1 Corinthians 15-16

Many eyewitnesses still there when this is written (15:6)

Mark 11-14

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

-- Mark 11:24-25

• Parable of the tenant. God owns the place. We only temporarily live here. Do we love him and give back to him what he is entitled to? (12:1-12)

The Greatest Commandment:

Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

-- Mark 12:29-31

• Are you just giving the dibs and dabs to God or are you sincerely relying on God for all your needs and giving it back to Him with your heart? (v41-44)

The signs of the second return of Jesus:

• False prophets (13:6,21-22)
• Wars (v7-8a)
• Earthquakes and Famine (v8b)
• Persecution (v9)
• 'And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.' (13:13)
• So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. (v29)
• No one knows when the time Jesus returns, but it is near (v32)

• "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (14:36)
• Why did Judas need to kiss Jesus as a sign of betrayal? As Jesus had said, everyone knew him from the many days of preaching (v49)

Jeremiah 17-26

• Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land (17:5-6)

Contrasted with

• Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (v7-8)
• "I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."
• It is not the deeds that God likes, but the heart that God is after (v10)
• God gives them a chance, but they don't listen (v19-23)

• God is potter, we are the clay (18:1-8)

• Another chance to repent, (Chapter 19) but they don't listen (v15)

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, 'It shall be well with you'; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, 'No disaster shall come upon you.'"

-- Jeremiah 23:16-17

• The world today often is like the days of Jeremiah: false prophets and people comforting it is ok not to listen to God's word
• But in this chapter, God says these false prophets who tell you to ignore God will get punished.

• God speaks to Judah, but they ignore. (25:3-4) As a result, they face destruction (v8-14)

• The priests hear God's warning but are hard-hearted, and rejects Jeremiah (26:7-8) and wants him killed, not acknowledging that he is God's prophet (v11)

Psalms 45-50

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

-- Psalms 46:1-3

• The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (v7,11)

• A Psalm full of praise (Chapter 47)

• Always reflect on God's love (48:9)

15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah
16 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed --and though you get praise when you do well for yourself--
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

-- Psalms 49:15-20

• God does not ask us to sacrifice because he needs those offerings, he owns them (50:1-13), but the real purpose is

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

-- Psalms 50:14-15

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

-- Psalms 50:23

2 Samuel 1-4

• The first thing David does after a change (death of God's anointed Saul in Chapter 1) was consulting God (2:1-2).

1 Samuel 26-31

• Despite Saul is coming after David again, and he now has the opportunity to kill Saul again, he resists this temptation and puts everything in God's plan by reminding that he is the anointed one. (26:9)
• It's not for up to judge (v10-11)
• Has Saul really resented this time? (v21), seems so in v25

• David flees to Philistines and is prospering (Chapter 27)

• God doesn't answer Saul so he goes and find some woman medium (28:6-7)
• She does call up Samuel. (v14-15)

Exodus 9-16

• More plagues where Pharaoh's heart is still hardened (Chapter 9-11)

• Lord's passover (12:1-11)
• A memorial day (v14) in the future.
• Passover: It is the sacrifice of the LORD's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses. (v27)

• Consecrating the first born was so that Israel would remember God saving them from Egypt (Chapter 13)

• They obeyed God's commands (14:4)
• Rather than run, they cried out to the Lord (v10) but they still had their doubts with God (v11-12) Moses stood firm (v13-14) and God hears (v15) and delivers (v20-21)

• Singing hymns to give thanks (15:1), and dances (v20)
• The Lord provides (v25-26)

• Manna from Heaven (Chapter 16)

Week 17

Mon 18 Aug 2008	Exodus 13-16
Tue 19 Aug 2008	2Samuel 1-4
Wed 20 Aug 2008	Psalms 48-50
Thu 21 Aug 2008	Job 33-34
Fri 22 Aug 2008	Jeremiah 22-26
Sat 23 Aug 2008	Mark 13-14
Sun 24 Aug 2008	2Corinthians 1-3