Concordia Adult Bible Class

God is in the business of asking people to do seemingly strange things. In the book of Hosea, God asks the prophet to take a prostitute as a wife. The prophet and the prostitute – what a combination! But through this odd coupling, God teaches Israel about being faithful to Him. Will we be faithful to God, even during difficult times?

We all have regrets. Past mistakes, failings, fallings, and sins can scar our souls in significant ways. How do we move past these things and live with the chazowns that God has given us? The key is Godly sorrow, otherwise known as repentance. Rather than beating ourselves up over our past mistakes, we need to sorrowfully bring them to Christ so that he can forgive them and give us a fresh start.

During Memorial Day weekend, we remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice serving our country. We also remember that every life will eventually end. With this in mind, it is worth it to ponder whether or not we are living with eternity in mind. For Paul, what matters most is “knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection.” For this is the key to eternal life. Does this matter the most to us too?

Now that we have discovered our spiritual gifts and have thought about our vocations, how can we move toward intentionally living out God’s purpose for our lives? This is where having a plan of action comes into play! Jesus notes that for building projects and in wars, there is always a plan of action. Do you have a plan of action for your life? You need to be ready and set to go!

There are three other major spokes in our vocational wheel. They include our health, our work, and our finances. The goal in these areas is that we would be, as Paul writes of himself, “commended in every way” (verse 4) even when things get difficult, as they certainly were in Paul’s life. We want to be found faithful.

When people get excited about something, they will often speak of “getting stoked up,” like embers in a fire. God wants us to get stoked up about the different vocations he has for us. We can look at these vocations like spokes in a wheel – we need to faithfully live out several vocations at once to make our life roll forward. For the next two weeks, we will talk about getting spoked up! That is, we will discover what spokes God has placed in the wheel of our vocations. We begin with our two primary vocations – seeking God’s kingdom and sharing God’s kingdom.

Crafting a personal purpose statement helps bring clarity to the ways in which God has gifted you to live for Him. Writing it down allows you to revisit your purpose statement time and time again and discern whether or not you are being faithful to God’s purpose for your life. When God comes to Habakkuk and asks him to write down a revelation, the Hebrew word for “revelation” in verse 3 is chazown. The chazown that God wants Habakkuk to write down has to do with righteousness before God. What chazown is God asking you to write down?

Our unique chazowns are rooted in the spiritual gifts God has given us. In order to discern our spiritual gifts, we need to ask what we love, what upsets us when it is not done or done incorrectly, what our past experiences are, and be familiar with the areas in which we have consistently been affirmed.

Far too many people drift through their lives aimlessly, not knowing what they will do next. Or, when they do make plans, they do not make them with God in mind. When you reach the last day of your life, will you be where God has designed you to be? Or, will you simply live and die without purpose?

In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the LORD. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the LORD, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the LORD— 6 the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple. 7 But they need not account for the money entrusted to them, because they are acting faithfully.” 8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the LORD.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the LORD and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king. 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes.

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” 4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” 5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.” 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Weekly Bible studies from Concordia Lutheran Church in San Antonio, TX.

All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

As Christians, how do we live in a world filled with so much depravity? How do we work with those who share radically different worldviews from us? Paul argues that, without compromising our core convictions, we can gladly enter into the lives of unbelievers, seeking by any moral means possible to bring to them the message of the gospel.