Psalm 14 The Test The Promise The Savior

Daily Bible Study for Monday July 18 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I will keep it with the New King James Version.

One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Psam 119:7

I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments.

  

Psalm 100:4

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

                                        Song: What A Wonderful Child                                                                                                                                

Psalm 14

The Test The Promise The Savior

King David addresses a truth in our Psalm today that will probably hit many self-righteous people right in the gut. There are really three key components in today’s chapter. We will look at each one separately and see what the Lord will reveal to us cumulatively. Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father;

Thank You for Your word that gives light to our spirit and soul. Thank You for showing us things we may not have seen before. Father, we need Your wisdom and discernment by Holy Spirit to understand Your word in all its fullness. Lord, I ask that You would speak to every person who ever reads this study, including myself. May Your powerful and effective word go forth through my mind, my heart and my hands by the power of Your Spirit alive in me to bring us the revelation that we need today. Father, I ask You to bring it forth unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh Lord. Thank You Sir for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we listen and obey, in Jesus name. Amen.

Part 1 – There Are None Who Do Good

One of the most difficult truths many people have had to deal with is the thought that there are none who really do good in God’s eyes. Let’s look at this from God’s perspective today, and not our flesh – agree? When the Lord looked down from heaven at the sons of men, He found not one innocent man on the face of the earth. Not one. As shocking as that may sound to some, it is true. Jesus was the only man that would ever live on the planet who made it through His entire life without sinning. Beside Him, there was no one who was righteous.

After the fall of man through Adam and Eve, every person was corrupt. Their purity had been lost through the sin of disobedience when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that time on, there would never again be any human who would ever be 100% good – that is until Jesus showed up. Though He was only a human while on the earth, operating as a person like any other, He was obedient to the Father, by choice, until He took His last breath on the cross. That set Him apart from every other person who would ever live. He was and is the Son of God – but He came to the earth to live as we are so that unlike the first Adam, he could, as a man, act as the last Adam who would be used to redeem this lost world.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49

 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. ⁴³ It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. ⁴⁴ It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. ⁴⁵ And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

 ⁴⁶ However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. ⁴⁹ And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Many falsely think that since Jesus was the Son of God it was a ‘piece of cake’ for Him to live out His entire life without sinning. But that is an incorrect assumption. Adam was a human who had no sin until the fall. Therefore, God had to redeem His people through another human – Jesus. The first Adam and then the last Adam. Our Savior carried no ‘special’ privileges while He was on this earth. He was anointed to preach the good news to the poor and this same anointing now falls on anyone who is born again when they submit themselves to the Lord. Jesus was our High Priest who was able to identify with our weaknesses…

Hebrews 2:10-18

¹⁰ For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹ For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, ¹² saying:

“I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” ¹³ And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again:

“Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” ¹⁴ Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. ¹⁶ For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.¹⁷ Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Also, look at this…

Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In the two sections of scripture above, we have established the fact that Jesus was human, yet He was the only human who had never sinned. Look around and we can see lots of people who we think are really good people. And there are many well doing and well-meaning folks, don’t get me wrong. But no matter how nice they are or what they have done, in God’s eyes, they have all sinned. Yes, even Mother Teresa was a sinner! That may blow someone’s theology, but don’t look at me when the holy cow starts mooing in your house! LOL! 

A little humor is good here, really. I’ll give you an example. I knew a gal who was one of the pre-school teachers when my daughters were attending the church preschool program. I am telling you that I thought this one lady in particular could never do anything wrong. The way she loved on those kids, her patience and her ever present smile and warmth led me to believe that this woman could never have done anything but good. I was quite shocked when the realization finally came to me that God saw all people in their sins – regardless of what those sins are. Then I thought of her, and I must confess, I wondered to myself, “What could she have ever done wrong?” This woman was super sweet.

There is another verse that many of you are likely familiar with…

Romans 3:9-26

⁹ What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
¹² They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” ¹³ “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; ¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The bottom line friends is that none of us have done good 100% of the time in every instance of our lives. Whether we like to hear it or not, it’s God’s word and it is the truth. Many people who are sitting in churches all over the globe today are calling themselves Christians and they are not really born again.

There are many who attend church on Sunday and live like the devil the rest of the time. Paul struggled with the Corinthian church over this very matter…

2 Corinthians 12:14 – 13:5

 Now for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you; for I do not seek yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. ¹⁵ And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

¹⁶ But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning! ¹⁷ Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸ I urged Titus, and sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?

¹⁹ Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification. ²⁰ For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults;²¹ lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.

13 This will be the third time I am coming to you. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” ² I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare— ³ since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. ⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.

⁵ Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you are disqualified.

Friends, I know these are sobering words, but we need all of God’s word in order to know how to live right, don’t we? No part should be left out. In the passages above, Paul was dealing with a great deal of very serious sin within the church. We are not talking about the unbelievers who won’t step foot in a church. We are talking about people who are going to the meetings week after week and still living like the devil! Saints, this should not be.

So how can we examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith? There are several key signs that can make us question whether we have experienced the new birth or not. If we have not love for God or our fellow man, then how can the love of God be in us. The Bible is full of scriptures that we can look at to show us what it means to be a Christian. If we obey His commandments, then truly the love of God is in us – His Spirit…

 John 14:23

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

If we are not reading the Bible and seriously desiring to do what Jesus, our Master has told us to do, then we should think twice about when and if we really got born again. And what about folks who couldn’t care less about telling others about Jesus? If we have the Lord’s Holy Spirit living in us, then we will care deeply about ministering to people of every nation and tribe – not wanting anyone to go to hell. Just yesterday I met a gal at a portrait studio who, when I asked if she needed prayer, said she just wanted hope and health for her and her family. She finally admitted that though she prayed to God every day, she did not know Jesus as her Savior.

I had to explain to that sweet young lady that praying to God without having accepted Jesus as her Savior is like talking to the wall. The Lord cannot hear her prayers because Jesus, our High Priest and Savior is the only entry way we have into the presence of God to begin with. God cannot ‘hear’ the prayers of the wicked and acknowledge them without Jesus as the intercessor, by His atoning blood sacrifice. But thanks be to God, she made a decision right there on the spot to accept Jesus as her Savior so that she would have the hope that will not disappoint. Now she can know that she is headed for heaven. The Holy Spirit caught her and now He will clean her. But the thing is we have to be available as God’s ‘net’ to catch them.

Anyone who does not want to admit when they are wrong and ask forgiveness, or who is unteachable and completely defiant to the things of God even if they are showing up in church should stop and ask themselves the serious question, “When did I ask Jesus to be my Lord and Savior?” And if you are reading this right now and you have not literally asked Jesus to be Your Lord and Savior and forgive you of your sins and make you a new creation, there is no time like the present. The actual words are not nearly as important as the words you speak from the heart. God looks at the heart.

All I said to the Lord when I finally surrendered my life to Jesus was “Oh Lord, I am a mess. Will You fix me?” And He responded immediately. I was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to want to read the Bible with a passion like never before. I wanted to tell others about Jesus. And I have not been the same since. If we admit we have personally sinned and even state how we have sinned, asking Him to forgive us, He will respond quickly to help us. Our God wants everyone to be saved.

The church should be oozing love toward one another. Not having back biting, strife and contentions, which are all characteristics of the devil. This is how people will know that we are his…

John 13:35

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 Maybe most of the people reading this study are truly saved and to you this does not apply. But if you know anybody who may be “on the fence” so to speak, perhaps you will consider sharing this with them. We have all known people close to us in the church who seem to be struggling with their walk with Christ. We have all struggled ourselves at one time or another. 

Won’t you pray about who you can share this Bible study with? And not just today’s lesson, but for every day. There are people all over the world who need to grow up in the Lord since the end of all things is so near. Be kind to someone you know and share this with them. It is all in a spirit of deep love that a heart cries out to another, “Come and give your life to Jesus. You will be so glad you did!!”

Part 2 – God Is With The Righteous

The next important point in today’s chapter is that God is with the righteous – the ones who really love Him and value Him highly. He is a refuge for the poor – hallelujah! I know what it means to be poor – in spirit and financially, and God does not take pleasure in us being either one of those things. Hallelujah! Here are some verses that show His presence and protection for the poor and those who love Him. It is lengthy but is well worth reading. God’s word always is...

2 Samuel 22:2-51

² And he said:

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; ³ The God of my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence.
⁴ I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁵ “When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
⁶ The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. ⁷ In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears.

⁸ “Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because He was angry. ⁹ Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it. ¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under His feet. ¹¹ He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He was seen upon the wings of the wind. ¹² He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. ¹³ From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled.

¹⁴ “The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. ¹⁵ He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning bolts, and He vanquished them. ¹⁶ Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered, at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

¹⁷ “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. ¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; or they were too strong for me. ¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. ²⁰ He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

²¹ “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands
He has recompensed me.
²² For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
²³ For all His judgments were before me; and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
²⁴ I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.
²⁵ Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His eyes.

²⁶ “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
²⁷ With the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.
²⁸ You will save the humble people; but Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

²⁹ “For You are my lamp, O Lord; the Lord shall enlighten my darkness. ³⁰ For by You I can run against a troop; by my God I can leap over a wall. ³¹ As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

³² “For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? ³³ God is my strength and power,
And He makes my way perfect. ³⁴ He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.
³⁵ He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁶ “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.
³⁷ You enlarged my path under me; so my feet did not slip.

³⁸ “I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
³⁹ And I have destroyed them and wounded them, so that they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet.
⁴⁰ For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me those who rose against me.
⁴¹ You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me.
⁴² They looked, but there was none to save; even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
⁴³ Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, and I spread them out.

⁴⁴ “You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people; You have kept me as the head of the nations.
A people I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁵ The foreigners submit to me; as soon as they hear, they obey me.
⁴⁶ The foreigners fade away, and come frightened from their hideouts.

⁴⁷ “The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation!
⁴⁸ It is God who avenges me, and subdues the peoples under me; ⁴⁹ He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man.
⁵⁰ Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.

⁵¹ “He is the tower of salvation to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore.”

If we are born again, then we are David’s descendants and the seed of Abraham. And that means that all of these promises are for us right now. If God be for us…

Romans 8:31

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Yes, our God is with those who are righteous. He is the Helper of the poor. No matter what evil people try to do, God is for us when we cry out to Him. If anyone doubts this, they need only listen to the countless testimonies of those who have trusted in Him. I have seen firsthand how God helps us. I have given my testimony. The Lord has been my refuge and strength on countless occasions and I praise Him because He is always faithful. Just this evening I was dealing with a situation and did not know how to work it out. I was starting to get irritated and so I prayed and asked for help.

Sure enough, He stepped in and helped me to discuss the matter with the other party and the issue was quickly and smoothly resolved. Friends, we have an awesome, powerful and loving God. He has the ability to guide us and lead us to make the right decisions. But we have to go to Him. Our chapter today says that God is the refuge for the poor. I could show you numerous verses that state the same. Our Samuel verses certainly show this. But if we do not go to Him, we will be on our own. Let’s all try to remember that He is ready, willing and able to help us every moment of every day. Hallelujah!

Part 3 – The Savior

Of all the components in this tiny set of verses, this one is the most profound. Without our Savior, nothing else written would apply to us. We would be counted as the wicked who are perishing – yuk! At the end of this Psalm, David was crying out for the salvation to come to Israel. In fact, salvation would come from Israel, or Mt. Zion, known as the holy city, or the earth’s counterpart of the throne of God. Back in David’s time the people were in bondage and had not yet experienced Jesus – the one true Savior. 

He longed for the righteous people to be set free and to see the wicked destroyed. He had a heart for people. That is one reason he was known by God as a man after His own heart. This relates well to our earlier discussion in that if we do not have a heart for people, we have to ask ourselves the question, do we really have God’s Spirit living inside of us?

Before Jesus came, the Lord dealt with the people through priests and prophets. He gave the people instruction on what to do so they could be freed from captivity. They usually blew it pretty bad and ended up in captivity more than once, or even twice, yes, even several times. I can relate. But God always showed mercy toward those who cried out to Him with a sincere heart of repentance.

 And it is still the same today. There was never anyone on earth who could save themselves. There was no amount ‘good deeds’ or prayers or money or anything except the salvation through Jesus that could keep a man’s spirit from spending an eternity in hell. There would never be any other name under heaven by which men could be saved; and that name is Jesus. God answered the cries of David, and so many others. He sent to Zion a Redeemer. Look at this…

Luke 1:67-75

Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸ “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, ⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, ⁷⁰ as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began, ⁷¹  that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, ⁷²   to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, ⁷³ the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear, ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

We have had people all along who were used by God to speak to the people about the promised coming Messiah. But the majority would not listen. Those who didn’t care about the things of God did not care about the coming Savior. This also takes us back around to the beginning of today’s chapter. They did not seek God – none were good. All of us need Jesus. Without Him we are headed for an eternity in the place of the dammed. But that was never God’s desire or choice. He gave man free will to choose the promised Savior or reject Him. And the Lord never forces anyone to do anything.  But for those who would honor and love God, there would be hope – a hope that would never disappoint…

Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Like the lady I was blessed to talk to at the portrait studio yesterday, our hope in Jesus will never disappoint. We will always have Him to depend on – that is, as long as we choose Him. We must remember that a person has to work out their salvation. There have been those who have tasted the goodness of God and been filled with the Holy Spirit, and later turned away and gone back into the world. For them, there would be no hope. While nobody can snatch us out of the hand of our Savior, we can always choose to walk away. But oh friends, why would we ever think of walking away from the greatest gift of all – so great a salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord?

It is the firm hope we have for eternity. The Lord wants to restore everything in our lives. Though all of us have sinned and fallen short of His glory, each of us gets the opportunity to come to Him and repent. He is so good! He leaves no person out of the equation either. From the penthouse to the most remote village of people on the face of the planet, God is our Salvation, our refuge, our strength. Maybe you have felt like David – angry at seeing the wicked get away with “murder” and wanting to see them done away with.

But now that we know that salvation is for everyone, you and I have a chance to speak to people all the time about Jesus. We don’t have to look far. We don’t have to go on a mission trip to a faraway country to win the lost. They are right here in our own back yard. They are in our workplaces, our families, at the grocery store, the dry cleaners, the restaurants. They are everywhere. Now that we know the way of salvation, let’s think about who we can talk with about Jesus. If we pray and ask God to give us His divine appointments, He will eagerly provide. He is looking for people who will go out. Like David said at the end of our Psalm, we can rejoice because salvation has come to us – hallelujah! That’s well worth shoutin about saints!

Questions:

What is the key point in Part 1?

What does the Bible say about all people in this chapter?

What is the key point in Part 2?

List some ways that God helps us as listed in the Samuel verses.

Who are we the descendants of?

Who are we the seed of?

What does Romans 8:31 promise us?

List some ways that God has helped you when you asked Him to.

What role does God play to the poor as mentioned in this chapter?

Describe the ‘nugget’ in Part 3.

Describe Zion or Mt. Zion.

List one reason David was known as a man after God’s own heart.

What part do we have to play in our salvation as discussed in this this lesson?

Matthew 9:35-38

³⁵ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people ³⁶ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then He said to His disciples,“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸ Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

There is no one who is good enough to get to heaven on their own without Jesus

God is with the righteous and a refuge for the poor

The Savior has come to Israel and all the world – His name is Jesus

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for giving us Jesus – the salvation by which all men can be saved. Father, I praise You for being my refuge, my strength, and yes, my everything. Lord, I want to be sure that I am saved and be able to help others know about the hope that will not disappoint when Judgment Day comes. Show me if there is anything I have not seen in working out my own salvation. Show me who I can tell about Your Son Jesus. And as You do Lord, I will purpose to listen to the leading of Holy Spirit and tell them what You want them to hear so they too can be saved. Bring glory to Yourself in me Lord in Jesus name! Amen.

Have you told someone about Jesus lately?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks…

                         

Joel 2:21-24

Fear not, O land;
Be glad and rejoice,
For the Lord has done marvelous things!
²² Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field;
For the open pastures are springing up,
And the tree bears its fruit;
The fig tree and the vine yield their strength.
²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion,
And rejoice in the Lord your God;
For He has given you the former rain faithfully,
And He will cause the rain to come down for you—
The former rain,
And the latter rain in the first month.
²⁴ The threshing floors shall be full of wheat,
And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.