Weekly Guide：Week 31
August 26, 2018
Forward
We continue the reading on the Gospel of Luke this week.
The life of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke allows us to see that love is God’s response to world’s rejection of the truth. From this, we learn not to compromise with the world, not to give up on them, be ever more relentless in preaching the gospel, and be healed of the wounds of rejection by His acceptance of us. As the Samaritans refused Jesus that angered the disciples, even more people refuse gospel today which saddens us. Today, however, is not the judgement day and the work of salvation and its invitation continue. Judgement comes when Jesus, the Son of Man, comes again in glory to right the wrongs of the world.
God’s love and patience is undoubtedly seen when Jesus said the Son of Man came to save. We too, should learn from Jesus to bear the world’s rejection and to deny ourselves so that others may be saved. We respond with love and patience so that the power of hope is demonstrated amid the societal norm of selfishness and shortsightedness. Let’s become messengers of the truth, vessels of the grace, and continue to seek God’s mercy and save souls.
May God’s word renew you all every day!
Question
How did the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees escalate?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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By God’s power, Jesus drove out the daemon.
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Blessed are those who hear God’s word and obey it.
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Jesus gave the sign of Jonah to that generation.
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The hypocrisy of the Pharisees is not pleasing to God.
Meditation: My Story
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Fidelity - God shows His power through our services. So, we don’t serve to show our own abilities, nor do we dread for our insufficiency. Am I relying on myself or God to enable me to serve?
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Integrity - Jesus criticized the hypocritical Pharisees that they put emphasis on superficial cleanliness but glossed over in cleansing their hearts. Do I seek a fabricated self-image and praises from others or do I desire a purified heart and Godly life?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What were the differences between the value of the Kingdom of Heaven and the value of the world that Jesus spoke to His disciples?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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The value of the Kingdom of Heaven. Be weary of the Pharisees’ yeast. Do not be afraid of the world but fear God.
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Do not gather earthly riches but heavenly treasure in God.
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Do not worry about tomorrow but seek His kingdom first.
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Faithfully serve and vigilantly wait for His second coming.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - The ignorant rich stored up things for himself to enjoy but didn’t know his life was in God’s hand. What am I pursuing? Does it have an eternal value?
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Identity - Am I worried about tomorrow and meeting the needs? Ask God for His guidance in getting closer to Him and finding peace and fulfillment in His promises.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What is real faith?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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The real meaning of Sabbath.
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Parable for the Kingdom of God. One must strive to enter through the narrow door to follow Jesus.
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Jesus’ sorrow for Jerusalem.
Meditation: My Story
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Integrity - The path of Jesus is not easy. He teaches us to make every effort to enter the Kingdom of God through the narrow door. Do I brush aside God’s salvation? Is my conduct commensurate to Jesus’ grace?
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Fidelity - Jesus healed the sick during the Sabbath came of God’s mercy and grace. Do I value precious souls higher than rules and regulations?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What does God intend for us and what should our responses be?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Be humble and take seat at the lowest place in a wedding feast.
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Many refused to attend the Banquet in the Kingdom of God.
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The cost of discipleship.
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God searches for the lost souls.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - God loves us and asks us to feast with Him. Do I understand that I am sitting with Him today? How does this knowledge affect my conduct?
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Fidelity - God searches for all those who are lost. Can I comprehend how God loves the world? Can I love all those around me as God loves the world? Am I praying desperately for their salvation? Am I willing to pass the good news onto them?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How to be faithful to the Kingdom of God?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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If we are trustworthy on the insignificant, we’ll then be trusted on the important.
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Different endings for the rich man who enjoyed earthly wealth and the poor beggar Lazarus.
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Faith as small as mustard seed.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity -We cannot serve both God and money. Who am I serving? Is my heart set on the Kingdom of God or the corruptible worldly pleasures?
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Fidelity - Do I seek other people’s approvals or the fulfillment in presence of God when I serve? Am I pursuing a sense of self-satisfaction and feeling of success? Or, do I want to know God deeper?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How to hold on till the end and wait for the Kingdom of God?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
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Ten lepers healed.
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What to expect when the Kingdom of God comes.
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How to pray in front of God.
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The cost of following God.
Meditation: My Story
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Identity - Only one of the ten lepers healed by Jesus came back to give thanks to God. Do I often remember the healing and salvation from Jesus and start each day by giving thanks to Him?
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Identity - It is revealed that our hearts are tarnished by the worldly temptations and values when Jesus said: “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Reflect on the effects of the worldly material temptation has on me and how has it impeded me to devote myself fully to Jesus?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Scripture Reading
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did Moses encourage the Israelites to despise idol and love only God?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Moses told the Israelites: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." "Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."
+ God gave the Anakites to the Israelites. Kill them without sympathy, do not establish covenant, do not marry, and destroy all their idols.
+ Moses reminded the Israelites not to fear the strong Anakites in the land of Canaan. He asked them to remember what God had done to the pharaoh in Egypt.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Moses asked the Israelites to not forget God after they enter the land of milk and honey and enjoy its richness. We always want more of the worldly wealth instead of God. Think about all the blessings God has given me. Do I thank Him for what I have, or do I complain to Him for what I lack?
+ **Fidelity** - 6:20-24 is about teaching the next generations to fear God and remind them the blessings. Am I a good example of God's blessings? Can I testify to my children for what I have received from the Lord?
+ **Identity** - In 7:7-8, Moses reminded the Israelites that God loved them not because they were better in anyway, it was simply God's love and faithfulness to all those who love Him and obey His law that He is merciful to them for thousands of generations. What makes me stand before others with full confidence? Is it because I am better or is it due to my relationship with God?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Moses reminded the people whom they can truly rely on.
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Moses reminded the Israelites that God had provided them everything they needed during the forty years of wandering. They were given manna, their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell. Reliance on God was the source of their blessings, not material wealth.
+ The Anakites and their city were tall and strong. But Israelites was able to defeat them by obeying God.
+ Israelites defeated Anakites not because their righteousness or integrity, but it was the Anakites' wickedness. Israelites have rebelled against God many times. Moses reminded them that it was God's mercy that they were spared in the forty rebellious years of wandering.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Jesus quoted a familiar verse when Satan tempted Him: "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Am I facing challenges that may seem better solved with man's solutions, but I'd rather put it in front of God and ask Him for guidance?
+ **Identity** - Moses reminded the Israelites that it wasn't their righteousness that defeated the Anakites. Do I often display my self-righteousness or let others see God's blessings?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What happens if one obeys God? What happens if otherwise?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ God commanded Moses to chisel out of two stone tablets and make a wooden ark. God wrote the commandments on the tablets and Moses put them into the ark.
+ Moses reminded Israelites that "God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome." God wanted them to fear Him, to obey Him, to love Him, and to serve Him with all their hearts and souls so that they may live in His grace and blessings.
+ Moses reminded Israelites that they must observe all commands God gave them so they may be blessed.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Fidelity** - Moses reminded the Israelites again to affix God's word on their hands, foreheads, doorframes, gates, and in their hearts and minds. Do I often read God's word in the book right next to me? Let me set a goal to strive in affixing God's word in my heart.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What did Moses say about the place of worship, Idols, meat, blood, and the Levites? What did he say about how to deal with those who seduce the Israelites to worship other gods?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Chapters 12-16 are the detailed records of the requirements, decrees, and laws outside of the commands. Although much of the content has been recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, what recorded here is not simply a repeat of the same but targeted toward the specific situation in the land of Canaan.
+ Moses commanded the Israelites to destroy completely the places where Canaanites worshiped their gods, break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn and cut down their idols. He ordered them to worship at places where God would choose for each tribe, eat in presence of God the meat offered to God, must not eat blood at anywhere, but other meats at any place. They must share with the Levites for whom did not inherit any land. "Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land." Do not worship as the Canaanites. "Be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods." "If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer." "That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God." They must not follow the Canaanites when mourning for the dead. "Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." (12:30) Our environment influences us greatly. If we let our curiosity muddle us, we would then stray unknowingly away from God. Do I have any unrighteous thoughts that's popular today?
+ **Community** - Although there's no longer Levites, is there any fellow Christian who serves our Lord in need of material help from me? Can I help anyone around me materially?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What did Moses say about clean foods, treating the Levites, the poor and the slaves, the Passover, the Pentecost (Festival of Weeks), and the Festival of Tabernacle?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ 14:3-29 repeats what can be eaten and what can't. Consumption of the tenth produced as well as the first born of herds and flocks in presence of God at the place where God has chosen. At end of every three years, the tithes were to satisfy the Levites, foreigners, fatherless and widows.
+ Chapter 15 reiterates the once every seventh year, the Sabbath year, the year of cancelling debts. Freeing the slaves and setting apart the firstborn male of the herds and flocks.
+ 16:1-17 talks about the regulations on Passover, Pentecost, and Festival of Tabernacle.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - God gave me everything I have. Am I willing to offer a tenth to Him?
+ **Walking with God** - We need to watch over and take care of the helpless to live out the life from merciful God. How have I paid attention to those around me who may need my help?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What did Moses say about appointing judges and setting a King? What prophets God promised through Moses would raise up?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ 16:18-20 and 17:8-13 talks about priests and judges. Judges must judge fairly, must not pervert justice or show partiality, must not accept bribe. One shall act according to the decision and instruction given by the judge and priest.
+ 16:21-17:7 and 18:9-13 commands to not set up idols, to not offer sheep with defect or flaw, to punish those who worship idols, and to not imitate the detestable ways of the other nations.
+ 17:14-20 talks about God's permission to appoint a King. Notice that King Solomon violated these regulations in his later years.
+ 18:1-8 talks about what should the Levites live on with no inheritance of their own.
+ 18:10-22 is about God's promise that points to Jesus Christ: "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name."
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Jesus is the prophet God promised. God will call to account anyone who does not accept His salvation. Anyone who accepts Jesus must obey His teaching. Examine my own attitude toward Jesus' teaching and turn to Him through prayers.
+ **Integrity** - God again put emphasis on punishing those who worship idols. We have too many idols in the world today to displace God. Looking in my own life, am I still being bond by my job, my status, my family, my properties, and entertainments and view them as source of joy instead of God?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
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Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did the Israelites cross the Jordan River to go into the land of Canaan?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ God stopped the flow of Jordan River. Joshua lead the Israelites to cross the Jordan River like Moses lead their fathers to cross the Red Sea.
+ Israelites circumcised and celebrated Passover to identify themselves as God's people.
+ God stopped providing manna to mark the end of Israelites' wandering in the desert.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - Jordan River stopped flowing to allow the Israelites to cross as soon as the ark of the covenant, which represented the presence of God, was in the Jordan River. God is with us to protect us when we walk on His path and obey His commands. Pray to God and ask for His presence in my family, workplace, school, and church to help and lead me.
+ **Identity** - Israelites circumcised and celebrated Passover to identify themselves as God's people. All Christians today have God's seal to identify them as God's people. Am I being mindful of my identity and the presence of the Holy Spirit to always walk in lock steps with God?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did God help Israelites to capture the first city, Jericho?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ The commander of the Lord's army came to Joshua indicated that God himself would fight for Israel.
+ Israelite army marched around Jericho for seven days as God commanded. God gave the city to them.
+ Contrast the sparing of Rahab and her family for their faith to Achan of the Judah tribe who lost everything because of greed.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Achan's greed angered God and brought trouble to Israelites. Have I been greedy and covet things that don't belong to me? Have I been hiding things that belong to the Lord? Pray and ask God to purify my heart to take greed away from me.
+ **Fidelity** - Joshua led the Israelites to strictly follow God's command and God put Jericho into their hands. Do I follow God's command faithfully or take short cuts often?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did God give Ai to Israelites through Joshua's wisdom?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ God helped Joshua to capture and destroy Ai through a wise military strategy.
+ The fall of both Jericho and Ai were God's deeds. One was through His wonderous miracle, the other was through the mind of a man. It helps us to see from these two battles how God accomplishes through different means.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - God forgave the Israelites and led them to victory after Achan confessed. With our confessions, God gives us the peace which transcends all understanding through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Am I still struggling with my past sins? Let me look up to the Cross of Christ and turn my guilt into gratitude for His salvation and the will to live out the new life He gave me.
+ **Fidelity** - God helped the Israelites to capture Ai through Joshua's strategy. Am I willing to let God use my God given talent, resource, and energy to serve Him for His purpose?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What was effect of the victories in Jericho and Ai had with the people in the south?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Joshua and the leaders of Israelites did not consult with the Lord and was deceived by the Gibeonites (Hivites, see 9:7, 11:19) to make peace treaty with them in violation of God's command (Deu. 7:2).
+ The five kings of the Amorites joined forces to attack Gibeon but was defeated by Joshua and his army. Israelites conquered the southern cities.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Walking with God** - The Gibeonites deceived the Israelites and made peace treaty with them because Joshua did not consult with God. Satan tries to deceive us, too. So, we must always ask God to know His will. Do I have anything I need to ask God today so that I don't get deceived by Satan?
+ **Integrity** - Joshua made the Gibeonites to live among the Israelites after being deceived by them. We too must learn to deal with our mistakes, not overlook them nor overcome by them. Let me examine myself humbly for what I have done wrong and ask God to remind myself of my weaknesses.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How did the Israelites conquer the cities in the north?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ After defeating the kings in the south, the Israelites turned to north and conquered the northern kings.
+ Chapter 12 summarizes the kings defeated by Joshua: two kings to the east of Jordan River and thirty-one kings to the west of Jordan River.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Forty years ago Israelites feared the Anakites. Forty years later, Joshua and the Israelites relied on God to defeat these giants. Are there giants in my life that seem insurmountable? How may I lean on the Lord to defeat them?
+ **Fidelity** - We see God throughout the Book of Joshua. Likewise, today, God is battling in our stead. He can win and has won. Am I keeping a tight grip of the struggles in my job and services as my own or letting God to take control?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
How God had Joshua divide the lands to the tribes of Israel?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Chapters 13 to 21 document how the land of Canaan was divided among the Israelites. The realization of God's promises to Abraham and his descendants.
+ God had Joshua divide the lands that are yet to be conquered (eventually conquered by David, 2 Samuel 5, 8).
+ The lands to the east of Jordan River were divided up to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, according to Moses' command.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh stayed in the east of the Jordan River, did not go into the promised land. Do I label myself a Christian but fall for the worldly desires and temptations instead of the land God had promised me? Pray and ask God for mercy and help.
+ **Fidelity** - Some of the lands God had Joshua distribute to the Israelites were yet to be conquered. From God's point of view, His promises will be accomplished. Yet, we often don't follow through with His commands because of our weaknesses. God does not tolerate our compromises. God never changes. He knows our needs and stands ready to help us. In the journey of my missional life, what help do I need from God today? Pray and ask God to lead me.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
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Prayer
Notes and Responses