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 Sermon > Cell Bible Study |
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Title |
Lesson 2-[2014 Cell Group Service] God of Answers |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
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Date |
2014-01-20 |
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Reading Scripture: Psalm 78:12-29
Verse to Memorize: Matthew 7:71
Reference: 1 Samuel 1:11, Matthew 1:19
Goal: to help believers have a good and beautiful heart, obey only with faith, and receive answers to everything they ask
God wants to give answers and blessing to His beloved children and receive glory from them. Why do God's children fail to glorify Him in spite of it? In this lesson, we are going to look into the keys to receiving answers from God who meets you and answers your prayers.
1. God meets us and answers our prayers
The Israelites are God's elect. They lived under the bondage of Egypt for 400 years in the providence of God. Finally, the sons of Israel lamented their bondage and they cried out. Their cries for relief from their bondage rose up to God as written in Exodus 2:23. God arranged for Moses to lead them and guided them out of Egypt into the Land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. During the Exodus, God unfolded many signs and wonders in front of their eyes. God led them with the pillar of cloud during the day and with the pillar of fire during the night. He allowed them to drink water by making water gush out of a rock and when they had nothing to eat, He opened heavenly gates and fed them with manna from heaven.
Then, what does their journey from Egypt to Canaan have to do with our faith? This is related to our believing life on this earth from the moment when we come out of a sin-filled life in the world till we enter Heaven. God does not remain a spectator. Just as He did with the Israelites, He meets you, stays with you, answers your prayers, and guides you to Heaven.
He teaches us the key to receiving answers as written in Matthew 7:7, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
The Bible records many incidents where God met people and answered their prayer, and He even revived the dead. In 2 Kings Chapter 4, Elisha prayed to God for the dead son of a Shunammite woman and he went up and lay on the child. Then, the lad sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. John Chapter 11 describes that Lazarus who had been dead for four days causing stench walked out, bound hand and foot with wrappings when Jesus cried out "Lazarus, come forth." Jesus also revived a dead son of a widow who lived in a city called Nain by telling him to get up. The Bible tells us many of such works were manifested not only by Jesus Himself but also by His apostles in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 20:7-12).
Additionally, Abraham's wife Sarah, who was past childbearing, gave birth to Isaac at the age of 90. In another account the fingers of a man's hand suddenly emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, and the king Belshazzar saw the back of the hand that did the writing. As the hand wrote, the king was slain and his kingdom was captured (Daniel 5)
Matthew 11:5 reads, "The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." The apostle John said at the end of the Gospel of John, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." As written, God's amazing works have consistently occurred not only in the Old Testament time and the time of Jesus but also yesterday and even today through God's loving servants and men of faith.
2. Upon what kind of people do the answers of God come?
Then, what kind of people can receive answers from God? Abraham received God's answer with unchanging faith. He believed that God is almighty so He can revive even the dead. So, he could obey God's Word, no matter what the word was. Most people, however, doubt and blame God if things do not agree with their thoughts. Those with such double-mindedness can't gain answers as written in James 1:6-8. But if you have unwavering faith in any kind of circumstance you can receive answers from God.
Next, God's answer is given to those who pray. Elijah crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees to bring down the answer from God (1 Kings 18:42). We can guess how he was earnest in prayer seeing him pray putting his face between his knees. Through such prayer, it poured on the earth where not a single drop of rain had come for three and a half years.
What kind of people could receive answers from God? Cornelius was a devout man and feared God with all his household. He gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually (Acts 10:2). His prayer and charitable works reached heaven and God remembered him and sent Peter so that their relatives and friends with him all received salvation, the Spirit, and the gift of tongue (Acts Chapter 10).
God was pleased with Solomon who offered a thousand burnt offerings and blessed him. God appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and He said, "Ask what you wish me to give you." God gave him the right to receive answers to whatever he asked for. The offerings in the Old Testament refer to worship services today. If we love God and worship God in spirit and truth during services, we also can receive blessings as Solomon did.
Let's think about David when he was a boy. He knew that God takes delight in faith and showed faith. By doing so, he received answers from God. That is, with a stone and a sling, he put to death Goliath the Philistine, who was a giant and a warrior (1 Samuel 17:32-49). Seeing the champion's death, the Philistines fled and the Israelites achieved a great victory in the war. David was a mere boy shepherd, but His trust in God was so great that He could receive answer from Him, glorify Him, and save his nation. As seen in David's case, if we have boldness stemming from faith we can receive answers to whatever we ask.
3. The inner heart of people who were quick to meet God
Joseph was betrothed to the Virgin Mary. Then, he heard shocking news that Mary had conceived a baby. They hadn't come together, but she had a baby. According to the law in the Old Testament time, an adulterous woman had to be stoned to death. However, what did Joseph do? Matthew 1:19 says Joseph, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. He did good until the end for the woman. Since Joseph had such a good and righteous heart, he met an angel of the Lord and heard the message of God as said in Matthew 1:20.
Mary's heart was also righteous and good. Although she was virgin, Gabriel the archangel appeared and said, "꾿nd behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High? (Luke 1:31-32). But Mary was neither afraid nor worried. She responded with joy, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." She wanted only the will of God to be achieved impeccably.
Let's talk about a priest named Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. Luke 1:6 states, "They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord." They had no child though they were old, but their prayer was accepted by God and they were greatly blessed to give birth to John the Baptist.
Also, a woman named Hannah earned an answer from God because she had the heart to pay a vow. At last she fulfilled her heart's desire by having a son, Samuel. As soon as he was weaned, she brought him to the house of the LORD in Shilo and gave him to Eli the priest as God's servant. Since Hannah paid the vow before God, she later had three more sons and two daughters. Samuel became a great prophet in the history of Israel. How great the blessing was!
As long as we meet God who is such good and can unfold miracles and for whom there is nothing impossible, all our problems will be resolved and our heart's desire will be fulfilled. We will have nothing in lacking. Therefore, I urge you to destroy the wall of sins against God and obey Him in faith and ask earnestly with a heart of goodness. By doing so, I hope you will receive answers to whatever you pray for.
* Evaluation and Application
Write the person's name that corresponds to the description.
Examples: Hannah, Joseph, Cornelius, Elijah, Abraham
1. Because he believed the almighty God who can revive the dead, he completely obeyed Him even when He told him to offer his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. (__________ )
2. When the country was suffering in a 3-and-a-half-year-lasting drought due to the king's and the people's idol-worshipping, he brought down rain through a prayer that was earnest such that he put his head between knees. ( __________ )
3. He feared God, gave alms to people, and prayed all the time, so he could be blessed for his family, relatives, and friends to receive salvation. ( __________ )
4. When he heard his betrothed conceived a baby without coming together with him, he did not want to let people know it or to do harm to her. He just wanted to send her away secretly. ( _____ )
5. By paying a vow to God unchangingly and fulfilling it, she could make it possible for Israel to have the great prophet Samuel. ( __________ )
* Weekly Assignment
Read the pages 31 to 43 of I Will Do It and highlight important sentences.
* Let's Learn about It!
What is Manna?
On the way to Canaan during the Exodus out of Egypt, the Israelites had nothing to eat in the wilderness. However, God gave them manna from heaven. The manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium (Numbers 11:7). The people would gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was like wafers with honey (Exodus 16:31). |
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