Week of May 29, 2016: Eli and Boy Samuel

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 1–3
Main Point: God spoke to Samuel.
Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22

Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

 

Christ Connection: Samuel told people what God is like. Jesus came to earth as a human. His life showed the world what God is like.

 

Hannah—an ordinary Israelite during the time of the judges—wanted nothing more than to be a mother, but the Lord had closed her womb. (1 Sam. 1:5) Hannah went up to the house of the Lord. She wept and prayed, asking God to give her a son and vowing to dedicate him to God. Hannah’s cries to the Lord were so fervent that Eli the priest rebuked her because he thought she was drunk.

 

I’ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord,” Hannah explained. Eli blessed Hannah and said, “May God answer your prayers.” God answered Hannah’s prayers. Hannah had a son. She named him Samuel, which means “requested from God.”

 

Hannah glorified God for His sovereignty. Samuel faithfully served God. Hannah visited Samuel each year and brought him a robe. Samuel responded to God's call: "Speak, for Your servant is listening".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week of May 22, 2016: Ruth and Boaz



Bible Passage: Ruth 1–4

Main Point: God gave Ruth a family.

Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22

Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

 

Christ Connection: Boaz helped his close relatives. Boaz was a family redeemer. He bought back what his relatives lost. Jesus is our Redeemer. He bought our salvation from sin by dying on the cross.

 

Only two books in the Old Testament bear the name of a woman: Ruth and Esther. Ruth’s story occurs at the time when judges ruled over Israel. God’s people were characterized by rebellion and immorality. At a time when the Israelites desperately needed a king to lead them back to God, Ruth’s story of faithfulness points us to Jesus Christ, a coming Redeemer who will make all wrong things right again.

 

Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi, a woman from Bethlehem who settled in Moab with her husband and two sons to escape a famine. Naomi’s husband died, and her two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. They lived in Moab for 10 years; then Naomi’s sons died.

 

Naomi heard that the Lord had provided food for His people during the famine, so she decided to go back to Judah. Naomi encouraged Orpah and Ruth to return to their families. Orpah returned home, but Ruth clung to Naomi. Ruth said, “Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). So Naomi and Ruth traveled back to Bethlehem together.

 

Naomi permitted Ruth to gather fallen grain in a field. The owner of the field was Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s late husband and a family redeemer. Boaz noticed Ruth and told her she could safely gather grain in his field. At Naomi’s urging, Ruth sought to be redeemed by Boaz. Boaz bought back the land Naomi and Ruth had lost when their husbands died, and he married Ruth. They had a son named Obed, whose grandson would be King David.

 

God gave Ruth—a foreigner—a special place in the lineage of Jesus Christ.  He bought for us salvation, paying the price with His very own blood.

 

Week of May 15, 2016: Samson

Bible Passage: Judges 13–16

Main Point: God made Samson strong.

Key Passage: Isaiah 33:22

Big Picture Question: Whom does God use in His plan? God uses people in His plan.

 

Christ Connection: Samson died because of his sin, but God used Samson’s death to help His people. Samson reminds us of Jesus. Jesus never sinned, but He died for our sin. Jesus died and rose again to rescue God’s people from sin and give them eternal life.

 

Samson was the last of the major judges of Israel. He was born to parents who dedicated him to the Lord as a Nazirite after the Angel of the Lord announced that Samson would be born to save the Israelites from the power of the Philistines. Samson grew up, and God blessed him with great strength. But when Samson requested to marry a Philistine woman, his parents were confused. Samson was supposed to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. Why would he want to marry one of them? But God had a plan in all of this.

 

As Samson prepared for the wedding, he gave a riddle to the men with him about an event that occurred on his way to Timnah. Days passed, and the men convinced Samson’s wife to tell them the answer to the riddle.

 

When the men solved his riddle, Samson was so angry that he torched the fields of the Philistines. He used the jawbone of a donkey to kill 1,000 men, and he left his wife. The Philistine leaders determined to kill Samson. When Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, the leaders bribed her into telling them where Samson’s strength came from.

 

A man came and shaved the braids from Samson’s head. He lost his strength and became helpless. The Philistines gouged out his eyes and took him prisoner. They had him stand between the pillars of a pagan temple. In a final plea to God, Samson asked for his strength back. God gave him strength, and Samson knocked over the pillars, collapsing the temple. In his death, Samson killed more Philistines than he had killed in his life.

 

Though Samson disobeyed God, God used him to accomplish His purpose of delivering the Israelites from the Philistines. Jesus would come as the last Deliverer, saving through His life and His death those who would trust in Him.