3/19 1st Samuel 24 - Trusting God in Adversity
Key Chapters of the Bible
Although David was anointed by God to be king, his time was anything but easy. Yet today, we’ll see that even when David has an opportunity to take matters into his own hands, he doesn’t. He continues to trust the Lord. Join us as we continue our study of David’s life and his example of a man who trusted the Lord even in adversity. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. The podcast mentioned several times the differences in Saul’s purpose as King and David’s purpose in life. What were those differences? Why would the Lord bless one and not the other? 2. ...
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3/16 1st Samuel 16 - David Serves God
Key Chapters of the Bible
One of the more unsettling truths we find in the Bible is that God is sovereign over everything, including evil spirits. Today we’ll look at 1 Samuel 16 starting with God’s choice of David to be king, but then we’ll look at His choice to send an evil spirit to Saul. Not for the faint-hearted. Join us! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What does Samuel’s grieve over Saul tell us about Samuel and his love for the Lord, the Lord’s ways and even Saul himself? 2. What does the Lord say to Samuel in verse 7? What does this tell us about the kind of...
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3/15 1st Samuel 15 - Saul Serves Himself
Key Chapters of the Bible
When God gives a command, sometimes we only half-heartedly obey. Today in our study of 1 Samuel 15, we’ll see that this is exactly what Saul did, and he was condemned for it too! Join us as we look at Saul’s heart and learn how to bring our own into wholehearted submission to God. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What was the Lord’s command, through Samuel, in verse 3? What reasons did the podcast give for why God would have given a command such as this? How does verse 33 shed light on the Amalekites? 2. What was the outcome of this battle? Did Saul obey...
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3/14 1st Samuel 13 - The Sin of Impatience
Key Chapters of the Bible
Life does not always go according to our schedule. Today we’ll look at an account from King Saul’s life where he took matters into his own hands, and ultimately was lost his kingdom because of it. Join us in a challenging reminder to trust God and wait on Him. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. How was Saul’s army chosen in verse 2? What kind of pressure with the support on Saul to have victory in these early battles? 2. What was the size of the Philistine army in verse 5? How does this compare to Israel’s army back in verse 2? 3. What were the...
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3/13 1st Samuel 10 - The Fearful King
Key Chapters of the Bible
God calls all of us to trust Him and step out in faith. Today we read the account of when Saul was chosen to be king. We’ll build upon the principles yesterday (regarding Saul’s reluctance) and see that his reluctance was really about a lack of faith and trust in the Lord. Join us! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What were the circumstances from 1st Samuel 9 that led to the events of 1st Samuel 10? 2. What did Samuel do to Saul in verse 1? What did this signify? 3. In verses 2-7, what were the signs that Saul would see? What were...
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3/12 1st Samuel 9 - The Reluctant King
Key Chapters of the Bible
Life has a way of not going exactly has we planned. Today we'll look at 1st Samuel 9 and see that a simple search for some farm animals brought Saul to a divine appointment, and it ended up completely changing his life. Join us! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. In verse 1, what tribe was Saul from? What tribe did the Lord say would produce the kings back in Genesis 49:10? 2. What was Saul’s father like, according to verses 1 & 2? How might this have influenced the people to want Saul to be their king? 3. In verses 3 to 17, how did the Lord prepare...
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3/11 1st Samuel 8 - Trying to Copy the World
Key Chapters of the Bible
There are times when the world seems to have all the glitz & glamor and we can be tempted to follow their ways. Today we’ll see that this attitude motivated the Israelites to seek a king. Although the Lord gave them their request, it was not without stern warning. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. The podcast opens with the social context of this chapter. How might the Philistine’s success have tempted the Israelites to copy the ways of the nations? 2. How old was Samuel at this point? What was his plan for the succession of authority after him?...
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3/10 1st Samuel 4 - Rabbit's Foot Theology
Key Chapters of the Bible
Sometimes people try to manufacture good luck through some kind of “rabbit’s foot” thinking. It might be through an actual item or perhaps some ritual or deed. Today we’ll see that when the Israelites treated God like a “rabbit’s foot”, it didn’t go so well. Join us! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. Who were the Israelites battling in verse 1? How did their battle go in verse 2? How is that different from their previous battles that we’ve looked at over the past several months? 2. What did the people decide to do in verse 3? What did this...
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3/9 1st Samuel 3 - The Call of God
Key Chapters of the Bible
What kind of heart is God’s servant supposed to have? Today as we study 1st Samuel 3, we’ll read about God’s call of Samuel and we’ll look at how Samuel responds. Join us! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. What did we learn yesterday in our study of 1st Samuel 2, about Eli and his sons? How do you think that contributed to the spiritual condition of Israel during this time? 2. What was Samuel doing in verses 2 & 3? Why was he doing that? 3. Who spoke to Samuel in verse 4? Was this an audible voice? Why didn’t Samuel recognize...
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3/8 1st Samuel 2 - Praying or Playing
Key Chapters of the Bible
One of the most common accusations against Christians is that they’re “hypocrites”. While this accusation is often not justified, sometimes it is. Today we will look at 1st Samuel 2, which is a study in contrasts. We’ll see the contrasts between a godly woman, hypocritical leaders, and a godly young man. Join us for another practical study in God’s Word. DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. In our study, yesterday, of 1st Samuel 1, what did Hannah pray? What did she do with Samuel when the Lord answered her prayer? 2. Verses 1 to 11 contains one of the longest...
info_outlineIt's common for us to hear people say things like, "Well, MY God isn't like that!" and what they mean is that they don't like the God of the Bible, and have tried to imagine God being more the way they'd like. That's dangerous and today we'll see it's also not new. So, join us in our study of Exodus 32 as we continue to dig into the powerful and relevant truths of God's Word.
DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. If a person hears the Bible’s teaching about God, and says something like, “Oh, my god isn’t like that!” How might that be an indication that that person is worshipping a false god?
2. In the opening verses, Moses is delayed and the people grew impatient. They asked Aaron to make a god for them. Why do you think they wanted this “god” to be made? Why do you think Aaron went along with it? What does this teach us about how they viewed God?
3. In verse 4, Aaron took their gold and made it into the shape of a calf and declared, “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” This is stunning for many reasons; one of which is that the Egyptians worshipped a god that was represented by bulls. Do you think any of past experiences in Egypt was part of their present embracing of this idol? What can we learn from this about the dangers of associating the true God with things we know and are familiar with?
4. In verse 19, Moses threw down the two tablets containing the commandments of the covenant. How did this act of breaking the tablets reflect their broken covenant with the Lord?
5. The podcast suggests that Aaron’s excuse in verse 24, that the fire produced the golden calf, was a form of religious charlatanry or perhaps magical thinking. How do people still do things like this today when they talk about the Lord?
6. In verse 26, when Moses said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” Who came over to him? What did they do? How was this an act of mercy?
7. The podcast mentions a change in how the Lord would abide with the people. According to Exodus 33:7, where was Tabernacle moved to? Why?
8. How does this passage show us the danger of looking to re-making God to be like something that “we” like versus what He has revealed about Himself?
9. How does this passage also show us the principle that we don’t decide how to worship God?
10. How do we see that worship is not about what “we” want but what the Lord wants?
11. How does this passage show us the importance of trusting God’s timeline? What are the dangers of rushing things according to our schedule?
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Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.