Weekly Guide ：Week 12
April 15, 2018
Forward
We are now completing the reading on the Book of Leviticus and starting on the Book of Numbers.
Tips and highlights of this week’s reading:
May you all be renewed in God’s word!
Question
What are the regulations on blasphemy, killing, and Sabbath Year?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
-
Leviticus 24:10-22 records the punishment laid upon a Gentile who blasphemed against God and thus committed an offense of the 3 rd law of the ten commandments. “You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.”
-
25:1-22 are about the regulations on Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee. 25:23-55 talks about the necessary attitude toward property and poverty to realize the meaning of Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee.
Meditation: My Story
-
Walking with God – Sabbath occurs after 6 days of work. Sabbath Year occurs after 6 years of work. The Year of Jubilee occurs once after every 49 years. What was God’s intention for these? Do I know the true meaning of Sabbath? Do I often take refuge in God?
-
Community – 24:17-22 records the punishments for injuring others and their animals. In 25:23-55 records the attitude toward property and poverty. What is my attitude toward other people around me and their property?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What are the blessings for being obedient and the punishments for disobedient?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
-
Proclaim the blessings and punishments after the covenant was made.
-
Verses 3 to 13 are the blessings: rain comes, crop grows, peace in the land, and Israelites’ number increase.
-
Verses 14-46 are the punishments: disasters, crop dies, losing war, famine, and people die. Not all disaster would come all at once. God always give His people chances to repent and turn around. Each time a disaster strikes, the next disaster comes only “if in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me.”
Meditation: My Story
-
Identity – God blesses His people. He blesses those who obey His commands and love Him. Do I often see God’s mercy and love by counting the blessings He has bestowed on me?
-
Integrity – God sends disaster to people not to punish them but to give them a chance to turn around. What characters of God do I realize from the incremental disasters He places? Have I in my life been reminded or impeded by Holy Spirit? Am I willing to understand His will and turn around to obey Him?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How does man redeem from his vow to God?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- Redeeming what is Lord’s is a very serious business. Man often take a vow to make wishes to
the Lord during distress but then forget his vow afterward. Bible often warned against this type
of behavior. This passage set a relatively high redeeming price with additional 20% for those
who forget their vows.
Meditation: My Story
- Walking with God – God dislikes those who don’t follow through with their vows. We must be
prudent when signing a contract or making a promise. Have I made any promise to God, to my
spouse, my friends, or my children? Do I always keep my promises? What should I do if I’m ever
in breach of my promises?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How were the census conducted and tribes’ camps arranged?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
-
The first census and where each of the tribes were placed around the Tent of Meeting.
-
The census was for twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army. (1:3) The tribes were arranged according to their army divisions. God turned the Israelites from a group of slaves into an army. He prepared them for war to fight their way into the promised land.
Meditation: My Story
-
Walking with God – The Israeli tribes were arranged around the Tabernacle to put God in the center. Am I placing God in the center of my life?
-
Identity – God promised Abraham to become a great nation when he had no hope of having offspring. There were 603,550 man who were 20 or older, not counting the tribe of Levi. The promise was being fulfilled one step at a time. Is the value of everything I see based on God’s promise?
-
Fidelity – He transformed the Israelites from slaves to army. Do I know that I was a slave of sin and now, with God’s salvation, an elite solder of His army?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How did God make Israel a kingdom of priests?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
-
Chapter 3 starts in Genesis like fashion with the lineage of the Levites.
-
God established the kingdom of priests as the works for the tribe of Levi were around the Tabernacle signifying God’s covenant with Israelites and His presence.
Meditation: My Story
- Identity – Reference Genesis 49 and Exodus 32. Levites loved God and offered themselves to God. Now God took the Levites as substitute for all Israelite firstborns to serve Him. Likewise, when we turn to God, we are offering ourselves to Him and serve Him. Think about the transformation God has done for my life.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How did God make Israelites the holy nation?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
Meditation: My Story
-
Community – God made the Israelites His and established laws and rules on restitution to keep them united. Do I value the unity of Christians or am I damaging it?
-
Fidelity – God put great emphasis on fidelity in marriage. Do I value my marriage as holy and being faithful to my spouse?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Scripture Reading
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Question
How did Judas betray Jesus?
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and He and His disciples went into it.
+ Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers. They arrested Jesus and bound him.
+ Peter's first denial.
+ Peter's second and third denials.
+ Jesus tried before Pilate. Pilate found no basis for a charge against Jesus.
+ The Jews did not want to release Jesus but would rather release Barabbas, who had taken part in an uprising.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Jesus said He came to testify for the truth but Pilate retorted, "What is truth?" Do I believe there's one absolute truth? What is my standard for truth?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Question
Why did the Jews put Jesus on the cross?
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and slapped Him in the face.
+ The Jews shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!!"
+ Jesus carried His own cross, went out to the place of the Skull. There they crucified Him.
+ Jesus entrusted His mother to the disciple He loved.
+ Not one of His bones will be broken.
+ Jesus' disciple Joseph took His body away and laid it in a new tomb.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Pilate wanted to release Jesus but crucified Him instead because the pressure from the Jews. We often face difficult decisions. What is my principle in making decisions? How are my decisions pleasing to God?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Question
Who witnessed Jesus' resurrection?
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Early in the morning, Mary went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed and thought someone had taken the Lord out of the tomb.
+ Mary saw Jesus at the tomb.
+ In the evening, Jesus stood among the disciples and showed them His hands and side.
+ Thomas did not see Jesus and asked to see the nail marks. Jesus came and let Thomas to touch Him. Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
+ Jesus appeared again to His disciples by the Sea of Galilee.
+ Jesus told them to throw their net on the right side of the boat and will find some fishes.
+ When Peter heard Jesus, he wrapped his outer garment around him and jumped into the water.
+ Jesus ate fish and bread with the disciples by the fire.
+ This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.
+ Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" and said to him, "Take care of my sheep."
+ Jesus did many other things as well. Even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - After seeing His wounds, Thomas declared Jesus is the Lord and God. Where does my faith come from? Where does my knowledge of God come from?
+ **Identity** - Jesus let Peter go fish in the water where He first called him. Jesus strengthened Peter's faith again in the same way after He had risen from death. Why did Jesus do this? How may my faith be strengthened by going back to the original love of Christ?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Where did the universe come from?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Chapter 1 to chapter 2 verse 3 is the beginning of the Book of Genesis. It is prelude to the entire Bible.
+ God create the world with His word. All was good and He created man and woman from His image; He rested on the 7th day and made that day Holy.
### Meditation: My Story
+ Walk with God - How does understanding that all things in the world are created by God's word helps me to know the power of His word? Do I doubt the power of His word in transforming my own life?
+ **Identity** - How does it help to know my own value and worth, knowing that God created me with His own image?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did the man live when God created the world?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Genesis 2:4-4:26 is the first of the ten segments of Adam and Eve's family history.
+ God created man and put him in the Garden of Eden. God also made Eve out of Adam's rib for them to help each other and become one (2:4-25); The serpent deceived man and caused him to be separated from God (3:1-24); Man's downfall continued with Cain's murder of his brother Abel to Lamech's arrogance. Only then, people began to call on the name of the Lord (4:1-26.)
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - What does the downfall of Adam and Eve tell me? Am I doing things not to God's liking due to my own pride and desire?
+ **Identity** - Am I willing to call on God's name and face my own heart?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How was the relationship between Adam and Eve's offspring and God developed?
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ The second segment of Adam and Eve's Family history is the account their other son, Seth and his family.
+ Seth had Adam's image; Adam died; Enoch walked faithfully with God; Noah "He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands..."; Because of their wickedness, God "...will wipe from the face of the earth ... the human race ..." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
+ Contrast with Cain's family.
### Meditation: My Story
+ Walk with God - Am I like Enoch, pray and live by God's word? What is impeding me to walk with God?
+ **Integrity** - How much of my thoughts are good? Are evil? How can I keep my thoughts good and pure?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2022.html %}
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What are the regulations on blasphemy, killing, and Sabbath Year?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Leviticus 24:10-22 records the punishment laid upon a Gentile who blasphemed against God and thus committed an offense of the 3rd law of the ten commandments. "You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God."
+ Verses 25:1-22 are about the regulations on Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee. Verses 25:23-55 talk about the necessary attitude toward property and poverty to realize the meaning of Sabbath Year and Year of Jubilee.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Sabbath occurs after 6 days of work. Sabbath Year occurs after 6 years of work. The Year of Jubilee occurs once after every 49 years. What was God's intention for these? Do I know the true meaning of Sabbath? Do I often take refuge in God?
+ **Community** - Verses 24:17-22 list the punishments for injuring others and their animals. God shows us the attitude we ought to have toward poverty and property in verses 25:23-55. What is my attitude toward other people around me and their property?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What are the blessings for being obedient and the punishments for disobedient?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Proclaim the blessings and punishments after the covenant was made.
+ Verses 3 to 13 are the blessings: rain comes, crops grow, peace in the land, and Israelites' number increase.
+ Verses 14-46 are the punishments: disasters come, crops die, wars rage, famines occur, and people die. Not all disasters would come simultaneously. God always give His people chances to repent and turn around. Each time a disaster strikes, the next disaster comes only "if in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - God blesses His people. He blesses those who obey His commands and love Him. Do I often see God's mercy and love by counting the blessings He has bestowed upon me?
+ **Integrity** - God sends disaster to people not to punish them but to give them a chance to turn around. What characters of God do I realize from the incremental disasters He places? Have I in my life been reminded or impeded by the Holy Spirit? Am I willing to understand His will and turn around to obey Him?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How does a man redeem his vow to God?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Redeeming what is the Lord's is a very serious business. Man often take a vow to make wishes to the Lord during distress but then forget his vow afterward. Bible often warned against this type of behavior. This passage set a relatively high redeeming price with additional 20% for those who forget their vows.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - God dislikes those who don't follow through with their vows. We must be prudent when signing a contract or making a promise. Have I made any promise to God, to my spouse, my friends, or my children? Do I always keep my promises? What should I do if I am in breach of my promises?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How were the census conducted and tribes' camps arranged?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ The first census and where each of the tribes were placed around the Tent of Meeting.
+ The census was for "twenty years old or more and able to serve in the army." (1:3) The tribes were arranged according to their army divisions. God turned the Israelites from a group of slaves into an army. He prepared them for war to fight their way into the promised land.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - The Israeli tribes were arranged around the Tabernacle to put God in the center. Am I placing God in the center of my life?
+ **Identity** - God promised Abraham to become a great nation when he had no hope of having offspring. By this time, those who were 20 or older numbered at 603,550, not counting the tribe of Levi. The promise was being fulfilled one step at a time. Is the value of everything I see based on God's promise?
+ **Fidelity** - He transformed the Israelites from slaves to army. Do I know that I was a slave of sin and now, with God's salvation, an elite solder of His army?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did God make Israel a kingdom of priests?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ Chapter 3 starts in Genesis like fashion with the lineage of the Levites.
+ God established the kingdom of priests as the works for the tribe of Levi were around the Tabernacle signifying God's covenant with Israelites and His presence.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Reference Genesis 49 and Exodus 32. Levites loved God and offered themselves to God. Now God took the Levites as substitute for all Israelite firstborns to serve Him. Likewise, when we turn to God, we are offering ourselves to Him and serve Him. Think about the transformation God has done for my life.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did God make Israelites the holy nation?
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
### Meditation: God's Story
+ God called the Israelites to become His holy nation.
+ The laws to keep the Israelites clean:
+ Restitution for wrongs: to keep Israelites united.
+ Holy marriage: to keep the descendants clean.
+ Nazirites: a special testimony to God's calling.
+ Aaron's blessing: Reaffirmed God's promises and pointed the Israelites to the promised land.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - God made the Israelites His and established laws and rules on restitution to keep them united. Do I value the unity of Christians or am I damaging it?
+ **Fidelity** - God put great emphasis on fidelity in marriage. Do I value my marriage as holy and being faithful to my spouse?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
{% include BibleLinks2024.html %}
Prayer
Notes and Responses