Monthly Archives: August 2019

Faithful During Grief

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International Sunday School Lesson September 8, 2019 Fall #2

1 Samuel 1:9-20
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”
18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”

 

Faithful During Distress

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International Sunday School September 1, 2019 Fall Quarter #1

Genesis 19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

Genesis 19:4-5 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom–both young and old–surrounded the house. (5) They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

Genesis 19:15-26 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.” (16) When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them. (17) As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” (18) But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! (19) Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. (20) Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it–it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.” (21) He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. (22) But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.) (23) By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. (24) Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah–from the LORD out of the heavens. (25) Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities–and also the vegetation in the land. (26) But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Marriage: A Covenant of Mutual Love

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International Sunday School Lesson August 25, 2019

Ephesians 5:20-33  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  (21)  submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  (22)  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  (23)  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  (24)  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.  (25)  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,  (26)  that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,  (27)  so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  (28)  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  (29)  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,  (30)  because we are members of his body.  (31)  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  (32)  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  (33)  However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 

Covenant to Marry

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International Sunday School August 18, 2019

Ruth 3:1-6  Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?  (2)  Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.  (3)  Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.  (4)  But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”  (5)  And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”  (6)  So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

Ruth 3:8-12  At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!  (9)  He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”  (10)  And he said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.  (11)  And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.  (12)  And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I.

Ruth 3:16-18  And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,  (17)  saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’”  (18)  She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.”

 

A Mother-Daughter Covenant

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International Sunday School August 11, 2019 Summer #11

Ruth 1:6-11  Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.  (7)  So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.  (8)  But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.  (9)  The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.  (10)  And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”  (11)  But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?

Ruth 1:14-18  Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.  (15)  And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”  (16)  But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  (17)  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”  (18)  And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.