Weekly Guide：Week 90
October 13, 2019
Foreword
We continue to read the Book of Daniel this week.
God’s hand never stops in His work in history, so Daniel saw victory in the vision. Although the glory is yet to come, evil will be replaced by the kingdom of righteousness eventually.
Jesus had already brought the good news of healing, the renewing of the world, rebuilding the new age. It is not just a war against an enemy of flesh, but the destruction of evil who tempts us. Let us discipline ourselves to endeavor in the understanding of future, pick up the weapon of prayer, and do not be afraid. Because God is fighting for us and the victory is realized in His presence with us.
May you all be renewed in God’s word every day!
Question
When will Daniel’s prophecy be realized?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- The words of prophecy are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.
- Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked.
- None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
Meditation: My Story
- Identity - Daniel’s prophecy will not be realized in his time but rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Where’s my hope? Do I have faith in future, that I will rise to receive my allotted inheritance?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
Why did Hosea marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- Hosea married a promiscuous woman named Gomer, and she conceived and bore him a son called Jezreel.
- Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah, for the Lord will no longer show love to Israel, that He should at all forgive them.
- Gomer had another son named Lo-Ammi, for Israelites are not God’s people, and He is not their God.
- Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, they will be called children of the living God.
- Israelites are punished for their worship of adultery.
- After the punishment, God would allure, comfort, and betroth her to Himself forever.
Meditation: My Story
- Identity - God would betroth Israel to Himself forever, in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. She would acknowledge the Lord. His righteousness, justice, love, and compassion form the foundation of our knowledge in the Lord. Do I know Him?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How did Israel commit sin?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- Hosea showed his love to his wife again.
- Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God.
- There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. Therefore, the land dries up and all who live in it waste away.
- People are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
- Prostitution, old wine and new wine take away their understanding. They are led astray and unfaithful to their God.
- Though you, Israel, commit adultery, do not let Judah become guilty.
- Judgment will come to Israel.
Meditation: My Story
- Identity - The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. However, the Lord would pasture them like lambs in a meadow. The Lord is our shepherd, only He can give us our true identity and true relationship with Him. Am I in the meadow like His lambs?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
What happened to the Ephraim?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of reckoning. For God will be like a lion to tear Ephraim to pieces and go away.
- Then God will return to His lair until they have borne their guilt and seek His face.
- Urge Israelites to return to the Lord so that they may live in His presence.
- The Lord said Ephraim’s love is like the morning mist.
- The sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed.
- Ephraim mixes with the nations and Israel’s arrogance testifies against him.
Meditation: My Story
- Identity - The Lord awakes me and lifts me up. We must endeavor to know the Lord. How may I know Him deeper?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
How was Daniel different?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- An eagle is over the house of the Lord because the people have broken the Lord’s covenant and rebelled against His law.
- With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction. Samaria, throw out your calf-idol! The Lord’s anger burns against them.
- Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; But God will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses.
- Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people. They will not remain in the Lord’s land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
Meditation: My Story
- Integrity - Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces; But God will send fire. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. For things I build, do I lean on God or by my own effort?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Question
Ephraim is blighted for what reason?
Scripture Reading
Meditation: God’s Story
- Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit.
- Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. Their heart is deceitful. The Lord will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones.
- They make many promises, take false oaths and make agreements; therefore lawsuits spring up like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
- Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.
Meditation: My Story
- Integrity - The Lord wants us to sow righteousness for ourselves so we may reap the fruit of unfailing love. It is now the time to seek the Lord. Am I treating others and myself with justice? Do I do everything by seeking the Lord?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
Scripture Reading
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What was the end of Tyre that used to be prosperous?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Because Tyre boasted against Israel, the Lord was against it and would bring many nations against it.
+ From the north the Lord would bring against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
+ All the princes of the coast would be clothed with terror and appalled at Tyre.
+ The Lord had the prophet took up a lament concerning Tyre, prophesying it would turn from great trades and wealth to become broken and no more.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Tyre, like many great cities and nations of past, no longer exists. Do I look at the great and wealthy cities of today more than God's eternal kingdom?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What was the result of Tyre king's pride?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ The ruler of Tyre pride himself as a god. God would bring foreigner against it. They would draw their swords against its beauty and wisdom. They would bring it down to the pit and it would die in the heart of the seas.
+ The Lord commanded the prophet to take up a lament concerning Tyre, its heart became proud on account of its beauty, and the Lord would throw it to the earth.
+ The Lord commanded the prophet to prophesy against Sidon, the Lord was against Sidon, He would inflict punishment on it.
+ The Lord would gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, He would be proved holy through them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in the land which the Lord gave to Jacob.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Tyre king thought of himself as god because of his pride. Is the wealth I have today from my own work or given by God? Am I thankful for God's provision? What does the fate of Tyre king remind me of?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What was the fate of Egypt?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ The Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy against the Pharaoh king of Egypt and all Egypt, the Lord would bring sword against them, Egypt would become a desolate wasteland.
+ At the end of forty years the Lord would gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered. He would bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they would be a lowly kingdom.
+ The Lord would give the land of Egypt to the army of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon as their reward.
+ The Lord would make a horn grow for the Israelites, and He would open Ezekiel's mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
+ The Lord commanded Ezekiel to prophesy that a sword would come against Egypt, the allies of Egypt would fall, the Lord would put an end to the hordes of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, He would destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis, no longer will there be a prince in Egypt.
+ The Lord would break the arms of Pharaoh and strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Pharaoh said, the Nile belongs to me; I mad it for myself. Therefore, God judged Egypt. What am I leaning on in my life's journey? How do I look at my own success? What does today's passage remind me of?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
Why did the prophet wail for the people of Egypt?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Said to the Pharaoh the beauty of Assyria was given into the hand of the nations by God for it was proud of its height.
+ Prophesy against Pharaoh that he would go with Assyria down in the earth below among the killed.
+ Take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt, the sword of the king of Babylon would come against him, the pride of Egypt would shatter, and all hordes overthrown.
+ Wail for the daughters of Egypt.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Why was the tall cedar judged and cut down? What does it remind me of?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What was Ezekiel's responsibility as the watchman?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ When the watchman sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.
+ The Lord made Ezekiel a watchman.
+ The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.
+ If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person's former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person's former wickedness will not bring condemnation.
+ In the twelfth year of Israel's exile, in the tenth month on the fifth day, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to Ezekiel and said, "The city has fallen!" Ezekiel's mouth was opened in the morning and no longer silent.
+ Those who listen but do not put into practice of what the prophet says, will be punished.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Community** - Fellow Christians watch over each other like Ezekiel watched over Israel. What should I do if I know someone who offended God? How may limbs of Christ be blessed by watching over each other? How may I watch over the world?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What wrong did the shepherds of Israel do?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ The Lord commanded the prophet to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; to those shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves!
+ The Lord said, I am against the shepherds and I will remove them from tending the flock.
+ The Lord said, I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.
+ The Lord said, I will place over them one shepherd and he will tend them. I the Lord will be their God.
+ The Lord said, I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Integrity** - Are the strong and weak in faith helping each other in Church? How may I help those churches that are weak?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
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Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What is the life of an ambassador of Christ like?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Ambassadors of Christ appeal for God to others to reconcile with God.
+ Ambassadors of Christ commend themselves as servants of God in every way.
+ Ambassadors of Christ speak freely and open widely their hearts to others.
+ Be ambassadors of Christ, be sanctified, to purified, be fearing God, be reconciling with God, and be Holy.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - Ambassadors of Christ commend themselves as servants of God in every way. Think about verses 6:3-10. How did Paul reveal himself as servant of God? How should I live out my life as God's servant?
+ **Fidelity** - Ambassadors of Christ appeal to others to reconcile with God. What does it mean to appeal to others to reconcile with God? What does it remind me of those unbelievers whom I preach to and of those distressed fellow Christians whom I serve?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What does it mean to become sorrowful as God intended?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Become sorrowful as God intended is not harmed in anyway.
+ Become sorrowful as God intended brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.
+ Become sorrowful as God intended produces marvelous characters.
+ Become sorrowful as God intended reveals a purified life.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - The life of a Christian is a life of repentance. We are renewed in the Lord so that we may become sorrowful as God intended to produce a repenting heart instead of being sorrowful as the world for bearing the fruits of sin. What is it like being sorrowful as the world? What is it like being sorrowful as God intended? What is causing me to be sorrowful as the world? How should I turn that to being sorrowful as God intended?
+ **Fidelity** - The God who comforts the downcast. Paul got comfort because some members of the Corinthian church repented because they were sorrowful as God intended. It was God's transforming power brought joy and comfort to Paul. Is there anything in my daily life, be it work, family, marriage, or children, causing me to become sorrowful? How does Paul's testimony help me turn to God for hope of joy and comfort?
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What attitude shall we hold when giving in the name of the Lord?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ We shall give willingly according to our God given ability.
+ We shall give like Jesus for He was rich but became poor so that we may become rich through His poverty.
+ We shall give as to sow seed to bear the fruit of righteousness.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Fidelity** - To help and give willingly to brothers and sisters in Christ when they are in need is pleasing to God. Through giving willingly, we practice being like Jesus who gave graciously. Let me pray for willing hearts in giving for myself and my family. Let me teach my children the meaning of "Freely you have received; freely give" and share our blessings with others.
Prayer
Notes and Responses
### Question
What example of the apostle did Paul give us?
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### Meditation: God's Story
+ Apostles do not wage war as the world does but by the power of God.
+ Apostles build up others rather than tear them down.
+ Apostles do not boast of work done by others but boast in the Lord in the sphere of service God has assigned.
+ Apostles worry about the purity and faithfulness of the believers' belief.
+ Apostles lower themselves to elevate others and never become burdens.
+ False apostles' end will be what their actions deserve.
### Meditation: My Story
+ **Identity** - What is the relationship between God and the true apostles as described by Paul? By what do they wage war? How do they follow God's lead? What does it mean by boasting in God? Am I a true apostle?
+ **Community** - How do true apostles treat limbs of the Christ's body? What shall I do to build others up rather than tearing them down when there are conflicts between myself and others?
Prayer
Notes and Responses