Scripture Study – Page 3 – Karen Gamble Writes

Peace for Today – Sunday School Outline

This morning I want to take a few minutes and encourage you.

These are unsettling times we’re in.

In some ways it seems like the whole world has gone upside down.

Store shelves are bare, people are getting really sick, the stock market has crashed, and all kinds of things are going on.

Yet in the midst of this, we serve a God who sees all this.

None of it takes Him by surprise.

None of it is out of His reach or control.

I’ve heard people ask why God is allowing this pandemic.

The truth is, I don’t really know but I’ll tell you what I do know.

He is God,

He is still on the throne.

He knows what is going on, and if He’s allowing it then there’s a reason.

Instead of second guessing Him or trying to figure out why, we should focus on trusting Him in the midst of it.

Here’s the thing, if we are His child, which we are if we are Christians, then we don’t have to worry.

We don’t have to be afraid.

What we can do instead is turn to Him for comfort.

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 91:4. (NIV)

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The Opening Statement of Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes opens up with the author telling us, “Meaningless! Meaningless,” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless.”

He’s letting us know that he believes everything in the world is meaningless.

At first glance, it may look like he is saying everything is pointless for a negative reason, but he’s not.

This is actually his opening statement to preface the rest of the book. He’s declaring a truth he’s learned the hard way through years of living and exploring.

As the book unfolds he unpacks chapter 1 and explains why and how he realized this.

He waits until the last few verses of the last chapter of the book to explain the remedy, choosing to first explain all that he has witnessed that has brought him to this conclusion.

In his opening statement, contained in the first 11 verses of chapter 1, he asks an important question – “what does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” In other words, what’s the point? Why bother?

Then he points out an important truth – generations of people are born and die, but the earth remains forever.

Category: Ecclesiastes Study Series, Lesson Outline, Old Testament, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Who Wrote Ecclesiastes?

We don’t know for sure who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.

The author never outright names himself.

We do know he called himself the Qoheleth, a Hebrew word that translates into Teacher or Preacher.

Most scholars agree it was King Solomon and that he wrote it toward the end of his life.

There are a few clues in the book that point toward this being true.

In verse 1 : 1 the author calls himself the “son of David, king of Jerusalem”. (NIV)

We know that Solomon was David’s son by Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 12:24

We also know that David appointed Solomon as his successor to his throne. 1 Kings 1:23-37

Sometimes, though, the phrase, “son of” is used to mean a descendant of and not necessarily a literal child of. We see this when Jesus is called the son of David in Matthew 1:1, Matthew 21:9, and Mark 12:35.

Keeping this in mind we can assume the person writing Ecclesiastes was one of King David’s descendants, but it doesn’t confirm it was Solomon.

We can look to another clue.

Category: Ecclesiastes Study Series, Old Testament, People in the Bible, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

God Sees – Sunday School Outline

When I was a kid my grandmother had this huge closet she used to store clothes, quilts, chairs, and other random items in.

There was this little bench she had in there that I loved.

So, I would sneak in there with a book or some drawing supplies and hide for hours.

One of the main reasons I would do it was to get away from the other kids and have some quiet, alone time.

I would always wait until I thought no one was looking before I snuck in there so that the other kids wouldn’t see where I was going.

It was great! Just me and my thoughts. No noise, no interruptions!

It was probably 2 months of sneaking before any of them ever found out where I was.

Once they knew, of course, it was no longer a secret so they would come and bother me.

But until they found my hiding spot, I was free to do what I wanted and get away with it.

I wonder how many times I’ve had that mentality, thinking I can do something without God seeing or knowing?

How many times did I do something thinking it will be okay, it’s no big deal?

How many times did I not even consider whether God would see or not?
-Just going through life assuming it was okay to do things because if I’m not talking to God or paying Him attention, He probably doesn’t notice me?

Turn to Proverbs 5:21 – For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.(NIV)

This is a great reminder that the Lord can see everything we do

He also looks at our paths

Meaning He pays attention to how we are walking and what we are doing.

He notices whether we are on the right path.

He notices the details of what we’re doing on our path, whether it’s good or bad.

Another verse says it this way –
Psalm 11:4 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; His eyes examine them.

God is in Heaven looking down at everyone on earth and examining them.

I think sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own lives we forget just how aware of our lives God really is.

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A Study of Ecclesiastes

Lately I’ve been studying the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes.

It’s not a very long book, only 12 chapters, so I thought it would be just the right size to take apart and study to better understand it.

When I first started I was a little intimidated but once I got into it I realized just how relatable to me it is.

Written by someone who calls himself the Teacher, it tells about a man’s quest for fulfillment in this world and how everything he tried “under the sun” was meaningless (Some Bible versions translate meaningless as vanity or pointless).

The Teacher talks of how he has chased all the worldly pleasures there are. He admits that all the things he has done have not brought him the joy he thought they would.

He continues by talking about how he worked hard to attain various riches. He bought slaves and owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before him had ever owned. He even gathered for himself a harem. Yet in all of these he found no meaning.

The book ends with the teacher concluding that nothing in this world has meaning and the only thing that brings fulfillment is to fear God and keep His commandments.

That message really hit home for me.

I spent a lot of years out in the world doing things I shouldn’t. Try as I might I never found peace until I found God.

Even now, there are times when I am tempted to look at the world instead of God.

It made me wonder:

How many times have I overlooked the simple pleasures of life because I was looking for the so-called better things – the shiny objects?

How many times have I missed an opportunity to enjoy a sweet, brief conversation with a stranger because I was so busy looking ahead to what I thought I was going to accomplish or acquire?

How many times have I looked to the world and it’s cares instead of to God and His love?

It really gave me a lot to think about and was a good reminder of what’s really important.

During the time I’ve been studying this book I’ve been writing out a few of the things I’ve seen and learned.

Over the next few months I will be publishing posts to share what I am learning and to explore some of the truths this book holds.

I hope you will join with me as I seek to better understand all the Teacher has to say about this world and why it’s “Meaningless! Everything’s meaningless!”

(This is part 1 in a series on the book of Ecclesiastes. The series is a brief overview designed to give you a gentle introduction to the book. You can find all the posts here.)

Category: Ecclesiastes Study Series, Old Testament, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Praying Personalized Scripture – Sunday School Outline

Today’s Lesson is part review, part mash-up of previous lessons.

We’ve studied how to pray. (read that post here)

We’ve looked at what Scripture is and how to study it. (Read those posts here and here)

Today we are going to combine the two.

Today we are going to practice praying Scripture.

There are several reasons why we might do this.

It honors God and shows Him we are paying attention to His Word, the Bible, and that we have respect for both it and Him.

It brings us closer to God.
We can better see how the Scriptures were written for us and that He does understand us.
Because Jesus came to earth as a man He knows first hand what it’s like to live in this fallen world.

It helps us see that Scripture does apply to and affect us.
Seeing how relevant to us they are makes obeying them easier.

Because the Scriptures are God’s own Word, we know that if we are praying the Scripture we are asking for things that God has already offered, mentioned, suggested, and instructed us about.
This means we are praying in God’s will!

As you are going through the Scripture you will see that some, especially in the Psalms, are already written first-person.

Those are easy to pray.
You just pray them as they are written.

This exercise will help you with the ones that aren’t.

Here’s how to do it:

Category: Lesson Outline, Prayer, Scripture Study, Sunday School, Teaching | LEAVE A COMMENT

How to Pray – Sunday School Outline

A lot of people have a lot of ideas about what prayer is, so let’s start with the actual definition.

I went to Blue Letter Bible and looked up the original Greek from several places in the New Testament.

There were 2 words in the definitions that kept coming up:

Intercession – to go to or meet a person, esp. for the purpose of conversation, consultation, or supplication
to pray, entreat

Supplication – need, indigence, want, privation, penury
a seeking, asking, entreating, entreaty to God or to man

From this we can see prayer is talking to God about a problem or situation you or someone else has.

It is NOT a one-way transaction or monologue.

It is a conversation.
We don’t just insert a prayer or two and go on our merry way, expecting to receive what we need.

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God’s Timing – Sunday School Outline

The first thing we need to understand is that God’s timing is different than ours.

Turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 55.

In it God is explaining some of the things He has done for man.

He is encouraging man to turn from his evil ways and to seek after Him.

Look at verses 8 and 9. This is God speaking –

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (NIV)

God’s way of doing things is much different than our ways.

That includes His timing.

Consider 2 Peter 3:8-9 –
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (NIV)

As Creator of the Universe, God created time so He is not bound by it.

Instead He works on a higher level.

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Proverbs 20:22 – Sunday School Outline

Today’s lesson is on Proverbs 20:22:

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong”, wait for the Lord, and He will deliver you. (NIV)

The KJV says, 22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.

Sometimes when people are mistreating us we might be tempted to deal with them, pop our mouth off at them, set them straight, or give them “a piece of our mind”, or maybe even think, “I’ll show them!”.

When we do any of these are trying to handle it.

But there is a verse we need to consider first.

19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. (NIV)

This does not mean we sit back and grin at what God’s going to do to them because they were mean to us.

This comes from a bigger passage that says:

Romans 12:17-21 – 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NIV)

So in other words, the way we respond to others being mean or evil toward us is with good.

That can be hard!

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Our Words – Sunday School Outline

Our words come from what’s in our hearts

We know this because according to Luke 6:45 –
45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (NIV)

So, whatever is in your heart is going to come out of your mouth.
You can tell a lot about yourself by listening to what you say.
-The great thing is, if you don’t like what you say, you can do some heart work and submit it to God for cleansing.

Ephesians 4:29 says,
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (NIV)

The King James says it like this:
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (NIV)

I looked up unwholesome/corrupt in the original Greek
It means rotten, putrid, unfit for use, poor quality

We are not supposed to let anything corrupt come out of our mouths.

Instead, we are to allow edifying things out

Edify – to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary )

The words that come out of our mouth are supposed to help others, instructing them.
-This does not mean beat them over the head with it.

Instead:

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