Sunday Scripture

 

Time for another Sunday Scripture lesson from Fix Your Focus!

This week's lesson was actually done by me the week of November 24.  Here goes ...

🌿 WEEK-AT-A-GLANCE CHECKLIST is further on in each week's section. But since I am working on Fix Your Focus all week long, I find it works best for me to do this checklist first. This checklist offers us four points:  

* To make a plan for reading our Bibles and praying.

* To add any upcoming events to our calendars.

* To jot down a to-do list of tasks that must be completed this week.

* To make a note of our top three priorities for this week.

This last point is one that I need to pay special attention to every week.  I've been finding it so helpful.  (The other three points are things that I'm consistently doing.) 

For this week, my top three priorities are:

1) Thanksgiving -- heart preparation as well as food prep.

2)  Etsy -- try and prepare two listings a day to get ahead of Christmas shoppers.

3) Ministry --  SS lesson prep and teaching; finish Scripture post; church outreach for Christmas on the Common.

[If you are following along with our study, this is the place to make a Week-at-a-Glance checklist and/or priority list for yourself!]

🌿 The first actual prompt for each week is JOURNAL.  We are encouraged to take a few minutes to our fears, joys, worries, desires and stressors concerning the week ahead.  [If you are following along with us, take a moment in a journal or notebook to do just that.]. Here's what I wrote on Monday, breaking it down into the suggested categories:

Fears: No real fears going into this week.   

Joys: Gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends will be a joy.  A Thanksgiving prayer and praise service at church is always a joy.  Our cookie decorating outreach at Christmas on the Common will be a joy.

Worries: No real worries going into this week, just a few concerns about how the cookie decorating activity will go and if I have planned and prepared well enough.

Desires: That our Thanksgiving with family and friends will truly honor God and appropriately express our thankfulness to Him.  That our outreach to the community will point others to Him and prompt some to visit our church.  

Stressors: Other people, at times; cold weather; the limitations of aging bodies and less energy; my hubby's health and hearing issues.

🌿 The next prompt is PRAYER. It was suggested that we use several prayer prompts to have a conversation with God about the week ahead.  [You can do the same.  Use the very same prompts for your own prayer.]

* Lord, You are ... in full control of every aspect of this busy week.  You are aware of how tired I got last week and how much I have to do this week.  You are able to give me strength for all that needs to happen, and for each situation that I will encounter.  You are aware of each of these stressors and You are able to help me manage them.

* Lord, I feel ... somewhat overwhelmed as I consider all that there is to do in this busy week, and I am heading into it tired from a week of ministry.  I also feel grateful and blessed by all that You are doing in my life and all that You have given us, especially our cottage.

* Lord, help me with ... applying lessons that You're teaching me, especially the Scripture from week 35 about not having "eager anger".  Help me to have energy for all that I need to accomplish and do this week.  Help me with my interactions with others.

* Lord, forgive me for ... times when I try to act in my own strength or out of my own so-called wisdom.  Times when I do give in to "eager anger".  Times when my attitudes are not pleasing to You.

* Make a note of 4 or 5 people you are specifically praying for.  I listed friends dealing with a cancer diagnosis; two busy teenage granddaughters; several young adults who need to deepen their relationship with God and return to Him and to His people.

🌿 The next section in this helpful guide is SCRIPTURE MEDITATION.  I chose to first meditate on this week's Scripture, 1 John 4:10, using the SOAP method, and then answered several suggested questions.   [You can use your own preferred method to meditate on this verse, and answer the questions below for yourself.]

S= "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."  (1 John 4:10)

O= Cross-references for "not that we loved God" -- "Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit."  (Titus 3:5)

 "But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ...
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."  (Romans 5:8,10)

 Cross-reference for "but that He loved us" -- ""In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."  (1 John 4:9))

Note for "propitiation" --"Christ completely fulfilled -- satisfied -- the just demands of a holy God for judgment on sin by His death on the cross ... Propitiation is not placating a vengeful God but, rather, it is satisfying the righteousness of a holy God, thereby making it possible for Him to show mercy righteously." -- C.I. Scofield

Warren Wiersbe says, "We should remember that propitiation does not mean that men must do something to appease God or to placate His anger. Propitiation is something God does to make it possible for men to be forgiven. 'God is light', and therefore He must uphold His holy Law. 'God is love', and therefore He wants to forgive and save sinners. How can God forgive sinners and still be consistent with His holy nature? The answer is the cross. There Jesus Christ bore the punishment for sin and met the just demands of the holy Law. But there, also, God reveals His love and makes it possible for men to be saved by faith."

Cross-reference for "the propitiation for our sins" -- "And He [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."  (1 John 2:2)

A=  Considering the fact that God loved us and sent His Son, Dwight Pentecost wrote: ""The death of Jesus Christ did not change the heart of God, as if One who hated us now loves us, rather it opened the floodgate so that the love of God for sinners could be poured out to them through Jesus Christ."

 Charles Spurgeon explains, “If there was to be reconciliation between God and man, man ought to have sent to God; the offender ought to be the first to apply for forgiveness; the weaker should apply to the greater for help; the poor man should ask of him who distributes alms; but ‘Herein is love’ that God ‘sent.’ He was first to send an embassy of peace.”

To help with my application of this verse, I answered the three questions from Fix your Focus:

* Reflect on what this verse tells you about who God is.

He took the initiative in saving us, sending His only Son to pay the price for our sins -- satisfying the just demands of a holy God.  He loved us before we ever thought of loving Him.  His loving us long before we loved Him is the very definition of love -- and that certainly makes sense because 1 John 4:8 tells us that "God is love".

* Think about what this verse tells you about who you are.

I am a sinner who could never pay for my own sins.  I am a person who was deeply loved by God long before I ever had a thought of loving Him,  and I'm a person who was loved by Him so much that He sent His only Son to be the propitiation for my sins.

* Throughout the week, consider how this verse should affect the way you live.

 I was loved by God so much that He paid for my sins with the blood of His own Son.  I can never repay that, obviously, but I can determine to live every bit of life as a thank-offering to Him.

"The Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave. . . . Love, in its purest form, is an action. When we give to others what is most valuable to ourselves, we prove our love." -- David Jeremiah

"Those who have yet to discover the intimacy of God often view Him as being cool and demanding toward His creation. But nothing is farther from the truth. Even in the Old Testament, we find God constantly moving toward mankind in an effort to reveal more of Himself on an intimate basis. Love motivates Him to do this." -- Charles Stanley

David McCasland wrote in Our Daily Bread, "In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal."

McCasland suggests that we pray, "Father, please show the wonder of Your great love through me to others today so that they might know they need not walk through life alone. Let my heart personally experience and display Your care."  

He notes: "God's love in our heart gives us a heart for others."

P= "Lord, simply saying that I am grateful for the love You showed me in sending Your Son to be the propitiation for my sins seems so pitifully inadequate.  This was an amazing act of love on Your part, and You planned this long before I had even a thought of loving You. 

    "I know that I can certainly never repay You for this amazing act of love.  But I pray that You will help me as I seek to live every day of life as a thank-offering to You.  Help me to show the wonder of Your great love for others, and to share the truth with them that they need not walk through life alone.   Your love is there for them as it was for me.  I thank You for all that You have done and all that You will do,  in Jesus' name, Amen."

🌿 GRATITUDE is the next prompt.  We were to reflect on the way God has shown His faithfulness to you over the past week and list five things we are thankful for.  [If you are following along with us, be sure to make your own list of five things!]. Here is my list:

1) Revival meetings going well and good decisions being made.

2) A friend trusting Christ as Savior.

3) Good quality time with Christian friends.

4) Strength and wisdom in planning for ministry at my volunteer job.

5) Energy, after a super busy week, to pack up for TWNE and head there on Sunday afternoon.

🌿 SPIRITUAL GROWTH is the next prompt, and this week there's an emphasis on FELLOWSHIP.  We were to plan a time to fellowship with friends this week.  [And again, if you are following along, please think about this for yourself.]

This definitely happened as we gathered with both family and friends for Thanksgiving.  We also had opportunities for good fellowship as we worked with friends from church on our Saturday cookie-baking outreach.

🌿 Lastly is a GOSPEL-CENTERED AFFIRMATION: 

When I need to be assured of God's love, I need look no further than the sacrifice of Jesus.

We can take this sweet, encouraging, motivating truth into the coming week and seek to share it with those who need to know or be reminded.

And there's the Sunday Scripture for this week!