Hosea 6:1

Come, let us return to the LORD

He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us

he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds

Exodus 34

⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Philippians 2

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,

if any comfort from his love,

if any fellowship with the Spirit,

if any tenderness and compassion,

Then make my joy complete by being like-minded

Having the same love, being one in mind and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit

But in humility consider others better than yourselves

Each one should look not only to his own interests

But also to the interests of others.

Your attititude then should be like that of Christ

Who in being very nature God

Did not consider quality with God something to be grasped

But made himself nothing

Taking the very nature of a servant

Being made in human likeness

And being found in appearance as a man

He humbled himself and became obedience to death

Even death on a cross

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

And gave Him the name that is above all names

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord

To the glory of God the Father

Therefore my friends as you have always obeyed not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose.

Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may becaomse blameless and pure, children of God without fault …

Psalms 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

nor stand in the way of sinners

nor seats in the seat of mockers

But his delight is in the law of the LORD

And on that law he meditates day and night

He is like a tree planted by streams of water

which yields its fruit in season*

whose leaf does not wither*

Whatever he does prospers

I like the choice of words here:

yield:  the usage here is interchangeable with bear but the second meaning of yield, which is to submit, reminds me that growing with God is also to grow in humility, servanthood and obedience.

leaf does not wither : there are times when, though I study the bible, my “leaf withers” and I find it boring or pointless.  But I guess this doesn’t happen if your “delight” is in the law.

Isaiah 58

True Fasting

¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness ^[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Heavenly Father, when I fast before you

May I cease to fast without sharing my food with others,

May I cease to fix my eyes on Your word while avoiding contact with the eyes of the needy

May I cease to rend my garments and not my heart

May I cease to offer praise without joy or service without humility

Nice Bible Verses when Praying for Great Friends and Family

³I thank my God every time I remember you.

⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this,

that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.⁸God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Memory Verse

“I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:

every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,

both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Philippians 4:12-13

Jonah 3-4

Chapter 3: Jonah goes to Nineveh, Assyria

Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:  Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.

Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh.  Now Nineveh was a very important city – a visit required three days.  On the first day, Jonah started into the city.  He proclaimed “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  The Ninevites believed God.  They declared a fast and all of them from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the kind of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.  Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything: do not let them eat or drink.  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.  Let everyone call urgently on God.  Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows?  God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

Chapter 4: Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Compassion

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  He prayed to the LORD “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Trashish.  I know that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.

But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city.  There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.  Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort and Jonah was very happy about the vine.  But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.  When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint.  He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah ” Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”

“I do” he said.  ” I am angry enough to die.”

But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it  grow.  It sprang up overnight and died overnight.  But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and many cattle as well.  Should I not be concerned about that great city?

Sweet Certainty

Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

James 1:16-17

¹⁶Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Pslam 16

¹ Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.

² I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”

³ As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight. ^[b]

⁴ The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.

⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

⁷ I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.

⁸ I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the grave, ^[c]
nor will you let your Holy One ^[d] see decay.

¹¹ You have made ^[e] known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

[BSF] These are not Idle Words, They are Your Life!

Deuteronomy Chapter 31-32

I. Moses faithfully accomplishes God’s final tasks

• Encourages Israel and Joshua
• Writes down the law and commands it be read
• Commissions Joshua as his successor
• Warns Israel of future rebellion
• Writes down and teaches Israel God’s song

II. God’s song foretells cycle of blessing, disobedience, discipline, repentance, and restoration (32)

¹ Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ² “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ ³ The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. ⁴ And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. ⁵ The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

PRINCIPLE 1a: The final  test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in others the conviction and the will to carry on.

Questions: What fears do you have as you encounter the battles in your life?  Is God giving you the task to encourage someone in your life?  Who might that be? If so, what oculd you learn from Moses’ example?

Lord, I pray that you will teach me not to say things that put people down for You are teaching me that my criticism is not useful for any of the good works you’ve set before me.  Help me to be encouraging instead.

*When you read the Bible again and again, it becomes more interesting and exciting to you each time. Lord, help me to be faithful in reading Your word that I might remember Your great works, be in your presence and teach it to my children.

PRINCIPLE 1B: The only way to know God and how to follow him is to read the Bible again and again.

Questions: Who might God be calling you to encourage to read the Bible?  Who might God want you to invite next week for the intro class to sign up for the study of John?

¹⁵ Then the LORD appeared at the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the Tent. ¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. ¹⁷ On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’ ¹⁸ And I will certainly hide my face on that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them. ²⁰ When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their forefathers, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. ²¹ And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” ²² So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

Affluence is one of the most devastating circumstances for you to be in when you are battling the tendency to fall away from God.

LORD, with the wedding behind me and my circumstances seemingly secure, I am more prone than ever to wander from You the LORD I love and who loves me.  Turn my eyes away from my own security and towards those things that break Your heart.  Break my heart for your people who are suffering under the injustices and disasters of starvation, forced labor, sex traffic and war so that I never grow satisfied in my own circumstances until the circumstances of others are also improved.  Help me to overcome my fears and boldly proclaim Your Name to those who don’t know You according to Your commandment and the desires for Your heart.  Give me a heart and hands to serve the ministry at Oasis in support of the leadership at our church.  Give me a submissive will and eager hands that extend to others, open ears to listen before I speak and humility before You and before others.  Help me not to think of myself as something when I am nothing.  You must become greater, I must become less.

We are also a warped and corrupt generation before a perfect and holy God.

⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

⁵ They have acted corruptly toward him;
to their shame they are no longer his children,
but a warped and crooked generation. ^[a]

⁶ Is this the way you repay the LORD,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is he not your Father, your Creator, ^[b]
who made you and formed you?

¹⁵ Jeshurun ^[d] grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him
and rejected the Rock his Savior.

¹⁶ They made him jealous with their foreign gods
and angered him with their detestable idols.

¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—
gods they had not known,
gods that recently appeared,
gods your fathers did not fear.

¹⁸ You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹ The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.