Don’t store up treasures on earth that will eventually disappear. Instead, store up treasures in heaven where nothing can destroy or steal them. Your heart is where your treasure is.
Your eyes are the light of your body. If you have good eyes, you’ll be full of light. If your eyes are bad, you’ll be full of darkness.
You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.
Questions for Matthew 6:19-24
9) Anything really — material possessions, health, wealth, family, animals, etc. Heavenly treasures — Helping others, doing God’s will, Jesus’ salvation, following the Holy Spirit in my life, etc.
10) God and money. Lord, I choose to serve you instead of money and be devoted to you. Please help me to do so always. Amen.
11) It reveals that my eyes are focused on God and I am motivated to do His will. My heart should desire Him. I would like to have my eyes on Him always and forever and not be tempted to fall away and to fall away.
Conclusions to Sermon on the Mount Matthew 6:19-24
Our eye should always be on Jesus, God, and His ways. Every time we say “yes” to God, we earn a token in heaven.
Money here is the world’s treasures and what the world values, so not necessarily money per se.
God is the only treasure worth possessing. He provides all that we need. We don’t need more.
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48
Reflection Questions for Matthew 5:48
15) I rely on my behavior of being “good enough” when reality it’s not good at all. I am lead to try to be better and fully lean on God rather than my own actions and feelings of trying to be good enough.
16) I am trying to be in the Word more every day. Pray more. Take time out of my busy days and be with the Lord. And, remember all of this is only possible because of Him. Thank God more, too.
Conclusion to Week 2 of Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:17-48
Great lessons on how to live! Again, we see that God cares about the heart and our thoughts. He wants all of us every day and not just on Sundays.
Most of us think of ourselves as good, but are we? We don’t physically murder or commit adultery, but what do our thoughts say? We must strive to be more like Christ in every way!
God wants us to love others as He does and through that love, we’ll grow closer to Him.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:16
Reflection Questions for Matthew 5:16
15) I was convicted by: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled. Lord, will you help me to thirst for you, to long for you, to want more of you in my life and to guide me. Help me to go to you first when I need anything. Help me to stop and pray. Help me to find you everywhere I go.
16) It challenges me to put God first in every aspect of my daily life. To look for opportunities to help others and to shine Jesus’ light into the world. It inspires me to be more present and there for my family. It challenges me to put myself out there for him.
Conclusion to Week 1 of Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5:1-16
Great study of the Beatitudes! There is so much here that we all can learn from and implement into our daily lives. And, the words are so simple, but the actions are not so simple.
If you are feeling overwhelmed right now by the depth of these verses, I think a good place to start is to desire more of God in your life. Simply pray, “God, I want more of you,” and see what He does. Sometimes, the simple things is all God asks of us and what we can do in our lives.
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”
Matthew 27:50
Reflection Questions for Matthew 27:50
15) I surrender my circumstances to God and let Him handle what is going on around me.
16) My sadness over the loss of my pets and the cloud that is hanging over my house. I pray for hope. I pray for direction. I pray for happiness for my family and that all their hopes and dreams come true. I pray for the rest of my pets. I pray for no more death.
Conclusion to Week 4 of Christ’s Life and Work: Matthew 27
Great analysis of the circumstances of Jesus’ death and the hope and life we have because of it. I hold fast to God’s promises even in the midst of sorrow and despair. Hope is in Him.
“But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Matthew 26:56
Reflection Questions for Matthew 26:56
15) I look to myself for approval rather than God sometimes. I want to avoid all compromises when it comes to God and Jesus.
16) His undying devotion to saving us from our sins. His quiet demeanor when chaos is swirling around him. His endurance of pain for my sake. His love for me.
Conclusion to Week 1 of Christ’s Life and Work: Matthew 26-27
Loved this deeper look at just all the evil surrounding Jesus in his last days. Yet, he never wavers. As the world swirls around you and me, can we stand firm like Jesus did, trusting in God to accomplish His purposes for our lives?
God offers his people comfort after their sin has been paid for. Prepare for the Lord. The Word of God endures forever. The Lord comes with power. He tends his flock. He gathers the lambs and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads them. The nations are nothing before the Lord. God is above everything. He created the stars one by one and knows their names.
The Lord is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary,and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the wearyand increases the power of the weak.
Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 20, Day 2: Isaiah 40
3a) “A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.” That the Israelites exile to Babylon won’t be forever, as the people have paid for their sins.
b) Because God comforts us in all of our troubles. We then can comfort others. Our comfort comes from Christ, too. We are comforted in our sufferings as Christ was comforted during his sufferings. Jesus will save us from our sins, which is comfort in itself.
c) I need God’s comfort in where we are supposed to settle down and God’s comfort for my kids to find their path, too.
4)
40:1-11: God is comfort. He is Almighty. He endures forever. He is all-powerful. He is caring.
40:12-26: God is Creator. God is omniscient. Everything is nothing when compared to God. He is incomparable.
40:27-31: God is everlasting. He never grows tired or weary. He gives us strength.
5) I find God’s strength in His Word, in knowing He is in control, and in knowing He is in charge of this world and everyone on it. I find his strength when I pray, believe, and have faith in what He will do for me.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 20, Day 2: Isaiah 40
Such a beautiful (and well-known) chapter of Isaiah. I never grow tired of reading it.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 20, Day 2: Isaiah 40
Isaiah now offers words of comfort and hope to the Israelites (the people of Judah). Their sin has been paid for.
A voice in the wilderness prepares the way for the Lord.
Man is frail, but God’s message stands forever.
See God who will return and be a loving shepherd to His people. He is Lord over all of creation and is the God of wisdom.
God’s greatness surpasses all nations and cannot be compared to others, including idols.
God’s greatness is all around us in all of Creation.
Have faith and believe in God’s power and wisdom over all.
God gives strength to the weak. We rely on His strength as He renews us. He gives us strength to keep moving forward.
If we are worn out, God will give us the strength we need to keep going.
Theme: We see God through Isaiah first warn of judgment then promise deliverance.
God took pity on his people and their cries. “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations.” Joel says to not be afraid for the Lord will now bless the land and protect them from their enemies. The Lord will pour out his spirit during the day of the Lord on the people who will be saved.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 14, Day 3: Joel 2:18-32
6) That the Lord took pity on his people. That he would sendgrain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy them fully; never again will He make them an object of scorn to the nations. Joel says to not be afraid for the Lord will now bless the land and protect them from their enemies.
7a) God gave all people the Holy Spirit to be with them always. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord and Jesus will be saved.
b) I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
c) God is faithful. He cares for His people. He forgives them when they turn from sin with the right heart. This is encouraging for me in my sin, too.
8 )
John 16:7-15: The Holy Spirit guides us in the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Jesus because it is from Jesus that he will receive what he will make known to you. He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.
Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Romans 8:9-16: the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. You will have eternal life because the Spirit is living in you. The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We have freedom and glory because of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. The Holy Spirit allows us to bear these spiritual fruits. The result of the work of the Spirit in a believer’s life is these attributes.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 14, Day 3: Joel 2:18-32
I love how God always is there to provide us with our needs and how the gift of the Holy Spirit is something none of us should take for granted.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 14, Day 3: Joel 2:18-32
God promises to provide for his repentent people and protect them from their enemies. God will restore His people fully, promising to bring rain and restore what the locusts ate.
Then there will be ultimate restoration and blessing and God’s Spirit will be poured out onto the people after Jesus dies. During Old Testament times, only certain people had the Spirit come upon them.
Joel’s prophecy would be fulfilled at Pentecost when 120 believers were the first to receive the Holy Spirit with signs from heaven.
All are eligible to come to God and to pray for Him to come into their lives.
God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. But Jonah ran from the Lord and headed for Tarshish on a ship. God sent a great wind and storm against Jonah’s ship. They threw their cargo overboard to lighten it. Jonah was sleeping, and the crew cast lots, which told them he was responsible for the storm.
Jonah confessed that he was running from God, so he told them to throw him overboard because the storm is his fault. At first, the men did not do this, but the sea grew wilder. The men prayed for God to not fault them for throwing Jonah over. A fish swallowed Jonah, and he was in its belly three days and three nights.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 12, Day 2: Jonah 1
3a) 2 Kings 14:25 says, “He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.”
b) Jonah ran away from the Lord.
c) He was afraid to do what God told him to do. He may have been afraid of the people of Nineveh. He was outside of his comfort zone. It was a hard job and Jonah simply did not want to do it. Many Bible scholars believe that Jonah did not believe that the evil Assyrians deserved repentance and mercy from God.
d) They run in every way possible. They ignore his voice and his calling. They don’t do what he tells them to do. They don’t pray or go to church. They hide from Him like Jonah did.
4) When you disobey God, there are consequences. He pursues you and does what he has to to get you to listen to him.
5) I usually don’t struggle with this. None of us are worthy of God’s love and grace, no matter how “good” we are or how “evil.”
6) All the time. He asks me to be nice to people I don’t want to be nice to. He puts me in places I hate. He challenges me to bloom where planted. Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I fail. Still, I try.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 12, Day 2: Jonah 1
I love the story of Jonah. Such a colorful story of God doing whatever it takes to get your attention.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 12, Day 2: Jonah 1
It’s important to understand that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria at the time. It was a pagan city. God chose Jonah to go and speak to the people of Nineveh and rebuke them for their sins.
Nineveh was to the east of Israel. Tarshish was to the west in what is now Spain. Jonah wanted to get as far away from God’s calling as possible.
God sent a storm. God’s timing is now when He calls. You don’t put off His call for when it’s convenient for you.
Jonah slept as many Christians sleep through God’s calling. We must be awake for Christ.
Jonah asks to be thrown into the sea, and gives us a picture of Christ who threw himself into humans’s storms.
The storm ended once Jonah was thrown into the sea, proving God existed. Many Bible scholars believe the men on the ship came to faith in God after this.
What Was the Fish?
We don’t know what kind of fish this was. It could have been a whale or a special fish God created for just this moment in time. Either way, God was not finished with Jonah yet. He lived three days and nights in the belly of the fish. This was what Jonah personally needed to come to God and obey Him. God does the same with us, just in different ways.
Jehoshaphat reigned in Jerusalem 25 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. The high places were not removed, and the people still has not set their hearts on God. Later, Jehoshaphat made an alliance with the evil king Ahaziah, king of Israel, to build trading ships. The Lord destroyed the ships as punishment for this alliance.
Jehoshaphat died and Jehoram his son succeeded him.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 7, Day 5: 2 Chronicles 20:31-21:3
13a) Both. It was corrective as a consequence of aligning with a wicked king and protected Judah and Jehoshaphat from having to deal with Israel and risk more pagan ways introduced to their country.
b) He has many times moved me away from those who would cause me to sin. God is good.
14) For the most part, Jehoshaphat did right in the eyes of the Lord with only a few stumbles. As humans, we all do this. That is our goal. To walk most of the time with the Lord, and when we fall, to get right back on the path of the Lord.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 7, Day 5: 2 Chronicles 20:31-21:3
I loved learning about Jehoshaphat. Didn’t know/remember much about him. Great king with some faults like we all have. Great examples of God being with His people. Good stuff.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 7, Day 5: 2 Chronicles 20:31-21:3
The writer of Chronicles does not set the fault of the people still not walking in the ways of the Lord as Jehoshaphat’s fault, which is true. There’s only so much control you have over your people as a king.
1 Kings 22:48-49 is the parallel passage of the wrecked ships. Another offer of alliance with Ahaziah after this failed one was refused by Jehoshaphat. He learned his lesson (which is a great lesson for us, too!).
God’s mercy shown through when he wrecked the ships. This prevented Jehoshaphat from an ungodly alliance — something none of us want.
It is presumed that the gift of fortified cities to Jehoshaphat’s other sons got them away from the influence of Jehoram, so they would not be seen as a threat.
King Ahaziah of Israel fell. He sent messentgers to false gods to ask if he will recover from his injury. The angel of the Lord instructs Elijah to confront these messengers and send them back to King Ahaziah to tell him that he would die due to his lack of faith. King Ahaziah sent a commander and 50 troops to retrieve Elijah to him. Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume them. He did this to the next 50 men who came for him, too.
A third captain with 50 men begged to not be killed. God told Elijah to go with this man. Elijah went to the king who then died. King Ahaziah had no sons so Joram succeeded him as king.
BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 6, Day 5: 2 Kings 1
13) King Ahaziah of Israel fell. He sent messentgers to false gods to ask if he will recover from his injury rather than consulting God.
14a) Elijah was God’s chosen messenger to reveal to King Ahaziah his punishment for seeking false gods.
b) I think he was Spirit-led. If he wasn’t, fire would not have reigned down. The lesson is that the 3rd captain and men came humbly and begged for their lives. After all, they were just doing what they were told from the king.
15) I think we all can relate to resisting God, especially when things are just not going our way in this world. They key is to turn back to Him always.
16) He has always provided, always answered (nor not answered prayers) according to His will, and He continues to lead me in my life.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 6, Day 5: 2 Kings 1
I don’t remember this at all. While we may see God’s judgment as harsh on the 100 men, remember they are unbelievers, and God’s judgment is perfect. The men could have refused the king’s order since God’s commands are superior to men’s commands, but they did not.
End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 6, Day 5: 2 Kings 1
Ahab had been a powerful ruler. With his death, Moab felt safe to rebel. They had been under Israel’s control since the time of David (2 Samuel 8:2 and 8:11-12). This is just one sign of Israel’s imminent decline.
Ahaziah could have repented when warned of his death. He did not. God is merciful, so he may have been spared.
The soldiers acted immorally when coming for Elijah. In fact, it was a slight against God more so than Elijah. Elijah asked God to send fire down. God could have refused. Instead, God sent his judgment upon them.
The sin was not believing in God and His presense in Israel. For that, Ahaziah and the soldiers paid with their lives.
Joram or Jehoram was the brother of king Ahaziah and a son of Ahab.
It’s important to understand that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria at the time. It was a pagan city. God chose Jonah to go and speak to the people of Nineveh and rebuke them for their sins.
