Answers – Luke 1:26-38 “Mary”

Luke Chapter 1 26-38 answers_Page_1

 

Click on the Answers sheet to view or download the Discussion part of this Bible Study.  Luke 1:26-38.  “Mary”

Click on the link below for the Audio of our Bible Study Lesson on this passage .

Luke Chapter 1 26-38 answers

Intense Evil – What is our Response?

This was in a Facebook post today from my friend, Karyl Entner:

“Grim details in an e mail from my cousin, veteran missionary, Jim Entner. He sent on an urgent request to pray for Christians in Iraq. Two separate missionaries contacted him with the prayer request. The ISIS is going house to house in a town Queragosh and asking the children if they know of Jesus and if they respond “yes” and refuse to renounce Jesus, they are immediatly beheaded in front of the parents, but they are leaving the parents. The UN who is supposed to be “peace keeping” has abondoned them and the missionaries and humanitarian workers.  Can you imagine having your children slain in front of you? I can’t begin to imagine it. It literally makes my heart hurt on their behalf. Had I not heart this from Jim myself, I could hardly believe it. Jim is in China and lives in communist danger all the time but not in fear of beheading. The ISIS seems to be so intensely evil.”

How do we respond to this?  Everything in us wants to fight back, but how?….or to run, but to where?….

Here’s how we as believers in Jesus have to respond:  Go quickly, today, and tell the story of Jesus to someone!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

Luke 1:18-25 – Answers and Audio Bible Study Discussion

Luke Chapter 1 18-25 answers_Page_1Click on image to the left to read the answers to the Luke 1:18-25 questions, posted here.

Click on the link below to listen to our group audio Bible Study discussion of this passage.

 

Questions You Have Asked: “How Come God Made the Solar System, Since We Can’t Use It?

A great question from Sofie,  a 9-year-old girl:

“How come God made the solar system, since we can’t use it?”

If I was going to put this in my own words, here’s what I would say:  “What is the point of a solar system full of planets and stars which we will never be able to travel to?  Or…What could God’s purpose have been in creating some things we can’t even see? “

Here are my thoughts:

1.  One is that we probably are using the whole solar system, even though we may not know it. I’m thinking God knew, when he created our universe, that every piece of it would be necessary for our lives here on planet earth.  For instance, we know the sun is absolutely essential for our lives (heat and light), as is the moon (the movement of the seas and light at night).

I can trust that God knew from the beginning what would be necessary to keep me alive on planet earth, even though I may not ever be aware of it in my lifetime.  The curiosity God has given mankind  has meant that a lot about our universe has been discovered, but certainly not everything.  There’s still so very much more to learn about this universe God has made!  Maybe someday we’ll find out that the farthest reaches of the universe are totally necessary for us to keep breathing!  (Colossians 1:15-18)

 

2. The second is that perhaps this whole huge universe we live in will be used by us someday! If we are believers in Jesus we are going to live for eternity.  I’m guessing there might just be a few things for us still to discover and accomplish in our world after the LORD returns and there is no sin any more on planet earth.

I think the LORD will someday take our present earth and heavens, change them and cleanse them completely, and then put us in them to live, have fun, and start discovering!  Maybe someday in the New Heavens and Earth we will live on those far-away planets.  Who knows?  (Revelation 21)

 

3. Here’s my third thought: Some people think that perhaps there are outer-space-type-beings living on other planets right now.  They think that God might have put those other beings there.  In their thinking, that makes sense, because then there would be a purpose for the rest of the universe.

But I think scripture is pretty clear about the fact that when God made the heavens and the earth He put human life on only one planet – planet earth.  He gave earth just the atmosphere needed to sustain human life, and he gave earth just the amount of light it needed to sustain human life, and just the amount of weather, and just the amount of plants and animals….you see what I mean?  He didn’t give any other place in the universe just the right perfection for human life.

Life for human beings (not any other kind of beings) is what God had in mind when He created our whole universe.  Why?  Because He loved us human beings, and wanted us to love Him back.  Was God unable to make other kinds of beings for the universe?  Certainly not!  God can do anything.  But He didn’t !

He chose to make only one kind of intelligent being in the whole creation, able to love and be loved.   Human beings.  And he put them on planet earth.  He tells us all about it in Genesis 1-3.

Now, remember, Jesus was a human being.  He was also God.  He chose to come to earth as a human being and die as a human being so that He could set us free from the awful sin choice Adam and Eve made (human beings).  The Bible says He died once for sin (not twice or three times or 100 times for different kinds of being). (Romans 6:10)   He chose to make us – humans on planet earth – and to die for us – humans on planet earth – so that we could be with Him forever.   He is alive today, a perfect human being and also perfect God, sitting at the right hand of the Father.   (Revelation 3:21)

The only intelligent beings, able to love and be loved, created in the image of God….are us!

 

Questions You Have Asked: Why Does God Allow Suffering or Need?

Why does God allow suffering or need?

There are no accidents with God.  No “oops”!  He is never up in heaven wringing His hands.  If you don’t learn anything else from your reading and study of scripture, you can’t help but see that God has a plan.  He patiently, purposefully, and calmly brings that plan to pass.

From the 1st Chapter in Luke, we learn that Elizabeth and Zacharias were childless and had been in great pain for many years because of it.  Was Elizabeth and Zachariah’s deep suffering over childlessness a part of God’s plan?  Yes.  Does that mean God wanted them to suffer?  Did He get some sort of pleasure from their suffering?  Absolutely not.  Then why did He allow it?  Because He certainly could have given them a child long before He did, right?

I believe God could stop all suffering right this minute if He chose.  But if He did, He would have to destroy all sin and all the results of sin – and once He did that, the world as we know it would be gone, and there would be no more chances for anyone to believe.  It would be finished.

So, no, He doesn’t like it when we suffer.  But, yes, He does continue to allow it.  And YES!!!  There is a reason!  There is a purpose.  There is an end-result which we will someday be glad of.

Someone, somewhere, needs to get ready to meet Jesus, and yours or my suffering may play a part in that, just like Elizabeth and Zacharias’ suffering played a part in the perfect timing for the Savior to be introduced to His world.

Some of us may not be sure who was praying for us before we came to genuine faith in Jesus.  But many of us do remember who it was who told us about Jesus, or prayed with us as we gave our life to Him, or was preaching or teaching when we knew we must bend our knee before Him.

My Dad came to true belief in Jesus when I was 13.  His testimony of giving his life totally to God burned like a brand on my heart and mind.  My sister, Susan, became a follower of Jesus about that same time, and I know she prayed for me.  Pastor Dick Buck, was preaching 4 years later, when I was 17, when I realized Jesus had actually died for me.  That’s when I believed in Him and gave my life to Him.

My Dad, my sister, my Pastor – all of them were at the right place at the right time for me, getting me ready for the relationship with God which changed me into the person God always intended for me to be.

I am struck with this:  My sister came to know Christ at the time He chose for her.  My Dad came to know Christ at the time He chose for him.  My Pastor preached the message needed to reach my heart because Jesus had gotten him ready to preach that message at that time and in that place when I was ready to hear it.

When Jesus called me to faith in Him it wasn’t an accident of timing.  He knew exactly what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it, not just for me….but also so that my time of salvation would have the most impact on someone else.

Our joy in meeting and believing in Jesus is amazing…but it isn’t just for us.

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  Romans 8:28

Questions You Have Asked: Why Would Anyone Want to Hear My Story?

I’ve heard I should tell my story of knowing Jesus to others…but why would anyone want to hear my story?

Just look at the writers of the four Gospels in the New Testament.  Each one told his story because he knew his story would help change lives.  Not everyone wanted to hear their stories, and not everyone believed their stories.  But they just kept working on it and writing it down because they was convinced  many other people needed to know the facts of what they had learned about Jesus.

The same is true for you.  You may not have a riveting story, but that’s ok.  People don’t’ need to hear your story.   The story they need to hear is His story.

Talk about yourself in order to get the ball rolling, but tell the story of Jesus.

Here are 6 questions you can use to get your story organized and put into words.  Think of being interviewed, and someone is asking you each of these 6 questions.  Write out what your answer would be.  In your own words.  Just be honest and just be you.

  1. Where are you spiritually right now?
  2. When did you first start learning things about Jesus?
  3. Where did you learn those things?
  4. What are some of the things you have learned?
  5. As you learned about Him, how did this affect you – your feelings, attitudes, actions, and relationships?
  6. In this process of learning about Him, have you ever wanted Jesus to be more real to you…Have you ever wanted to just give your life to Him and let Him be the center of your life? (If you have, make this a part of your orderly account)

Here are the answers I gave to these questions:

  1. Where are you spiritually right now?

“At 66, I’m a little overwhelmed at the idea that I have been a believer in Jesus for just about 50 years.  How could it have been that long?   I know He’s with me all the time –  and that He’s been taking care of me for my whole life.  I would like to know Him better and better as I walk into my last 20 or so years, and I’m really anxious to finally see Him when I die.”

  1. When did you first start learning things about Jesus?
  2. Where did you learn those things?
  3. What are some of the things you have learned?

“Our family attended first the Catholic church, and then the Presbyterian church when I was a little girl, and then into my teens.  The name of Jesus was familiar to me, and of course I believed that God existed.  But that was about it – I knew a few facts.”

  1. As you learned about Him, how did this affect you – your feelings, attitudes, actions, and relationships?

“But at 17 I finally began to know more than facts.  I actually felt like He was communicating with me through the preaching at church and through what I read in the Bible.  My few facts suddenly were not enough – I wanted to know more about Him.  At that time I remember thanking Him for dying for me, and asking Him if He wanted my life.  I told Him I knew it probably wasn’t worth much, but I would love to serve Him.”

  1. In this process of learning about Him, have you ever wanted Jesus to be more real to you…Have you ever wanted to just give your life to Him and let Him be the center of your life? (If you have, make this a part of your orderly account)

“In Tucson, Arizona, 1965, in a church service, sitting in the audience, I gave my life to Jesus when I realized He had given His life for me. That’s when I became a Christian.  Before that I would have told you I was a Christian because I went to church, but I wasn’t. ”

Over the years, as I’ve read my Bible, I’ve learned much more of His life and death and resurrection, and I’ve learned that He lives in me because I believed in Him.  I’ve learned that He loves faith most of all, and that He has a whole bunch of people in the world whom He loves but they haven’t had faith in Him yet.  He yearns for them to hear of Him and have faith in Him.  So, because that’s what He wants so much, it’s what I want, too.