Nine35 – Thinking about Thinking

Some are here at Nine35 (Sunday school) because you want to be, some are here because mom is making you, I’m guessing. Our lofty hope is that you’ll know the Bible better, but maybe more realistically our desire is that you’ll hear something and think about it. We just want you to think.

About thinking: you spend all week doing that. School, homework, chores, questions from mom and dad, etc. Maybe you don’t wanna think on a Sunday morning. I don’t blame ya.

But, what if your thinking all week was related to the same reason why we’re here?

The Bible – Nine35 (Sunday School) 2014-2015 Intro

9/7/14

The bible. A complex book written long before you were born, with language you can’t even speak. It’s since been translated into your language, but still, it’s very difficult for you to understand the meaning behind the whole thing. You shouldn’t feel worried about that though. Of course you’re going to struggle to understand it. Well-educated, fully-grown, fully-competent adults fight, bicker, and argue over its meaning. So yes, it’s going to be tough to comprehend. In fact, the bible even SAYS it’s difficult to understand the meaning of the bible.

1 Peter – Intro; Ch 1

Thoughts from the intro in my study bible:

Peter is writing to encourage Christians encountering persecution from Rome. “Should they flee or resist? Should they tone down their outward signs of faith? Give up? They also wanted explanations on the meaning of suffering. Why does God allow it?”

How to Read 1 Peter: “We all experience pain of some kind. As you read, try to apply what he says to your own situation. Peter uses pithy peasant expressions and awkwardly shifts back and forth between doctrine and advice. He gives deep insight into what it meant for Christ to suffer on our behalf. He structured his book like a rambling sermon. But he was well-grounded in the teachings of Jesus and the prophets.”

Thoughts from the text that stand out to me:

Chapter 1:

• He has given us new birth into a living hope (v3)
• An inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade (v4)
• Who through faith are shielded by God’s power (v5)
• In this you greatly rejoice; Trials come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold–may be proved genuine (v6-7)
• You don’t see him, but you love him; you believe and are filled with joy (v8)
• You are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (v9)
• Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed (v13)
• God judges each man’s work impartially [equally, fair]; and you know that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ; through him you believe in God (v17-21)
• So love one another deeply, from the heart; you have been born again through the living and enduring word of God; for all men are like grass, withers and falls; but the word of the Lord stands forever (v22-25)

Hebrews – Ch 12

Thoughts from the text that stand out to me:

Chapter 12:

• “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [people listed in Ch 11] let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (v1)
• “…fix our eyes on Jesus. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (v2-3)
• “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” (v4)
• Proverbs 3:11-12, “do not make light of the Lord’s discipline…he disciplines those he loves.” (v5-6)
• “Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as sons.” (v7) There’s a connection here between being disciplined/punished, as a father would to his child (v5-6), and to enduring hardship (v7). It may be saying that God allows hardship as a father would allow discipline. God doesn’t desire that we would have to face hardship, just as a father doesn’t want to discipline a son. But a father must discipline so that the child grows. So he says, “endure hardship.”
• “…God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” (v10)
• “[Discipline] produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (v11)
• “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (v14)
• “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire [OT reference]… But you have come to…the city of the living God… to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (v18, 22, 24)

Hebrews – Ch 11

Thoughts from the text that stand out to me:

Chapter 11:

• Faith: sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see (v1)
• Faith: we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command (v3)
• Faith: Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain; he still speaks even though he is dead (v4)
• Faith: Enoch was taken from this life without dying (v5)
• Without faith: It is impossible to please God (v6)
• Faith: Noah built the ark (v7)
• Faith: Abraham obeyed even when he didn’t know where he was going; became a father past age with countless descendants; offered Isaac as a sacrifice (v8-12, 17-19)
• These people did not receive the things promised; they only saw them from a distance. They could’ve returned to their life before faith, but they didn’t; instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. (v13-16)
• Faith: Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau (v20)
• Faith: Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons (v21)
• Faith: Joseph spoke of the exodus of the Israelites (v22)
• Faith: Moses’ parents hid him for 3 months; Moses chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (v23-28)
• Faith: Israelites passed through the Red Sea as on dry land (v29)
• Faith: The walls of Jericho fell (v30)
• Faith: The prostitute Rahab was not killed with those who were disobedient (v31)
• “What more shall I say?” Goes on to tell of many who conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, received back their dead, were tortured, flogged, chained and in prison, stoned, sawed in two, etc. “The world was not worthy of them.” (v32-38)
• “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised” (v39). No wonder very few people live this way today. We don’t receive immediate gratification from faith.