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Lifeline Bible Study

Daily Scripture Readings:  Job 13, 14;  Acts 17, 18

S (Scripture that God has pointed out in my reading today.)

 O (Observations: What I have learned from my reading that God has revealed?)

A (Application:  How can I use what God has said in my life today?)

P (Prayer:  Thanksgiving, confession, needs)

Y ( Yield:  What areas of my life do I seek God help?)

DATE                                            TITLE                                                 PAGE

 10-25-07                                   “Growing”                                               5.

S:  “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again.  Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.”  Job 13: 7-9

O:. Job in chapter 13 verse 14 asks the question, “If mortals die, will they live again?”  In other words are we like the trees if cut down will we spring forth in new life?  Will we bud and put forth new branches like a young plant?  The key to our understanding is found in the words “ yet at the scent of water.”  That which brings forth the new life is the smelling  of the life giving water. 

Jesus bids us to come and to taste of the “Water of Life.” Water that will never dry up.  Water that will be replenished new each day.  But before we can taste of that water we must desire it, long for it, look for it.

Most of us have seen a tree that has been cut down and from it a small shoot begins to grow not from the root but from what appears to be dead, from the trunk.  What we do not see is what is going on beneath the surface.  The root system is still in place.  Even though cut down the tree still takes in nourishment through its root system.

In time of struggle when we may feel cut down it is our root system that sustains us and empowers us to spring up in life.

A: It is important for me to continue to grow my root system by studying God’s word, spreading out roots that are deep but also wide spread.  It is important that I make friends of others who are laying down a foundation for their life based upon God’s principles and God’s word for they can and will help me through the times when I struggle in life.

P: Lord, as I dig deeper into your word each day open my mind and my hearts that I would hear clearly what you would have me to hear.  Help me to do all that you ask me to do.  Send into my life those who would help me to grow up in my faith, and help me to see that even when I feel cut off, or cut down that there is a way to rise from that struggle stronger. May I smell you presence here today. AMEN.

Y: I yield time which you have given to me for studying your word.  I yield time to those who you place in my life to help me grow.

Daily Scripture Readings:  Job 11,12;  Acts 15,16

S (Scripture that God has pointed out in my reading today.)

O (Observations: What I have learned from my reading that God has revealed?)

A (Application:  How can I use what God has said in my life today?)

P (Prayer:  Thanksgiving, confession, needs)

Y ( Yield:  What areas of my life do I seek God help?)

DATE                                             TITLE                                                 PAGE

10-22-07                                   “Witness”                                                4.

S:  “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,  and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”  Acts 16:25-26.

O:. Despite the flogging Paul and Silas had endured they still sang out their praise to God and prayed to their God.  From their prison cell still locked in chains they gave such a mighty witness that the walls of the prison shook and everyone who was bound was set free of their bondage, that included the jailer, who was a prisoner of unbelief. Eyes and ears were opened and Gentile and his whole household came to Christ.

A: Under stressful situations how do we hold up?  What kind of a witness are we?  Are we able to pray and to sing through the storms of life? We never know who is watching or listening to us.  We never know whose heart may be opened and whose heart may be changed by our actions in difficult and even unbearable situations.  If we do not lose heart, but stay the course God is able to bring about victory. 

P:  Lord, it is difficult for me to pray through the storms of life and to be thankful in all circumstances.  It is difficult to sing praise when my world seems to be crumbling around me and I am a captive of my circumstance.  Lord, give to me the will to stay the course, the heart to praise you during the storm and fill me with love that is able to reach out to others even in the darkness.  Help me to wait upon you.  Amen.

Y:  Today I surrender those difficult circumstances to you, O God and in patience I trust and wait for release.

Daily Scripture Readings:  Job 9,10;  Acts 13, 14

S (Scripture that God has pointed out in my reading today.)

O (Observations: What I have learned from my reading that God has revealed?)

A (Application:  How can I use what God has said in my life today?)

P (Prayer:  Thanksgiving, confession, needs)

Y ( Yield:  What areas of my life do I seek God help?)

DATE                                            TITLE                                                 PAGE

10-21-07                                        “Suffering”                                              3.

S:  “Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eyes had seen me, and were as though I had not been.”  Job 10: 18-19.

O:.     In the time of suffering Job questions God’s intended purpose. Why had God given him life if God’s only intent was to build him up so that he could tear him down and hunt him like he was an animal?  God’s purpose seems cruel to Job and Job wants only to be left alone so that he might find some peace and rest before he leaves this earth behind.

Job reminds God, as if God needs to be reminded, that God is the one who fashioned him like the potter fashions the clay.  It is God who gave Job his DNA. He reminds God that he was the one who clothed him with skin and flesh, and knit him together with bones and sinews, and that God is the one who granted him life and steadfast love, and that God’s care has preserved Job’s spirit. He reminds God that he knows God had a purpose for his life, but Job does not understand why suffering must now be a part of his life.  He questions that perhaps it would have been better if he had not lived at all since it appears that his life has made no impact upon the earth and that he will die in disgrace.

This is the man who had said, “Should I accept the good and not the bad from God?” It sounds like Job is really struggling in his suffering with the question of, why? 

A: Job is having a huge “pity party” for himself.  When things do not go the way I expect them to go do I complain?  When I suffer affliction do I blame God and question God’s motives?  Do I ever find myself feeling it might have been better for me if I had not been born?  Do I feel that even in the times of suffering that God is still with me; that God cares for me and loves me? Do I look for ways that God might use my suffering? Do I see suffering as a punishment? How is my response like that of Job?

P:  Lord, I know that I live in a fallen world far different from the one your hands have made and that you envisioned.  Help me to remain faithful in times of suffering and help me to find ways that my suffering can be used to help others along the way.  Help me to find peace and rest in my present circumstance as I yield myself to you and your will and ways. Amen.

Y:  Baring my sin upon the cross your Son cried out feeling forsaken.  He felt the absence of your presence and then placed his spirit into your hands.  So today I place my spirit into your loving arms trusting in your way.

Daily Scripture Readings:  Job 6-8, Acts 12

S (Scripture that God has pointed out in my reading today.)

O ( Observations: What I have learned from my reading that God has revealed?)

A ( Application:  How can I use what God has said in my life today?)

P (Prayer:  Thanksgiving, confession, needs)

Y ( Yield:  What areas of my life do I seek God help?)

DATE                                          TITLE                                                 PAGE

10-20-07                                “Fervent Prayer”                                            2.

S:  “While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.”

                                                       - Acts 12: 5

O:  There are many things that we are not able to do on our own. We need the help of God and others. Peter, bound with two chains and sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in the front of the door were keeping watch over the prison found himself set free by the messenger God sent to deliver him from bondage. The gates of the prison opened of their own accord, as the church prayed. It was through the fervent prayers of those who loved Peter that God acted to free Peter from suffering and death and to release Peter from those who held him bound.

Sometimes, when God acts to deliver someone or ourselves from bondage we, the church, refuse to believe.  Like those who were in the house when Peter came knocking on the door, we fail to recognize the power of God working among us to release us from that which holds us captive. We pray, but do we pray believing that God is able to answer that prayer. Sometimes we give up when our prayer is not answered in the way we would have it answered or as quickly as we would like. Yet, as God was able through the prayers of many to free Peter, we too can find release through the fervent prayers of God’s people. When we find ourselves in what appears to be a hopeless situation, the prayers of others is able to sustain us until God brings release.

A:  Who is it that God wants me to pray for today? Do I trust God enough to believe that God is fully able to answer my prayer? Who is that one who is being held captive, and needs God to release him or her?  What is it that is holding me captive?  Is there something in my live that I need to be set free from?

P:  God, who has set me free, I thank you for all you have done for me. I thank you for all those who have prayed for me and for their faithfulness in praying. Help me, Lord, today to reach out with words of hope and love to others that they may find release from all that holds them captive. Bring to my mind and heart today those who you want to release from bondage, so that I might pray for them.

                                                                                                                      AMEN.

Y:  I offer you this day, Lord, all which holds me back from being all that you would have me to be for you. I want to live for you and to do your will.

INTO THE WORD 

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."

Job 14:1-22 (New International Version)

Acts 16:16-35 (New International Version)

 19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."

 22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"

 29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

 31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

 35When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men."

Acts 12

Peter's Miraculous Escape From Prison

 1It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. 4After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

 5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was (fervently) earnestly praying to God for him.

 6The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

 8Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

 11Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

 12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"

 15"You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."

 16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.

 18In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

Herod's Death

    Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king's country for their food supply.

 21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

 24But the word of God continued to increase and spread.

 25When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from^[a] Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

Footnotes:

1. Acts 12:25 Some manuscripts to