Psalm 15
We began by talking about how difficult it is to see a close friend move away, or how hard it is for us to move away from those we care about. I then transitioned to the idea that sometimes we move away from God - we are not as close as we used to be. The goal of the lesson was to remind the students of how amazing the presence of God is, and how we can stay close to Him.
Big Idea: A lifestyle of worship allows us to walk closely with God.
Our only hope for happiness is walking with God.
- Psalm 27:4; 42:1-2; 61:4; 63:1; 65:4; 84; 143:6
- We looked at each of the above passages, all of which describe the incredible delight of God's presence.
- We then considered how the theme of God with His people is really the great theme of the Scriptures:
- Garden of Eden
- Presence of God with Israel
- pillar of fire / cloud of smoke
- Tabernacle / Temple / Ark of the Covenant
- Immanuel
- Holy Spirit
- End of it all - Revelation 21:1-4
A lifestyle of worship means...
acting with integrity
- means "doing what is right"
- true intimacy with God does require perfection - the perfection of Christ!
speaking truth
- when we speak, is it true? kind? helpful?
- true speech flows from a true heart (only way to victory is through the heart!)
- "does no evil to his neighbor"
- not insulting our friends or others (even in the "silly" areas)
- we need to hate evil so much that we are able to distinguish who we should reject and who we should honor. This applies to...
- friends
- dating
- heroes
- media
- we need to balance this with loving our neighbors
honoring believers
- we should have a respect for those that fear the Lord (even if they get on our nerves)
- begs the question - do you and I fear the Lord?
- only 2 types of people - those that fear the Lord, and those that are vile
- "swears to his own hurt"
- we need to be people who keep our word, because we serve a God who keeps His Word and Covenant
- God even made a promise to His own hurt when He designed salvation and sent His only Son to die for our sins
- It is wrong for a Christian to care more about money that people
The only way to please God in these areas is by having a heart change!
Becoming more like Jesus is a progression!
High School - Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1 ("Sin, Suffering, and Wisdom")
Big Idea: Wisdom is needed to endure the suffering and sin in this life.
A wise person...
Learns from death and suffering (7:1-6)
- every funeral anticipates our own
- we need to be more serious than we often are (do we always need to be listening to music? The Scripture tells us sometimes we need to be quiet to hear from God or hear a rebuke)
- this anger is exasperated anger - probably due to suffering
- it is easy for us to become embittered because of the suffering that God allows in our life. But we cannot, because Scripture tells us anger will lodge in our heart, making us a fool.
- The past is the past. We cannot relive it, only learn from it.
- We are sinners who God is making righteous
- we are sinners surrounded by other sinners - we will fail, and others will fail us
- sins of omission and commission
- 2 extremes -
- self-righteous
- self-indulgence
- we avoid these extremes by fearing God - this is authentic righteousness
- we can never comprehend God's wisdom
- we need preservation when we go through the valleys of life
- many fall into depression, God can preserve us from this
- God is sovereign, like it or not
- He allows prosperity and joy, sorrow and suffering - Job2:10
- When we feel like we can't go on anymore
- Isaiah 40:31
- temptation from without (7:26) - we live in a sensual world
- temptation from within (7:29) - biggest problem
- escape = pleasing God - “Coram Deo”; example of Joseph and Potiphar's wife
- progression of righteousness - As we walk in purity, we grow closer to God, which in turn increases our desire to walk in purity.
- monergism vs. synergism
- Philippians 2:12-13
- Philippians 1:6
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