Matthew 6

We are finally in the New Testament, can I get an Amen? We've got to have some Jesus here on our blog!
If your Bible looks like mine, pretty much the entirety of Matthew 5-7 is red. You may have heard of this section before referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, because the beginning of Matthew 5 says that Jesus is teaching the crowds from a mountainside. How did they ever think of that name? After he finishes his sermon in chapter 7 it says that the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority, not as their teachers of the law, the Pharisees. In fact you may notice quite a bit of his messages are focused on rebuking the Pharisees. And if you read about how they were treating the people, it won't take long to figure out why.

We're just going to look at a small segment of it together, but I encourage you to read all of chapters 5-7 at some point. I bet you will find some of it familiar and I'm pretty sure Andy has taught on different parts of it from time to time.  
We are going to look at Matthew 6:5-15. This section is about prayer and it includes the Lord's Prayer. We will talk more about prayer when we start back up at the end of the summer, so this is a good chance to get our feet wet. 

Before we get started, let's ask God to help us as we read.
Lord, I ask you to guide us as we read your word. I pray that we would learn from you and learn about you. Please draw us closer to you as we seek you. Please fill our hearts as we read your word. Please help us to interpret it and understand it. We love you. Amen.

Dig in!

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰ your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us today our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,^[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Pick a question and share your own thoughts and questions: 

What did you notice as you read this that you have not noticed before?

What can we learn about Jesus from this passage?

What has surprised you or stumped you?

What do you want to try to do or change about what you're doing regarding prayer after reading this? 

We'd love to hear from you!

brooke

Joshua 10

Oh, were you hoping we were done with the Old Testament? No way! Ha ha.

We have a little more context going into this story now that we have read Joshua 9. We're only going to read part of Joshua 10 so feel free to read the whole chapter on your own if you want to see a cool story about the sun standing still. We are going to follow up from Joshua 9 with the consequences of their decision to let the Gibeonites live without praying about it. Please read the passage below and answer questions or add your own feedback.

God please guide us as we read your Word. Please help us to see what you want us to see in it. Thank you for this group and the privilege to learn about you together and to share what we hear from you. Amen.

Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies. ² He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters. ³ So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon. ⁴ “Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

⁵ Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.

⁶ The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”

⁷ So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men. ⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”

⁹ After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise. ¹⁰ The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.



Here are some questions to think about as you reflect on this chapter. Feel free to pick one to answer as a comment for all of us to see, ask a question of your own or tell us your thoughts.

• What did you see in the passage for the first time?
• What surprised you?
• What bothered you?
• What did you learn about God?
• What did you learn about loving God?
• Did anything in your life come to mind as you read?

I’d love to hear your take!  

brooke 

Joshua 9

Our first sampling of Scripture comes from the book of Joshua. I love the book of Joshua. It is full of exciting stories that portray the best and worst of humanity and the faithfulness of God. Let me quickly set the scene. God is finally about to lead the Israelites into the promised land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. Moses has died and Joshua is their brave and faithful leader. Keep in mind this was a very violent time. God actually told them to conquer everyone in the promised land. This is where we pick up the story.

Read the passage below and remember, try not to get bogged down with details. As our Spiritual Growth study book says, “read the Bible with the intent of knowing God better,” not to memorize all of the details.
 
Let’s say a quick prayer before you dive in. 
Lord, please speak to us as we read your Word. Thank you for providing it for us so we can hear from you. We want to know you better. Amen. 

Enjoy!

Now when all the kings west of the Jordan heard about these things [from the previous chapters of Joshua]—the kings in the hill country, in the western foothills, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea as far as Lebanon (the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites) [don’t get lost with all these names, keep reading!]— 2 they came together to wage war against Joshua and Israel.

3 However, when the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, 4 they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded[a] with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. 5 They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. 6 Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us.”

7 The Israelites said to the Hivites, “But perhaps you live near us, so how can we make a treaty with you?” 8 “We are your servants,” they said to Joshua. But Joshua asked, “Who are you and where do you come from?”

9 They answered: “Your servants have come from a very distant country because of the fame of the LORD your God. For we have heard reports of him: all that he did in Egypt, 10 and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan—Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 11 And our elders and all those living in our country said to us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, “We are your servants; make a treaty with us.”’ 12 This bread of ours was warm when we packed it at home on the day we left to come to you. But now see how dry and moldy it is. 13 And these wineskins that we filled were new, but see how cracked they are. And our clothes and sandals are worn out by the very long journey.”

14 The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD. 15 Then Joshua made a treaty of peace with them to let them live, and the leaders of the assembly ratified it by oath.

16 Three days after they made the treaty with the Gibeonites, the Israelites heard that they were neighbors, living near them. 17 So the Israelites set out and on the third day came to their cities: Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim. [keep reading!] 18 But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the assembly had sworn an oath to them by the LORD, the God of Israel.

The whole assembly grumbled against the leaders, 19 but all the leaders answered, “We have given them our oath by the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them now. 20 This is what we will do to them: We will let them live, so that God’s wrath will not fall on us for breaking the oath we swore to them.” 21 They continued, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers in the service of the whole assembly.” So the leaders’ promise to them was kept.

22 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us? 23 You are now under a curse: You will never be released from service as woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

24 They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told how the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25 We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.”

26 So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them. 27 That day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the LORD at the place the LORD would choose. And that is what they are to this day.

Here are some questions to think about as you reflect on this chapter. Feel free to pick one to answer as a comment for all of us to see, ask a question of your own or tell us your thoughts.
These questions may sound familiar, they are from our Spiritual Growth study book.

• What did you see in the passage for the first time?
• What surprised you?
• What bothered you?
• What did you learn about God?
• What did you learn about loving God?
• Did anything in your life come to mind as you read?

I’ll respond to some of your comments, but hint hint, I underlined the part that stood out to me the most. I’d love to hear your take!  

brooke 

welcome to our blog

Hey girls, welcome to our blog! 

So glad you are here! First of all, didn't Amanda do an amazing job designing our blog! Studying the Bible is just more fun with a cool design like this!

Throughout the summer, I am going to post different passages of Scripture with a few questions so we can interact and share our thoughts as if we were all sitting in the same room. But it will be no fun if you don’t contribute! Please read the passage, think through the questions and leave a comment: what’s your take on the passage? And if you like the story, read the chapters before and after to get the bigger picture. I’m not going to give my commentary initially so I don't distract you from hearing from God for yourself first. 

So pour yourself a cup of something yummy, find a comfy seat, and pause and ask God to speak to you. Enjoy!

brooke