Scripture: Matthew 5:44, Romans 5:8 and Acts chapters 6 & 7.

Today we will look at an incredibly powerful aspect of God’s character: He is a forgiving God. This is what the scriptures have declared and it is what God Himself says. He leaves His fingerprints on a cross to demonstrate to us just how incredible His forgiveness is and the depth of His remarkable love.

Pastor shares a heart-wrenching story of unimaginable forgiveness, setting the stage for the lessons we learn from God’s love and forgiveness. The story shows the divine, all powerful love of God and His love alone is what can bring forgiveness to even the most difficult, painful, tragic, and horrific situations.

God forgives us with amazing love. He allowed His Son to stretch out His arms on a cross and to pay the full penalty for our rebellion against the Father - He showed us amazing forgiveness in the person of Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. And THAT changes everything.

His incredible love has the power to change any life, and to bring healing and forgiveness into even the darkest of places.

This is not saying that because God loves us we excuse or accept evil that is done to us. God doesn’t say we need to approve of those who wrong or hurt us. Evil is still evil. Tragedy is still tragic, but what God says is that He gives us the power to rise above it, to overcome evil will good, to rise above tragedy so then we do not live in the past, grieving and full of despair. Instead, the Lord frees us, frees us to speak truth, but to speak the truth in love, and to forgive even those who have been our enemies.

Pastor has us take a look at the story of Stephen, as told in Acts chapters 6-7, who as he was being unjustly stoned and killed, speaks truth, mercy and forgiveness. Stephen’s Prayer as he was being stoned to death - Acts 7:59-60 “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Died). Stephen knew the words Jesus spoke from the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And Stephen now takes that example of love and forgiveness and with his dying breath spoke forgiveness.

God tells us as He has forgiven us, so we also are to forgive others.

Matthew 5:44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It’s not about liking them or accepting their actions - It’s about loving them - genuine love is not a matter of feelings. Instead it is an act of the will.

We, as an act of will by faith in Jesus Christ, can love even our enemies. We are encouraged to allow the incredible love of God to deeply impact our lives.

Pastor shares three truths for why we are to forgive and shares insight into the benefits of forgiveness. When we reflect the character of God in our lives, it not only honors Him, it strengthens others and changes us.
⁃ God
⁃ Others
⁃ Self

The class closes with another story that gives a profound example of forgiveness that is motivated only by the goodness and grace of God. A gut-wrenching testimonial that’s the result of a powerful act of will that shows unexpected, unexplained love and forgiveness that changed the lives of all involved in this tragic event.

We are called to love and forgive because God has loved and forgiven us.

Watch the video from our website https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class

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Scripture: 1 Kings 3:1, 1 Kings 3:4ff, 1 Kings 3:16ff, 1 Kings 6, 1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5-7, 2 Chronicles 3:1, Genesis 22, 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 Kings 9:4-5

This study helps us dig deeper into Solomon: Wise Leader
⁃ Pharaoh’s Daughter - 1 Kings 3:1 - Solomon secures a peace treaty with Egypt and a strategic marriage to one of the Pharaoh’s daughter’s.
⁃ Sacrifices at Gibeon - 1 Kings 3:4ff - shortly after taking the throne we see Him following his father David’s advice. We see Solomon going to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to God and commits his life to God. The Lord appears to Solomon in a dream saying “ask for whatever you want.” Solomon replies in humility, and asks to be given a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong so that he can govern the nation justly and well. He sought God’s wisdom and guidance so that he could bless and nurture the children of Israel. The Lord was pleased with Solomon’s reply and gave him what he asked for, plus God told him He would give him even more than what he had asked for: wealth and honor.
⁃ 2 Prostitutes - 1 Kings 3:16ff - Two prostitutes come to Solomon. Both have birthed boys but one had rolled over on her son and the child died. But they each claimed the living son as their own. Solomon says, “bring me a sword and cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” But at that point the real mother says, “oh please don’t do that.” And the other woman says, “yes, do it.” Solomon then gives the living child to the one who had asked for the child to be spared because she was the real mother. King Solomon was admired greatly by his people for his wisdom from God in administering justice. He is recognized as very wise.

Solomon: Builder
⁃ Temple Construction - 1 Kings 6 - in the 4th year of his reign Solomon begins building the Temple of the Lord. ca. 966 BC. It will take 7 years to build this incredible temple. Temple was only for priests, but people would gather in the courtyards around the temple. The temple has 3 sections: The Porch, The Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. The interior was covered in gold. The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies where the High Priest went once per year on the Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur. A place of shed blood pointing to the One who is the Lamb of God/The Mercy Seat/The Messiah/Jesus our Savior. In 2 Chronicles 3:1 we read that the Temple was build on Mount Moriah. The place of the story where Abraham had taken his only son Isaac. Pastor shares prophetic likeness to Jesus in this story of Genesis 22. (This will also be the location of the Second Temple).
⁃ Temple Dedication - 1 Kings 8 & 2 Chronicles 5-7. When the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Holy of Holies, the glory of the Lord filled the temple! Solomon shares a sermonette and a powerful prayer. Solomon’s heart is to win people to the Living God - that they walk in faith and obedience to God. And when he finished praying a fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnet offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The people began shouting praises and thanks to God. And a multiple sacrifices were given to God.
⁃ God appears to Solomon a second time - 1 Kings 9 & 2 Chronicles 7:14 - God speaks to Solomon and tells him that He wants to bring blessing saying, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
This too is our prayer - it is a prayer for us still today - a prayer for our nations, that we would seek God, turn from our wickedness, because He will hear from heaven and heal our land.

God closes His time with Solomon with these words: (1 Kings 9:4-5) “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness….and do all I command …. I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David…”.

God calls Solomon to Himself and God calls each one of us to Himself!

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Scripture: Isaiah 65:9, Isaiah 46:9-10, Deuteronomy 28:58-67, Deuteronomy 29:22-23, Jeremiah 31:35-37, Isaiah 11:11-12, Luke 21:24, Ezekiel 36:33-35, Luke 13:35, Romans 9:5, Romans 11:12-15.

We continue to look at God’s fingerprints that are readily observable but often overlooked, things that testify to God’s goodness, faithfulness, power and promises.

The Living God is true, genuine, near and He keeps His word! 2,700 years ago God declared through His prophet Isaiah that he knows how everything turns out in the end. He knows the end from the beginning and he will accomplish everything He has said he will do.

“Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” Isaiah 46:9-10

In today’s study we will look at the way those promises of God have been fulfilled through the ages and apply that to our lives, today.

Children of Israel:
⁃ Scattered worldwide - Deuteronomy 28:58-64 “If you disobey Me, then I will scatter you.” (Not as punishment but to return you to Me.) Two times this has happened to the Jewish people
⁃ At the Babylonian captivity
⁃ and again in 70AD until 1948.
⁃ Endlessly persecuted - Deuteronomy 28:65-67. No other people in the history of the world have suffered the kind of endless persecution that the Jewish people have endured.
⁃ Land desolated - Deuteronomy 29:22-27. Land of Israel was once a land of milk and honey, vibrant, alive and prosperous and became a desolate wasteland.
⁃ Nation preserved - Jeremiah 31:35-37. God promises He will not forsaken them - they would be preserved
⁃ People regathered - Isaiah 11:11-12. Currently, there are more Jewish people in Israel than in the USA
⁃ Jerusalem reclaimed - Luke 21:24. This took place in 1967.
⁃ Land restored - Ezekiel 36:33-35. Wasteland will become like Eden. Pastor shared how he has witnessed the change in the land over the last decade of his visits there. Desert has begun to bloom, cities are springing up and ancient town are growing.

This list - the words of God that were spoken - are things that have taken place just as they were predicted - showing us the Fingerprints of God on history.

A darkness of heart came on the Jewish people and as a result the message of Jesus has spread to the gentile world. God is merciful and faithful - even though many Jewish people rejected Messiah when He came. Romans 11:12,15 “Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it. For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!”

Many Jewish people rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, meant the message of Jesus was spread throughout the non-Jewish world and not billions confess Jesus as Savior and believe in God the Creator who is the God of the prophecies. Their rejection of the Messiah meant riches for the world but when they finally receive Him - Look Up! Because that brings the Resurrection of the dead! That brings Christ’s return!

These are exciting times that we live in. There is a massive revival taking place worldwide.
Pastor shares exciting stats showing a booming revival!

When we look at God’s fingerprints on the pages of history, when we look at the way the prophetic word has been fulfilled in such remarkable ways - it’s difficult to think this is all coincidence. What it is is the fulfillment of everything God has said.

And this fulfillment of His words is not just an argument for His existence - this is His plea for us to take Him seriously! And to return to Him as Lord and Savior of our lives.

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Scriptures: Acts 17:24-27, John 1:4, John 6:4, 1 Timothy 4:8, Ecclesiastes 3:11.

This is a series that takes a look at things that are readily obvious, but whose significance is frequently missed. We’ll look at Fingerprints of God that are truly all over the world today and all over our lives and yet so often in the busyness of the moment we miss those amazing reminders of God’s goodness, of His presence, of his faithfulness and of His great gift of Jesus Christ for each of us.

God IS speaking in amazing ways in our generation and in our time!

Pastor talks about the miracle of life and the odds that science has placed on life happening, they say it requires at least 150 unique things to make life possible. The research calculates the chance of that “accidentally” happening to be 1 chance to the 50th power - that’s a 1 with 50 zeroes behind it… or impossible….

How life happened cannot be explained, but there is a 1 word, three letter answer - IT’S G-O-D!

LIFE IS A MIRACLE!

Our culture sees life as just happening, but with a 1 to the 50th power chance that’s saying it’s impossible. Life didn’t just happen, life is created and God is The Creator!

Living things like singing birds, our pets, the sky, truly are fingerprints of God. Acts 17:24-27 tells us, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth … He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

Fingerprints of God
⁃ Life - everything living
⁃ Us inhaling and exhaling at this moment!
⁃ Raising Jesus from the dead
⁃ Creation
⁃ Salvation

John 1:4 tells us, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” Jesus didn’t come to this world to make bad people good, Jesus Christ came to this world to make dead people live. We are spiritually dead and in the Lord Jesus Christ, God offers real life to each of us - it’s life that lasts forever!

John 6:40 says, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” Life itself is a fingerprint of God and we were created to live forever and that forever life is found in Jesus.

There is a present life and there is the life to come. In that life to come we will live forever even through we experience physical death.

God has left His fingerprint on our hearts and He tells us He has put eternity in our hearts. Ecclesiastes 3:11: “ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

The way we spend our forever life hinges on ONE thing and that is how we receive the gift that God offers. JESUS IS THAT GIFT.

God offers life through His Son and that’s a gift and promise we want to accept through faith in the perfect One, Jesus, who’s fingerprints were nailed to the cross, who conquered sin, death and the devil when He rose from the grave, the One who promised to return!

LIFE is in Jesus and Life is the FINGERPRINT OF GOD AND HIS LOVE.

Watch the video from our website https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class

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Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

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Scripture: 2 Samuel 13-19.

Father Wounds - are wounds brought into our lives through family members. Deep wounds with lasting consequences.

Father’s wounds - are wounds to parents by their children. It is grieving because their children turned their backs on the things they were taught from the time they were little.

Both are deep and painful wounds.

How to deal with the pain and how to go beyond it.

Our study covers:
Amnon rapes Tamar (2 Sam 13)
Absalom hates Amnon (2 Sam 13)
Absalom murders Amnon (2 Sam 13)
Absalom flees to thalami (2 Sam 13)
Absalom conspires against David (2 Sam 15)
Absalom revolts against David (2 Sam 15-17)
Joab executes Absalom (2 Sam 18)

In our study we see that wounds eliminate the spiritual strength of King David. We also see wounds that bring about rebellion and hatred, anger and murder. We see wounds experienced by a father who feels he has failed his son.

A tragic horrible story. Yet God desires to speak to us through it. This story is in the Bible for a reason and purpose. The purpose is not just to inform but to transform. God desires to bring healing, hope and strength and to reverse the painful trajectory of what we have experienced.

Divine Prescriptions

⁃ Sow and Reap - Galatians 6:7-8 Consequences of our behavior can be negative or positive. “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Also, as seen in David’s story, God forgives, but the consequences of sin are still there.
⁃ Nurture or Anger - Ephesians 6:4 encourages fathers to teach their children to live uprightly and faithfully before God and for fathers to model an upright life to their children.
⁃ Truth and Love - Ephesians 4:15 We are to speak truth to our kids but speak that with love.
⁃ Forgive and Release - Whether we have father wounds or father’s wounds we are to forgive and letting go. Colossians 3:13 We are to forgive as the Lord forgives us - even those who have disappointed us, hurt us deeply, and in that forgiveness and releasing there is healing and there is hope.
⁃ Father and Son - 1 John 2:1-2 Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sin and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. God loves us and His love goes beyond the love of any father. Our Heavenly Father offers each of us healing, hope and life-transforming power.

If you have been the victim of a father wound or if you are experiencing a father’s wounds, you need to know there is a Father who loves you more than you could imagine. Who understands the wounds because those wounds were placed in the very body of His Son and He offers to us forgiveness, eternal life, and the ability to start all over.

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The discovery of the ancient ruined city of Sodom proves that the Biblical account of this city is no fairy tale, and shows us a picture of the final judgment. In Biblical times, people did not understand what was coming nor heed the warnings, but these stories are real and they have a lot to teach us! Jesus pointed to the destruction of Sodom and the devastation of the Great Flood to warn His people of the coming final judgment and to call them to repentance and eternal life in Him. We, too, need to know not only WHAT the future holds, but WHO holds the future. Matthew 24:37-39.

The Gospel of John Week 11
Scripture: John 7:22-59.

Pastor opens by sharing details of the Feast of Tabernacles and the scriptures of the Living Water that were read during this 8 day festival. Festival readings included: Ezekiel 47:1-12, Zechariah 14:8 and Jeremiah 17:13b.

As our story opens, it is the Feast of Tabernacles and these scriptures would have been read. Pastor goes on to share that there has been much learned over the last 100 years and especially in the last 15 or so that helps to bring this text and the story alive. As we look at what we know about the time of Jesus and what we are discovering, they are changing our understanding of the Bible, bringing a new sense of significance and even urgency as what we are discovering is a testimony that says, “This is real!”

Some recent archeological work has found what is believed to be the City of David - but not at all where it was thought to be, and the discovery of the Hezekiah Tunnel, and more recently the Pool of Siloam show us a different location than originally thought for the Pool and also that it was a very large pool, not a small one. Also that it was filled with fresh water by the Han Spring flowing through the Hezekiah Tunnel into the Pool. The Pool of Siloam was the only fresh - or living water in the city of Jerusalem.

Pastor shares the events of Tabernacles and the pouring out of water into the Temple by the priests carrying it from the Pool of Siloam for the first 7 days of the festival. On the 7th Day they carried and poured water 7 times in the Temple.

So as our story continues, it’s either Day 7 (7 times the priests poured water in the Temple) or it’s Day 8 (the day of rejoicing, and celebration) when we read verse 37-38, “On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

He is essentially telling them that what you’ve been doing for the last week with the pouring of water, point to Me and it’s what the prophets said would happen when Messiah comes, that living water would pour out of the Temple. And then it goes on in verse 39, “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.and that the Living Water is the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is saying that He is the fulfillment of what the prophets have declared and that everyone who believes on Him will receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus is calling us to a new day - the fulfillment of what the prophets have said - Messiah- is here! And He, the Messiah, gives the Holy Spirit. Jesus is claiming to be God.

At this some called Him prophet, others called Him Messiah and others were in disbelief and angry. The crowd became divided with many wanting to seize Jesus. The temple guard go and report back to the chief priests.

The chief priests were Sadducees and they united with the Pharisees, a group that they did not get along with but they did unite together over their desire to do away with Jesus. The very ones who should have embraced Jesus as the Messiah, instead say, “Let’s kill Him.”

Pastor concludes by saying in 6 months from this event of Tabernacles, the Passover will be celebrated and we will see Jesus dead, and raised during another important festival and how this festival too, finds its fulfillment in Jesus.

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⁃ The Gospel of John study is part five of five of our Two Year Study of the Gospels.
⁃ The Gospel of John may be one of the most powerful books ever written. Many people have come to faith after reading only this book of the Bible. Scholarly and archeological discoveries in recent decades give us new insight on details in the Gospel of John. We can now understand it as the most Jewish rather than the most “Gentile/Greek” of the Gospels, and when we do that we see many things that we missed before.

Our 2 year study of the gospels is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time!