Content for our Prayers

• Used to be prayer book throughout history until hymns came along. 

• We mostly use it in devotions only. 

• NT (teach us how to pray) vs Psalms (teach us what to pray)

​

​

Room for Lamenting

• Arise from a sense of despair triggered by serious, persistent situations. 

​

The cycle: 

Praise: This is who God is, I praise. (but experience in life contradicts what I know about God.)

Lament: my understanding of God is shallow, I'm in distress etc

Thanksgiving: God intervened and delivered or my understanding of God is deepened.

​

REFLECTION:

1) How do we judge if a song is good or not? Does it draw out God's character? We don't have the melodies to Psalms just lyrics. We need to worship in reality, not just feel good. Use lyrics to teach theology.

​

2) Despair and lamenting helps me work through my shallow understanding of God. We need to wrestle with honest doubts and not live with superficial believe.

​

3) As mentors we need to let people lament. Allow for the questions, facilitate the tough questions. Don't tell them what they should think because we are the safety nets that they can lament within, be okay with the negativity. We don't solve problems for them but teach them to turn to God. Don't short circuit the cycle that they should go through to understand God personally!!! 

eg. Don't tell them that "God works things out for those who love Him". Let them wrestle with it, and if they say it themselves, we know they grew deeper in understanding.  

​

​

SONG OF SONGS

​

Theme

• Song of songs means the most beautiful song. (eg. King of Kings, Holy of Holies)

• Celebration of the male-female love relationship established by God and goodness of human sexual love expressed within the confines of God-ordained marriage. 

• Because love is such a powerful expression, it needs boundaries to protect. (dont manipulate others to loving us, romantic love shouldn't be prematurely encouraged in a relationship etc) 

• Key Verse: Song of Songs 8:6-7

• Don't have to spiritualize our interpretations just because we are uncomfortable with it. It;s a book that celebrates legitimate sexual love between young husband and wife. 

​

Sex in the Modern World

• Two extremes (sexual openness as long as there's self fulfillment or sex as unclean)

• Know what God thinks about sex so that in my own life, I know how to approach it. 

• It is not the most vital thing stifled through marriage or an evil thing made permissible by marriage. The bible acknowledges its potential for great beauty and proclaims it as a good thing that needs to be protected through marriage. 

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1) What is your view of sexuality? Your views or feelings about sexuality do not change automatically simply you became a Christian. It requires intentional renewing of your mind. (chi culture of being conservative might lead to the same outcome as what the Bible says But doesn't mean that my perspective is biblical)   

​

​

LESSON 2 (Poetic Books: Words of Wisdom)

​

​Summary
Proverbs: "God will bless me when I do what is right"

Job: "God allows me to suffer even though I'm right"

Ecclesiastes: "Whether I suffer or not, Life is meaningless without God" 

​

​

PROVERBS

​

Every Proverb is true but it might not be true in every circumstance.

​

- Proverbs is a collection of short sayings instructing the reader how to live well. 

​

Theme

•  Equips us in practical wisdom, discernment, discipline and discretion. (everyday life, how to relate to God, parents, children, neighbours and government)

• The starting point of wisdom is reverence of God. 

​

Religion and the Everyday Life

• 1:7, 2:5, 3:7, 8:13 etc shows the importance of showing reverence to God. 

• When moral elements are isolated from religious foundations, the pursuit of happiness or success then becomes selfish, inward looking and self defeating. 

• Our only response is to submit to God not to bargain. 

​

Proverbs and Universal Wisdom

• The main difference about Proverbs is that it doesnt have clear and historical reference to Israel's election, temple theology etc.)

• It is hence universal, showing that God created us and we all share the same sense of what is good and evil. (consider using proverbs to reach out to pre believers)

• Proverbs are not promises, they are principles. (must happen vs generally will happen but not always)

​

REFLECTION:

 1) How useful and tangible is your Christian faith in your life? Can people around you see the differences in your values, your relationships and your conduct? Word of God should be permeable to all areas in our lives. If your non believing friends need to use one word to describe you, what would they say? (sometimes making a decision for God will cost you more, but do so because you fear God.)

​

2) Certainty vs Normality. Do the contradictions we experience in life imply that the teachings of the Scriptures cannot be trusted? What is the diffference between something being certain and something being a norm? WHY do you obey the teachings of the Scriptures? (Because of who God is, we know that what is written will happen. The tension is we do not know when or how) 

​

​

JOB

​

Don't settle for superficial faith and sweep what I don't like under the carpet with Christian jargon. 

- Because Job and his friends were ignortant of Satan's challenge to God, it contains alot of bad theology and misapplied truths. READ in light of the message and purpose of the entire book. 

 

Theme

•  No textual claims that Job is the author. 

• 42:16. Job lived more than 140 years, was the priest of his family. 

• Absence of any reference to nation Israel suggests a pre-Mosaic date. 

• Job is super careful to be righteous, he even makes sacrifices for sins that he might have committed without knowing. 

• Exploring why righteous suffer and wicked prosper. (How can God be just in a world where good people suffer, when unjust men flourish)

• The limitation of human wisdom to fully understand the ways of God. 

• The climax was Job's encounter with God. Wisdom pursues the knowledge of God but wisdom never fully grasp it. Job's questions were not answered but removed in this encounter with God. 

• Ultimate wisdom lies not in finding answers but in the encounter with the living God. 

​

Sovereignty of God

•  God puts a limit. Satan could do anything except the limits that God put. 

• Divine sovereignty refutes the understanding of divine retribution (aka it's not true that one's spirituality equal to ones prosperity on earth. God is not a formula. 

• God is fully sovereign and fully good. He is not obligated to bless those who obey Him but it's out of his good nature and free will. 

• Job insisted on being innocent. His righteousness was more important than his well being. 

• Faulty theologies are subtle but are poison to us (comapre theology of Satan and Job's friends) 

• 1 Tim 4:16. Life: Action, speech and decisions in life. Doctrine: Regularly ask myself why I do certain things, allow people to challenge our mindset. 

​

​

Relationship between Faith and Suffering

•  We see the emotional struggle of job from the depths of despair and the heights of triumphant faith. 

• In the epilogue (Job 42), Job's faith proves genuine. His trials have not destroyed or eroded his faith but he emerges triumphant with a humble faith. 

• Righteous sufferer. (1) The inherent sinfulness of the human race 5:6, 7, 15:14, 16 (2) the accusation that God is unjust (9:22-24) and (3) the limitations of human understanding (11:7-9) 

• The uniqueness of this book is not the approach to the problem of suffering but the revelation of the sovereign God to whom everyone must properly relate. Sufferer and non sufferers must humbly trust in God's sovereign grace. 

• Every time God reveals Himself, it requires a response. When God revealed His sovereignty, Job responded. When I claim Jesus is Lord, I respond that i'm His servant. 

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  Ultimate wisdom lies not in finding answers but in the encounter with the living God. 

2) 'You can't even fully understand what you see. What more those you can't see. Am I not the creator of what's seen and unseen?' 

3) Is my obedience conditional on circumstances? What can satan introduce into my life to make me disobey God. 

4) Is my theology about God faulty? 

5) There are times when we read Job that we really question if Job still puts his faith in God. What really is faith? Can someone visually see your faith when you are going through tough times? What about when you are going through prosperous times?  James 4:13-16. Know the difference between making plans and living life, be excellent but not too confident that you can do no wrong and that you're invincible. 

6) Job paints a raw, honest faith that questions God's justice. Do I have this kind of authenticity and genuineness as I approach God? God can take our attacks because He knows I can't understand. 

​

​

ECCLESIASTES

​

 - Ecclesiastes means assembly or the one who addresses an assembly. The pessimistic tone is consistent with Solomon's spiritual state at that time (1 Kings 11) 

- Solomon turned to idolatry but repented and that changed his outlook on success and achievements. 

- Song of Songs (early years, express a young man love). Proverbs (in his mature yeras, middle aged man's wisdom.) Ecclesiates (during his declining years, probably a record of his regret and repentance)

 

Theme

•  Finding self fulfilment or the meaning of life in a seemingly meaningless existence. Demonstrates that life is futile without God. 

• Man left to his own strategies will always find life empty, frustrating and mysterious. Meaning and significance can be found in fearing God. Frustrations can be replaced with contentment through fellowship with God. 

• 12:13. Our entire duty. 

​

Fear of the Lord

•  Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes all emphasize the fear of the Lord. 

• Proverbs (to begin to understand God's wisdom, you need to fear Him). 1:7

• Job (in the process, keep doing the right thing because you fear the Lord. fear God to continue in righteousness) 28:28

• Ecclesiastes (fear of the Lord is for you to finish well. The church will first be judged before the world is judged) 12:13-14. 1 Peter. 

​

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  "Christ is enough". Is it 50/50 just enough to pass? Gospel is just enough to go heaven? Gospel is the bare minimum in life,) or the 100/100 in Colossians. We don't need to add more things, enough and can't add anything already. It's sufficient and full. 

​

​

LESSON 3 (Prophetic Books: Rise of the Assyrians)

​

Names used for the prophets

1) Prophet (person delivering God's message with His authority, God's mouthpiece)

2) Seer (one who sees/perceives in a vision) 1 Sam 9:9

3) Others (man of God, watchman, messenger of YHWH) 
 

Types of prophets

1) Wrote the OT (aka classical prophets, either they write or their disciple/scribes write) OT STANDARDS: if anything you say don't come to pass, you die.

2) Prophets who did not write scripture (eg. elijah, elisha, samuel. Served as voices of God to the king, confront the kings about their behaviors and consequences) 

3) Prophets in NT (agabus etc). when we interpret msg from God, we must distinguish clearly what's from God and what's from me. Test all prophecy, don't set people up for disappointments unless REALLY from God!!

​

Characteristics

1) Closeness to God (recognize God's voice, interpret God's msg correctly and share same burden as God)

2) Knowledge of God's Word 

3) Faith (responsibility to TRUTH. say the TRUTH. your job is not to be popular)

4) Faithfulness and obedience (Jer 23:28 & Jer 26:2) 

5) Courage (God's ways are different from man's ways and God's Word can be opposite to man's ideas) 

6) Humility (God use everyone, you're not special just because God use you. Affirm not the gifts but the faithfulness) 

7) Love and Compassion 

 

Prophetic Perspective

- it's both foretell (use future for a response now) & forthtell (use now for a response now) 

- eg. MICAH 4-5 is spanned across hundreds of years. 
 

​

JONAH

​

 - Main message is not something he spoke but what he encountered 

​

BG

- theological message is more important than historical details

​

Theme

- God teaching His reluctant prophet about compassion. (God ask Jonah to preach to the Nineveh; his enemies aka ISIS) 

- Jonah has to look beyond his nation and trust the Creator of all people. 

​

Universality of God and His redemptive purpose

- Jonah 2:9 God extends his salvation to all who repent and turn to Him. 

- Nineveh was a big city, Jonah going there is like from Ubin go UK to preach. 

​

Sovereignty of God 

- Creator (1:9), controller of universe (1:12), prayer answering God (2:2, 6-7), merciful God (3:10 and 4:2)

​

God hnours repentance of Sin

- Jonah repented the first time (chpt 2) but we dk if he repented the second time. 

The disobedience of Jonah contrasted with the faith of mariners; Jonah's selfish concern for the plant against God's compassion and care for the Ninevites

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  Heart of missions goes beyond physical or economic well being. How do you bring God's love to nations or peoples who do not seem to need it? What is the bigger picture? (easy for us to go less developed country and feel sympathetic) 

​

2) There is a 'Jonah' in every one of us, an 'inner demon' who is constantly instigating us to run away from what we know we should be doing. Are you running away from a Call? Are there implications of God's call that you are unwilling to accept? Running away from God's call implies running away from God Himself. 

​

3) Don't live in an illusion that we are in a intimate relationship with God. When we are on our deathbed with everything I have will I worry ' I did not do what I was supposed to do'. Decide what you want to hear on the other side and decide what you want to do now. 

​

​

AMOS

​

 - not a 'professional' prophet who says what the kings want to hear

​

BG 

- in the days of Jeroboam II, Assyrian king removed power of Damascus and Syrian threat from Israel, Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel extended their boundaries almost to those of David and Solomon

- Trade and commerce flourished, Successes inspired national pride but they did not attribute this to God

- Poor were deprived and oppressed while rich lived in luxury

- Religion became formalistic (going through the motion of religion, just to feel that they're right with God) 

​

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  We live in an age when many activist group exist to champion different social causes. How relevant are these causes with respect to the spreading of the Gospel? (permanent solution is Gospel. Put a plaster - social cause but do the surgery (gospel) 

​

2) Do we lower our standards too much? (from giving one another which is the basic requirement to loving your enemy - how we set ourselves apart from the other religions that do good) NOT TO SIN vs DO GOOD vs DO GOD'S (only christians can do God's) 

​

​

HOSEA

​

​

BG 

- highlights his tragic marriage

- God asked Hosea to marry Gomer, an adulterous woman and bear children with her. 3 children and naming of them symbolised God's rs with Israel. Israel commited adultery by straying to worship idols. 

- story of one sided love and faithfulness in the rs between Israel and God. (Gomer married to Hosea; Israel betrothed to God. Gomer ran after other men, Israel ran after other gods) 

​

Knowledge of God

- Root of Israel's spiritual and moral problem is the lack of acknowledgement and knowledge of God. Knowledge of God is not merely knowing God but being properly related to Him in love and obedience. Not more information about God but a stronger desire for fellowship with God.

- They dk God = they can't obey (how can you love a God that you don't really know). I need to keep increasing in knowing God if now I can only respond THAT much, stucked

​

Futility of Mere Religion

- Israelites were just keeping outward forms, did not live their lives for God. 

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  Understand what goes on behind the sin. not just justify or excuse the sin but be sympathetic

2) God use rules to help us understand (eg. father, mother, marriage). Reflect on your life experiences to truly understand the heart and mind of God

3) What is the value of studying Scriptures especially in a seemingly academic fashion? Isit just head knowledge and not useful for faith relationship with God? 

4) God is not against religion but empty religion. We can perform religions acts without inner engagement.  

​

​

LESSON 4 (Prophetic books: Dominance of the Assyrians)

​

​

MICAH

 

BG

- Micah was probably a countryman, peasant farmer (Micah 1:1-8).

- Prophesied juts before and after the fall of the Northern Kingdom. 

- He aimed to stir up people to practice genuine religion characterized by righteous living. His audience were people whoere rich and claimed to know God, but in reality their hearts were far from Him. 

​

God and the practice of true religion

- When God accused His people of breaking the covenant (6:1-5), they gave a seemingly religious response (6:6-7) only to be rebuked by God that such things do not please Him (6:8).

- What do we think about when we take holy comm? Once something is profanned, it's very difficult to make it sacred again. 

- What's the reason we go for water bapt? Was it complicated? the Only reason should be for God. 

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  It is often easy to esteem prophets like Isaiah among our midst (distinguished family, prominent ministry, easy of access to royal family and eloquent). What about prophets like Micah? How do you measure the ministers of God in your hands? IS our way for measuring our leaders secular? Evaluate them based on what they've done for the church, their faithfulness. Not eloquence (paul) and not size of ministry (jeremiah)

2) Riches is not always a blessing. Micah's audiences were rich and they thought is cause God bless them. 

3) Forgetfulness is one of the most deadly sins. Once you forget, part red sea, move mountains all will amount to nothing. That's why we have Rituals. To help us remember. (eg. water bapt. What promise did you make? What's the commitment you made? How do yo ukeep a promise you can't remember?) 

​

​

ISAIAH

 

BG

- like a conclusion to all the previous books (there's only one God who can save you)

- can find all the themes in NT here. 

- Prophecies are arranged thematically, not chronologically. 

- Isaiah was a scribe, keeper of official chronicle of the king. His impressive vocabulary showed that he had good education and knowledge of world affairs. 

 

Theme & Purpose

- "salvation" occurs 26 times in Isaiah. God was always the God of Israel prior to this. They thought God was small. Now in Isaiah, God is calling judgement on ALL the nations and their gods, it's a conceptual jump for the Israelite. 

​

The Coming Messiah

- Prepared people to recognize Christ. 

- His sovereignty (6:1 f), his birth and humanity (7:14, 9:6, 11:1), his ministry by the Spirit (11:2f), His divine nature (7:14, 9:6), Davidic descent (11:1), work of redemption as our substitute (53). Three of the most important passages are 7:14, 9:6-7 and 53:4-7. 

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  To ground a person in faith, he must be very very very very convicted about sin. Once I let go I will lose everything. Is the Gospel an option or your only hope? 

2) Isaiah's main message is that of salvation from the Lord, but in order for his message to be heeded, he needed to convict his people of wrongdoings and warned them of a coming judgment. Do we twist the Gospel to make it what people want to hear? If so, what can't I twist to teach them in the future? Why do we make News to Good news by adding additional things? Because we didn't share the bad news. If we know we're going to be judged, being freed is already good news. (Romans 1-3), no other hope and desperate - share good news. 

3) How do we bring people to face God's holiness honestly? Are we at times afraid to call a sin "a sin"? Have we become too 'sensitive' that we are not hitting the nail where it will hurt? 

​

​

ZEPHANIAH

 

Day of the Lord

- Signify a time in which God will actively intervene in history, primarily for judgment. 

- Zephaniah's oracle likened the day to a banquet in which those who expect to be guests become victims. Judah mistakenly assumed that God would vindicate them but GOd's true aim is to vindicate His own righteousness. (GOD MUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT. NOT SAVE YOU AT ALL COST). 

​

Pride

- God hates pride and people's only hope is to recognize their own fragility. Pride is the declaration of spiritual independence from GOd. 

- Like Laodecia, no longer a deep sense of dependence on God. 

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  What does it take to stir you to repentance? Judah heard the prophetic messages of Isaiah but still plummeted towards a point of no return. THere were also people who were simply complacent about the whole situation, refusing to be stirred by their plight towards repentance (1:12). 

2) How have you been praying? Do you sense that you need God? "God, if you don't show up Im done" 

​

​

NAHUM

 

BG

- Deals primarily with a foreign kingdom, it's a book to comfort Judah because they were being oppressed. 

​

​

REFLECTION:

 1)  If A sin against B, A must pay for it. If A is a christian, A must still pay for it. But God pay for A. So, God is just to B and justifier to A. Just because you forgive someone doesn't mean that person don't have to account for that sin. 

​