people when I was a kid and it was eating me up.  I wanted to know if there was a God and if there was, how could I get to know him. I was scared to death of death. I tried to get advice from the campus Rabbi, but his sincere efforts to help did nothing to fill that deep void in my heart.

I wanted to know that God was for me and not against me.

Simultaneously I met a wonderful young woman who challenged me to read a book that I believed to be forbidden: The New Testament.

Upon reading it I became encouraged by the stories of regular semi-screwed up guys like me whose sins were forgiven by a man who claimed he was “the way, truth, and life.”

His name? Jesus (Hebrew, Yeshua).

I soon recognized that he was the promised Jewish Messiah. I surrendered my life to his Lordship and things have never been the same.

The study I have planned for my guys this Saturday is powerful. It has to do with something we all have wrestled with from time to time: regret.

Here’s the study. I hope you’ll be blessed.

—————

Saturday Men’s Bible Study, January 30, 2021

Dealing with Regret

It’s easy to fall into the tarpit of regret, both for the sinful choices we have made as well as foolish,
ill-advised choices. Today we’re discovering how God would have us handle regret.
——————-

Regret from foolish choices
Such regret can be transformed into a learning moment. Take confidence in Romans 8:28 – And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Regret from sinful choices
– This first shows up in Genesis 3:10 when Adam and Eve were busted for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam told God, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
– King David is a severe example. His sin with Bathsheba resulted in the death of their son; his conspiracy to cover up the adultery caused the death of her faithful husband (2 Samuel 12). Later his sin of counting the people of Israel led to the death of 70,000 Israelite men (1 Chronicles 21, 2 Samuel 24). In each case David’s remorse was great and his repentance sincere.
– Later we see it in Peter who said to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for Your sake.” Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times” (John 13:37-38). Then during Jesus mock trial Peter denied know Jesus three times: Immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So, Peter went out and wept bitterly (Luke 22:60-62).


THE GOOD NEWS: our regret was dealt with at the cross.
– In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and  prudence (Ephesians 1:7-8).
– Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19).
– There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2).
– …according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7).
– For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).

Forget Regret and Move Forward
– Regarding his past, Paul says, “…one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).
– Paul also tells us: For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Questions:
– Have you ever made the wrong decision with the right intentions? What did you learn from it?
– Has regret ever motivated you to do the right thing?
– Why is groveling in your regret harmful?
– Next time you are faced with regret, how will you handle it?